I have a client who is keen to learn from any positive structures and processes for making a success of succession planning.
This will be, as is now the norm, within a volatile, genuinely dynamic, acquisitive organisation, that is using competencies to assess current and potential capabilities.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
andrew.gibbons@lineone.net
www.andrewgibbons.co.uk
andrew gibbons
2 Responses
Best practice framework for succession planning
You may want to take a look at http://www.hrmsoftware.com, specifically at ExecuTRACK, a system that has been developed to support succession planning and other strategic HR planning activities.
For effective succession planning you need to collect and manage a lot of information. For example, if you were tracking 25 key positions you may have identified that you need four candidates for each position. So you’d need detailed information about 100 people. You can’t plan effectively for this group using a paper-based system. Our own system makes it easier to identify what information is important, ensures enterprise-wide consistency and helps to align business objectives with employee ambitions.
In short, you know who you have and what positions you need to fill and when, so your succession planning can become much more proactive rather than reactive. And you can monitor the effectiveness of your planning activities through analysis and reports and through key performance indicators.
Do contact us if you’d like further information. info@hrmsoftware.com
Detailed succession plans a thing of the past
Old-style detailed succession plans where individual names and individual jobs were all planned out over the course of 3 to 5 years or more have been replaced in my experience by a framework approach that works in high change dynamic environments. The framework provides for generic groupings of jobs according to core business competence, personal competencies, and scope and seniority. These will capture the continuing requirements of the business on the basis that, for example, a financial services company will continue to be in the business of financial services however dynamic and acquisitive it may be!
Another difference is that the development and application of competencies is at least as important as the numbers of people.
With processes that provide links to career development and personal development, company needs and people needs can be brought together.
A crucial element is that the framework is transparent so that employees know how succession planning works and can understand how to take up their role within it.
Do contact me if more information might be of interest.