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Building an Effective Succession Management Process
Seventy-Five percent of companies in a 2011 survey on Succession Management acknowledged that they need to make their process stronger. So, if your company counts itself in the 75% and wants to improve Succession Management (SM), what do you need to do to build a robust process?
Build the Business Case. Succession management is no different from any key business process. It will more likely create value if the business case is firmly established from the start. Build a value map that shows the link from key business goals to potential SM outcomes to the components of the SM process that will create the desired outcome.
Build Leadership Commitment. Leadership commitment is a hallmark of any successful change management effort. This should be a natural outcome of the business case. The "what's in for the organization" and "what's in it for me" should be clear at this point. HR leadership plays an important role but the key is building commitment with line managers.
Build A Robust Process. The most often cited requirement for an effective SM process is a valid and reliable method of assessing talent. The best assessment practices are candid, facilitated, behavior-based team discussions that do not require preparation or paperwork and do not depend solely on a single manager's assessment. (Read more about assessing your organization's talent.)
Build A Differentiated Process. The SM process should clearly differentiate roles that are pivotal versus those that are enabling or business necessity roles. How employees with different capabilities are handled must also be differentiated. The past CEO and Chairwoman of Xerox, Anne Mulcahy, stated in a 2009 NY Times article that "Not everybody is created equal, and it's important for companies to identify those high potentials and treat them differently, accelerate their development and pay them more. That process is so incredibly important to developing first-class leadership in a company." I couldn't agree with her more.
Build Accountability and Follow Up. You have a clear business case, committed leadership and a robust process that differentiates. That will all be for naught unless talent action plans are created for which managers are held accountable. As a plus, it is very difficult to have candid talent discussions (See Building a Robust Process) and just walk away without discussing ,"OK, now what do we do?"
(Read more about Building a Robust SM Process)
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