Category Archives: succession planning

Succession Planning – Who Will Walk In Your Shoes?

Succession planning is the process whereby an organisation plans its human resources in such a way as there are successors to take over when senior post holders retire or leave. It is all about identifying skills and providing appropriate training and development to enhance those skills so that the successors can effectively step into an identified pre-determined role. By nature of its description the planning is to considered as part of a long term strategy. Succession planning can be for an individual or for a pool of employees. Succession planning for an individual can be due to a specialism. Using a pool of employees who are to be developed is ideal to develop generalist skills so that the individuals can be slotted into a number of posts when they become vacant.

It is relevant for both small and large organisations. Some time ago I had a conversation with the MD of a small business who did not have any family to pass the business to. He told me he did not know what would happen to the business when he came up for retirement. I advised him that it would be a good idea to identify someone in the business who could take over whilst he took a back seat when the time came.

These days succession planning is linked to strategic talent management and should be balanced in that home grown talent is used in conjunction with recruiting outsiders who bring fresh blood. A wide range of activities can be incorporated into the development of internal talent which includes informal and formal activities designed so the individuals can gain work experience. Whilst many upward moves are not possible these days with the growth of flatter management structures, lateral moves and secondments can offer valuable development experience. Succession planning should also be linked to business strategy.

Candidates for succession planning can come out of conversations with managers, appraisal interviews, skills audits and competency assessments and is usually coordinated by HR.

How To Reward Top Talent

According to research top talent in many UK companies are not happy and voting with their feet. This is despite the fact that many of them are highly paid on average £325,000 per annum and receiving a bonus of £100,000 on average. This just goes to show that money does not always motivate.

So what are the reasons why top talent are creating high turnover costs to organisations. According to research, top performers are unhappy with company pay structures, lack job satisfaction and training and development opportunities, They are also fed up with constant relocations which create job insecurity.

So as companies fail to meet the expectations of these top performers, often they fail to make the grade. Many companies feel that paying high salaries ensures high productivity and profits for them, but that is not always the case. Companies end up paying out huge salaries yet strategic business objectives and performance targets are not met, therefore, misaligning reward strategy to business strategy.

As an example, the financial benefits package of an executive is usually made up of salary, benefits, performance bonus, share options and car/car allowance as well as the standard pension, private health insurance and healthcare.

However, companies need to consult with the individuals concerned to ensure that the package is tailored appropriately meeting the needs of both the individual and the organisation. Job satisfaction and development needs need to also be incorporated so that the total reward package is strategically effective.

As with all reward solutions the total reward package for top talent needs to be fair, equitable, transparent and competitive. To get ahead of the game, companies need to be highly creative to determine reward solutions that will recruit and retain in the face of stiff competition.

Using the benefit package to incorporate different benefit solutions can make the world of difference such as paid sabbaticals with holiday vouchers or the opportunity to drive a high performance car on the open road for meeting company targets can be a huge motivator for certain individuals fostering high performance.

Other options could include flexible hours, extra days off, better parking and workspaces, publicly recognising top talent in announcements and share options.

The company’s talent gains the recognition and respect for a job well done and for the huge responsibility they carry to ensure the company performs well.

The company benefits by fostering high performance, gaining competitive advantage and addresses the huge skills shortage that exists in the

Offering stretching training and development opportunities can enhance job satisfaction. These usually highly educated top performers want to continue growing their skills through a range of options such as further academic qualifications, secondments and action learning opportunities. Likewise the company benefits from having top employees who are in the know with new ideas which help to stay ahead of competitors and avoid products and services becoming stale. Succession planning is ideal to pick out the talent pool for development.

When looking at relocating, companies should consult with their top talent to see if this is really necessary to move their top performers or could their roles be carried out in a different way eg incorporating flexible working opportunities including home-based working. This can benefit the company as well by not paying out huge relocation or redundancy costs to all concerned.

The Secrets of Successful Succession Planning

Succession planning is a process for identifying and developing employees who have the potential to fill key business leadership positions within an organisation. Effective succession comes from creating a talent pool from which individuals can be plucked to fill senior management roles having been given access to career development opportunities to build skills and experience. It can provide fast track opportunities or those at a slower pace depending on organisational needs. Talent pool management tends to be more strategic than one step or job layer succession whereby individuals just below senior management level are groomed as key replacements for identified roles. The individuals are considered to be almost ready for promotion and this type of succession process doesn’t take too much planning.

Succession planning can only be successful when there is key commitment from the CEO and strong engagement from the senior management team.

There are three stages to succession planning.

1. Evaluate all employees and their current needs. List all employees on the team and their positions then list the current number of open positions/positions to be filled in the future and the required skills.

2. Review the employees who can be promoted and into what position. This might be in a few months time or a few years.

3. Develop an action plan for those employees who are to be promoted. Make a list of skills and experience they need to gain and develop a training plan.

A succession plan is an effective way to formulate a recruitment and development strategy. It should be reviewed several times a year to ensure it is on track.

Succession planning gives a win win solution to both the organisation and employees alike. The organisation benefits because there is always a drip feed of talent to come on board and head it up. Employees benefit because succession planning provides career development and job satisfaction opportunities.

My Train Has Been Cancelled Again! What the Train Companies Can Learn from Workforce Planning

A recent announcement by London Midland trains related to a substantial cancellation of train services on the Northampton to Birmingham line. This is due to a lack of qualified drivers caused by several factors. It takes on average twelve months to train a driver but driver retention is poor due to crippling shifts. Despite the attractive salary, high train driver attrition demonstrates that money is not always a motivator.

The planned need to look at staff rotas may help the problem in the short term, however, a longer term solution needs to be found in order to ensure the problem does not occur in the future.

The strategic initiative of workforce planning would allow the train company to plan well into the future, five years ahead at least. Future demand and supply of staff is key. Planning will help to identify any shortfalls so that staffing gaps can be plugged, therefore, workforce planning provides the right people at the right time with the right skills. Workforce planning can include the implementation of succession planning, flexible working, skills audits, talent management, multi-skilling and role design to name a few processes. Ideally it should run alongside development of the long term business plan, which most forward-thinking companies undertake.

Within the plan, data needs to be organised for recruitment (numbers and levels), training, learning and development, organisation structure and deployment.

Organisational strategy can be an internal driver. However external drivers can be customer and stakeholder expectations and changes in market forces to name but two. In the long term the government has plans to develop the rail service to meet increasing customer demands, so train companies need to rise to the challenge with their workforce planning.

The implementation of workforce planning need consensus from all key stakeholders with key responsibilities outlined. Managers need to be actively supported as they contribute to the process. Regular reviews and amendments are required. The process should be a continuous cycle to ensure future people needs are met.

London Midland Train Cancellations
Further Train Cancellations