If the CEO of your company were to quit tomorrow, would your company be prepared?

How much time would you take to find a replacement? Would you know where to start your search for the right candidate? In other words, do you have a succession plan in place for the key posts in your organization?

By 2005, one in five executives will be eligible for retirement, and, according to Development Dimensions International, a significant number of companies will see forty to fifty per cent of their executives and key talent leave in the next five years.

Succession Management is the process of identifying, assessing and developing leadership talent for strategic posts. Simply put, the process entails looking for successors for your key leadership and key contributors well before they start thinking of quitting their jobs or are promoted to another post.

Why Key Talent Leaves:

• They have the most opportunities
• They are the most resourceful
• They have the most confidence
• Recruiters put them on a “most wanted ” list
• They often have an extremely high need for achievement
• They don’t want to waste time and career potential

Well thought out Succession Management Programs have the following Critical Success Factors:

• Personal, public, intensive and ongoing involvement of top leaders
• Leaders held accountable for developing other leaders
• Program linked to the overall strategy of the company
• Adequate resources devoted to program
• Clear, achievable development plans in place
• Aggressive management of high leverage developmental assignments
• Clear links created to needed competencies and behaviors
• Clear links to other HR systems; e.g., performance management, career development, and reward systems

Companies on an accelerated growth path must have the ability to recognize and use talent fully and flexibly. The consequences of mismanagement of key talent can be very significant and may include long delays in important projects, severe disruption of strategic plans and timing, and even cessation of business operations.

Unlike simple replacement planning, Succession Management focuses on developing people for a range of higher-level positions. The emphasis must be on building flexibility for your company so as to tap into its existing culture, as well as being able to adapt to shifting conditions and fast growth, rather than creating an immutable organization structure that dictates career paths.

There are three interdependent phases in AdVantage Consulting’s Succession Management Programs:

The Talent Awareness Phase —comprising the initial steps of linking the program to strategy and identifying and describing the individuals and positions to be included in the process.

The Talent Development Phase —clarifies the proposed development actions identified in the initial assessment. After the final phase Talent Review, these actions are ultimately agreed upon by the employee and leadership in the form of a Development Plan.

The Talent Review Phase —the process by which assessment data are reviewed and revised, and feedback is gathered for the development and planning process which will be addressed in leadership discussions.

More than just a back up plan for qualified successors, a succession strategy is a valuable tool used by best practice companies to grow their own leaders and to ensure continuous development within a shifting global economy. Succession Management is an investment that business leaders are recognizing as an important strategy in achieving the long-term vision of their organization.

Let AdVantage Consulting work with you to create a Succession Management Program that will be simple —yet robust, scaleable, and inexpensive and help ensure your future success!!!