Thursday, March 28, 2024

BARBADOS EMPLOYERS’ CONFEDERATION: Succession planning

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FREQUENTLY, organisations concentrate their short and long term planning processes on macro improvements and operational programmes, without fully integrating the accompanying impacts with the redevelopment needs of the employees responsible for delivering services.

The result is that the capabilities of employees are not systematically developed to match the skills needed, and a gap occurs between what the company requires and the ability of employees to respond.

Though not always feasible, the organisational structure of an entity, if strategically thought out, should indirectly facilitate succession planning. This does not happen overnight and many human resources professionals will tell you it is a practice that is thought about way too late in many instances.

How then can companies prioritise strategic succession planning when the staff complement does not seem to facilitate it?

Cross functional teams, cross team collaboration and cross organisational collaboration are all practical options for lean organisations.

Cross functional teams are significantly different from teams that are aligned on one functional level. For example, a group of marketing people generally “speak the same language”, and they have a solid understanding of what their department is trying to accomplish.

With a cross functional team, you may have representatives from a wide array of specialties – finance, accounting, operations, legal, human resources – this diversity can lend to a very effective succession plan.

Cross team collaboration and cross organisational collaboration in essence promote continuous information sharing with the aim of improving efficiency and spurring employee innovation.

Identifying and developing the best people for key leadership roles is basic to future organisational success. To ensure that success is indeed continued, organisational leaders need to: incorporate succession planning into the company’s strategic objectives and goals.

This can include making it an agenda item at executive and departmental meetings which facilitates discussion and conveys the importance of senior and junior level employees alike.

Decide on the implementation directive (written policy or informal process), identifying key positions and/or specific departments are things to take into consideration at this stage.

Find practical and functional ways to implement the plan. Much like the union, companies should use systems which suit the nature of their business and can be incorporated as seamlessly as possible.

Monitor and make changes to the written and/or practical parts of the succession plan over time. There is always the possibility of investing in an employee, grooming them for a particular role, who then leaves.

Nonetheless, most companies will find that the positives will most often outweigh the negatives in efficient succession planning systems.

Effective organisations do not passively wait for the future, they create it by investing their time, thoughts, and planning in order to ensure the continuity of their leadership talent. This ensures the continued effective performance of your organisation by establishing a process to develop and replace key staff over time. Being proactive is always a better option than being reactive, and succession planning is a step in the right direction for any organisation.

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