Succession Planning — Critical Roles

This Leadership Insights piece looks at extended traditional succession planning processes to roles below executive and senior levels. 

When the topic of succession planning comes up, leaders often discuss who will take over the business when the owner retires. There is a tremendous amount of effort to ensure a suitable leader has been identified for the business to continue operations without any disruption, but more organizations are recognizing the importance of extending traditional succession planning processes to critical roles below the executive and senior leadership levels. This article will offer a practical process for succession planning for critical roles. 

Identify Critical Roles 

The first step in the succession-planning process is for the organization to determine which positions are critical to the business. This is no easy task, and it will require the business owner to conduct a thorough review of the roles each employee has within the business. To help separate the critical roles from the not-so-critical roles, start by identifying the strategic business objectives of the business and the roles that are critical to revenue generation, customer satisfaction and innovation.  

Assess Potential Successors 

Once the critical roles have been identified, it is time to assess the potential successors. One tool that is used extensively by organizations for assessing future successors is 360° feedback. The 360° feedback system encourages gathering candid feedback from multiple raters on an individual’s performance. The raters may consist of the person’s peers, subordinates, bosses and their customers. The system has proven to be so effective that over one-third of U.S. companies use some type of multi-rater feedback system, including more than 90% of all Fortune 500 firms. Many resources are available to assist with automating the 360° feedback process. When done correctly, the 360° feedback process is a highly effective tool to utilize for performance management and succession planning. 

Develop Successors 

After gathering feedback on critical positions’ performance, the next step is to develop the critical employees’ skills, knowledge and abilities. All too often, companies do a great job informing individuals they have a high potential to become a future successor but fail to create opportunities for the individual to experience different challenges and force them to apply new skills to expand their knowledge base. 

A good example of this is when a lead elevator mechanic who has been identified as someone who could become a future general manager is not provided with opportunities to participate in leadership training events or is not assigned to manage projects that are not technical/mechanical in nature. A great strategy to consider is to place the employee in a job-rotation process. For example, for one month the employee may be assigned to work 100% of the time in the office learning new skills that will be critical to their success in their new role. 

Plan for Success

Developing a successful succession plan for critical hires requires a dedicated effort by the business owner and executive leadership team. Employees will appreciate the opportunity to develop new skills that will only strengthen the organization’s ability to compete in the marketplace. By identifying the critical roles that will need to be filled quickly, when done right, an effective succession planning program will allow the company to maintain operations without experiencing costly downtime and loss of valuable institutional knowledge.  

According to a study by Deloitte, organizations with strong succession planning are 2.2 times more likely to outperform their peers in terms of revenue growth and 1.5 times more likely to outperform their peers in terms of profitability. You can’t afford to not properly develop an effective succession planning strategy. The potential cost to the business is too high in terms of lost revenue and profits. The best time to start a succession plan is now — not later. 

“If you don’t have a succession plan in place, you’re not serving your organization.” — Jack Welch