Succession planning: a developmental approach

摘要

In essence succession planning is about: 1. making sure that there are enough suitable people to step into any significant role as it becomes vacant or is created; 2. motivating and developing them to adapt to the new role as fast as possible, with the minimum damage; and 3. ensuring that every role is a learning resource, in which the incumbent can develop not only skills relevant to that job, but the capability to embrace different and/or larger jobs. The model still used in many companies is the military chain of command, or "dead men's shoes". The person with potential may not be waiting for one specific opening, but the opportunity pool is as limited as the talent pool. Depth of experience is valued highly. This is most common in organisations that operate through functional silos. The alternative model assumes that talent is owned by the organisation, not by individual businesses and moves designated high flyers around frequently, to ensure they gain breadth of experience. Much less common than either of these is the organisation that offers people a choice, at different periods in their careers, of whether to enter a closed or open talent pool, and builds bridges between these - yet for many people, this is a much closer reflection of the career progression they would like.