Succession Planning, the forgotten strategy

Many organizations might not give the necessary priority and attention to succession planning, as many might think simplistically that it is concerned with lining up individuals for future promotions. However, it is so much more. Succession planning is about planning for future positions to be given to the right and most suitable employees, it also takes in consideration developing those employees to be ready for such positions, including training, mentoring and couching.

With limited management succession plans in place, organizations are often unprepared for the impact of losing key employees. In uncertain economic times, organizations need a pipeline of well-trained and motivated staff ready to move into key roles when the opportunity arises.

In many companies, over the past several years, the emphasis has shifted from planning job assignments to development, with much greater focus on managing key experiences that are critical to growing global business leaders. 

A new trend that has gained popularity in succession and talent management is called “game planning”. In these and other companies annual reviews are supplemented with an ongoing series of discussions among senior leaders about who is ready to assume larger roles. Vacancies are anticipated and slates of names are prepared based on highest potential and readiness for job moves. Organization realignments are viewed as critical windows of opportunity to create development moves that will serve the greater good of the enterprise.

Assessment is a key practice in effective succession planning. There is no widely accepted formula for evaluating the future potential of leaders, but there are many tools and approaches that continue to be used today, ranging from personality and cognitive testing to team-based interviewing and simulations and other assessment center methods. 

Today, succession planning requires more than just an organizational chart showing who holds what job within the enterprise. Best practice organizations use succession planning to develop and maintain strong leadership and to ensure that they address all the skills and competencies required for today’s business environment. Succession planning can also be an extremely powerful tool in motivating and retaining top leadership.

Succession planning is an ongoing, dynamic process that helps an organization to align its business goals and its human capital needs. It also ensures that an enterprise can keep pace with changes to the business, industry, and overall marketplace. To achieve outstanding results using succession planning, an organization must develop an effective and highly focused strategy that centers on organizational excellence.

Today, many organizations strive to identify key objectives and business goals and shape a work-force accordingly. Although executives and senior managers play a crucial role in defining such organizations, there is a need for specific skills and competencies throughout the enterprise. Not only does succession planning serve as a way to create an organizational hierarchy, but it can also help organizations conduct an inventory of human capital and better understand gaps. It can also help organizations manage change in a more holistic way.

It is often difficult to plan for the unimaginable. Yet, the sudden resignation, illness or bereavement of a key executive can reverberate throughout an organization, paralyzing both management and staff and impeding the organization’s ability to execute its business plan. Unfortunately, diseases, automobile accidents, plane crashes, and other disasters are an ongoing reality. Although it is not feasible to plan for every possible scenario, and particularly for the loss of several key leaders at the same time, it is entirely realistic to map out a chain of command and understand who will assume control if and when a key executive is lost. Recent world events illustrate how important succession planning is when unforeseen acquiescence and disasters can negatively impact an organization both internally and externally.

Organizations that reach their full human potential are more likely to succeed in today’s competitive environment. However, many organizations lack effective systems and processes to do so. In most organizations, there is little formal succession planning, and excellent internal candidates are often overlooked when openings occur. As a result, organizations not only lose valuable talent, they miss opportunities to leverage the business potential of their emotional economies.

There are several reasons for Bahraini organizations in public and specifically private sectors to establish success planning and amongst them are : creating effective leaders for future from the new generation to contribute towards his majesty’s 2030 vision, gradual replacement of expatriates in key positions by Bahraini’s  and this should be a mandatory in any contractual agreements with expatriate to ensure training and knowledge transfer to Bahraini’s within a specific time frame is precondition plus success of organization with right resources in current world financial crisis.