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Succession Planning: Laying the Groundwork for Continued Success
Written by: Liz BywaterArticle Overview: Succession planning is a vital business activity, a key element of ensuring organizational continuity and growth. In brief, it entails lining up the right people to take over important roles as they open up. Lack of a solid plan can place strain on the organization and its employees. Here's what can be done to increase the odds of success.
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Succession Planning: Laying the Groundwork for Continued Success
Business leaders know that succession planning is essential to ensuring organizational continuity and growth. Simply stated, succession planning is the process of lining up the right people to take over important roles in the company as they open up. The process typically entails identifying and then developing promising candidates for promotion, thereby maximizing the likelihood of a smooth and successful transition.
Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Well… it is and it isn't. Succession planning can, in fact, prove a daunting process. Some of the obstacles to doing it right include:
Failure to conduct a thorough job analysis of each position to be filled.
Lack of internal benchstrength (e.g., having a weak or limited talent pool within the organization).
Lack of effective tools and strategies for identifying high potential employees.
Failure to groom high potentials for advancement within the company.
What are the potential consequences of failing to create an effective succession plan? Typically, one or more of the following can be expected:
Frantic or chaotic efforts to fill vital roles within the organization as openings arise (and they sometimes arise with little or no warning).
Uncertainty among key contributors as to where they’re headed within the organization.
Loss of valuable time for training and development of high potentials. (This type of preparation has a major impact upon the individual’s effectiveness in a new role. It dramatically increases the likelihood of success for the individual and the organization. It ought to be a priority.
Intense competition among key employees who believe they are vying for promotion.
Marked disruption in overall organizational performance.
In order to avoid such poor outcomes, organizations must be proactive. They need to do each of the following:
Identify the core skills and capabilities associated with success for each key position.
Evaluate the various competencies of their most promising employees.
Develop these talented folks so that they're prepared to take on the myriad challenges and responsibilities of their future positions.
Once a company knows what it needs and who it’s got, it’s in a great position to develop talent internally and look outward to fill in the gaps. This sets the stage not only for intelligent succession planning but also for implementation of this most essential business activity.
Copyright 2006 Bywater Consulting Group, LLC, Liz Bywater, PhD. All Rights Reserved.
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Re: How do you make the most of your day?
- Planning, To Do lists, and deadlines all help me.
Also being self critical of my own time management helps me raise the bar.
I still check email too often though.
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!!
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Success - H3
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- I think it was Gary Player who said the harder I practice the luckier I become when it came to his success as a world class golfer. Planning and dedication to a task can make all the difference between success and failure.
MichelleJ
Re: Quote of the Day - "If you hesitate, some bolder hand will s
- Excellent quote, Evan. This reminds me of the saying, "The early bird catches the worm."
It's important to act on impulses, rather than hesitate and plan. Planning isn't a bad thing and is warranted in certain cases, but those who act quickly will get a step ahead of the competition.
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