Succession planning, or talent review, generally deals with position replacement strategies that focus on the development of a pool of talent to prepare for the future of a company. The primary object of succession planning is to build “bench strength.” This is defined as having the right mix of staff who possess the necessary skills and experience, a continued sequence of qualified staff ready to fill vacant positions, the right mix of promotable staff, the right pool of leadership, and an identified strategy or plan for succession.
There are a few key elements to succession planning. These involve identification of current staffing needs, forecasting staffing needs, evaluation of staff in terms of strengths, weaknesses, gaps, and potential, matching the supply of manpower to the available positions, and assuming that positions will eventually become vacant.
The process of succession planning requires that you:
- Be familiar with job descriptions
- Consider the overall strategic direction of the company
- Understand career opportunities to help identify career objectives for staff
- Identify growth potential in your staff
- Provide professional development plans designed to enhance skills sets of staff
- Monitor development of staff
- Assess the succession readiness of all employees