succession planning

Succession planning is the process of selecting and developing key talent to ensure the continuity of critical roles. It’s about identifying top performers and potential leaders and mentoring and developing them so they can advance in the organization and move into top-level roles.

Employees get promoted, move companies, and retire every day. That’s why you need to have a solid plan in place to ensure positions are filled by people equipped to do the job. 

Let’s further unpack the succession planning definition.

• First of all, succession planning is about critical roles. Not all roles are relevant for succession planning. It should focus on roles that are vital to the organization’s competitiveness and continuity. A junior sales rep is fairly easy to replace. However, your VP of sales is a role you don’t want to be unfilled for long, if at all.
• Second, the focus is on selecting and developing key talent. This means that for those critical roles, the best and the brightest are selected and nurtured. Most of the time, succession planning happens with internal candidates. For example, the director of sales is molded to fill the role of VP of sales, while the VP of sales develops to become the new CEO. Occasionally, external candidates are hired and brought up to speed before taking over a new role, although this is often on a more ad-hoc basis. As an organization grows, it’s more cost-effective to develop and promote from within. 
• The last part of the definition is to ensure continuity. This is the ultimate purpose of going through all this work: to ensure that when someone leaves, there is someone else ready and qualified to take over that role and be up and running in no time.