Succession Planning Goes Beyond Retirements

Succession planning may seem like a topic you only need to be concerned with in relation to retirement—owners, principals and leaders’ retirements come to mind first. But this is not the full scope of succession planning. As emerging leaders move into managerial roles, and managers move into directorial roles, and directors move into executive roles, or as team members advance out of the company altogether, succession planning ensures that the transitions occur as smoothly as possible.

Some of the considerations include cross-training of specialized expertise areas so that a gap is not felt as much when someone performing that function advances or retires out. Less obvious benefits that a company will experience from a well laid out succession plan are the awareness among employees that there is career growth opportunity, employee retention and culture continuity. The core mission and values of a company are hard to carry on without some workforce continuity.   

Considerations to get you started:  

When there is no immediate reason for succession planning, that is the time to tackle it. Preparing for planned retirements down the road, internal advancements, and unplanned advancements out of the company – these are the reasons to have your plan in place before you need it.