7 Simple Steps for Effective Succession Management

Succession management is not hard but it can be complicated. Read below for 7 simple steps to help your organization develop succession management best practices without over-complication.

1. Clearly define the long-term vision.

The very first step in any organizational process is to develop a crystal-clear vision. Without a clear vision, employees lack a unified direction, leading to a scenario where everyone is paddling in different directions, each with their own goals and objectives.

Once a vision is established, organizations can reverse-engineer the journey, pinpointing key milestones required to achieve that vision. This process enables them to craft specific goals and roles essential for reaching their ultimate destination.

2. Identify critical roles.

With a strategy in place, the next best step is to identify the key job roles that will champion the organization’s vision. It is essential to concentrate on the pivotal roles that drive business success rather than attempting to identify every possible leadership position. Though capturing all necessary leadership positions is admirable and attainable, it is more realistic to hone in on the top 5 or 10 for organizations just beginning their succession management journey. 

3. Develop (and agree on) competencies, skills, and behaviors.

Once leaders reach an agreement on what those core roles are, the next natural step is to assess what skills, competencies, and experiences are required to succeed in those positions. While the instinct might be to focus exclusively on outlining the performance objectives for key roles, it’s equally crucial to evaluate the workplace behaviors/core values required to excel in those positions. Numerous accounts of leadership succession failures underscore the importance of assessing an individual’s leadership style and cultural fit within the organization. 

4. Select potential talent.

Now for the most well-known aspect of succession management- selecting future leaders. Though every organization’s practices will differ, the most common way to analyze an individual’s leadership potential is to look at their performance and behavior track record. Performance reviews, goals, and 360-degree feedback reports are great tools to lean on when determining which employees to evaluate. It is certainly possible to assess leadership potential for every single employee but the majority of organizations will focus on the high performers. 

The 9-box grid is a reliable leadership succession tool used to evaluate performance and potential. Notable employees are placed in 1 of the 9 boxes, which can range in variation from ‘inconsistent player’ to ‘star.’ Ideally, once employees are placed, the placements are then calibrated based on multiple manager conversations to ensure there is fairness and accountability in leadership succession. Calibration conversations help reduce the risk of myopic approaches to leadership identification and account for multiple perspectives. 

5. Build the pipeline.

The most important component of building a talent pipeline is to not wait until the position(s) is vacant. Strategic succession management prepares for the future so that when positions are left open, perhaps unexpectedly, there is a strong bench of potential leaders ready and equipped to fill the role. Luckily, you already identified the necessary technical skills and competencies needed for each key role in step 3, so this step simply connects those qualifications with employees who are already exhibiting them.

Building out your talent bench relies heavily on managers building strong relationships with their employees and asking the right questions. These questions can include, “What is your personal vision?” “What are your professional development goals for the next 5 years?” “Are you interested in a leadership role at ABC Corporation?”

6. Continuously assess leadership potential.

To make identifying leadership potential a natural part of everyday business operations, organizations lean on standard performance management practices. This includes regularly scheduled performance reviews, goal tracking, one-on-one employee check-ins with managers, and 360-degree feedback requests. All of these strategic processes ensure that performance and workplace behaviors are frequently assessed, and these methods empower managers to take ownership of their own teams’ success.

With these practices in place, consistent and up-to-date data on every employee is readily available, making the leadership potential conversation easier and more informed. Performance review scores highlight high-performing contributors, check-ins reveal those individuals’ professional desires, 360 feedback gathers peer opinions of potential leaders, and so on. Performance management best practices your organization is likely already implementing pave the way toward effective succession management. 

7. Partner with reliable software. 

Keeping the above steps in order becomes significantly more difficult when doing so manually and/or on paper. Excel sheets are great resources but tracking performance efforts throughout the whole employee journey there is cumbersome, time-consuming, and inefficient. High-performing organizations rely on simple, user-friendly software solutions to house job role requirements, track performance metrics, and accurately identify potential future leaders.