Now that we’re a good month into the new year, it’s time to take a look at some of the organizational processes running in the background—things that are extremely important but may be put on the backburner while focusing on more immediate workplace scenarios. One if those essential background processes would be succession planning.
Whether you have a good succession plan, a great succession plan, or no succession plan in place, it never hurts to make a quick checklist and revamp it for the new year. Here are some tactics for an effective, up-to-date succession plan.
- Don’t keep your succession plan a secret. Everyone who is or will be involved in the succession plan should have adequate knowledge of what is going to happen when the plan goes into action. This allows the team players to feel included and willing to facilitate the process.
- Identify necessary leadership criteria. With the criteria clearly defined, employees that wish to pursue a promotion to a leadership role can begin honing their skills early on.
- It doesn’t hurt to find potential leaders. If there are a few employees that catch your eye, make an effort to motivate and coach them towards management roles so they can take over when the time comes.
- Put systems in place to track results. The best way to know if your current process is effective is by tracking the progress and effects.
Succession planning can often go unattended and ignored because it isn’t seen as a constant process—but it’s time to treat it like a constant process. Turnover doesn’t have to be taking place for the succession plan to get some attention and upkeep. Remember to try these and other tactics you can think of to keep your succession plan in play, just like any other workplace process.
