Succession Planning Tools

While this information is staggering, the urgency of implementing plans and tools with which this can be combated is astounding as we are only two years from this reality.  One thing that is absolutely certain is organizations must begin focusing on succession planning. According to Cutting Edge Information, 67% of organizations do not currently have any formal succession planning process while 45% of the world's largest corporations have no meaningful approach in place for developing their CEO and other high level positions.

 

Now is the time to have an effective succession planning process in place and to move it to the forefront of your corporate agenda.

 

SmartMoves! has over a decade of experience helping organizations develop and implement successful, customized succession planning strategies. Our proven expertise in succession planning, combined with our comprehensive suite of "best of class" tools and assessments, makes us uniquely qualified to help your business survive and thrive in the years to come.

 

Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, SmartMoves! thoroughly evaluated and selected the best tools and assessments from all available resources to maximize every aspect of your succession planning initiatives.  As we help you develop your plan, it is strongly advised that some of these instruments be incorporated into your process as a way to make sure that your succession planning decisions are on target and yield the greatest return on investment.  Some of the tools we might use help to identify, assess and select high potentials, others will help you develop them, while others will facilitate the onboarding process:

 

1. Identify and Assess High Potentials:

Job Matching Instruments

We use a number of predictive assessments that can first IDENTIFY who the potential successors might be and the necessary traits that are required for an individual to perform at an exceptional level in a particular job function.  We call this a success template.  Once these traits are defined, your candidates being considered for promotion are ASSESSED and their traits are compared to the success template that was previously developed.  These assessments produce a number of reports that make it easy for you to compare the attributes of several candidates to the requirements of a specific job, or the attributes of a single candidate to the requirements of multiple jobs within your organization.  Our motto is "assess, don't guess"!

 

A first step might be to take the overall temperature of your workforce.  There are often hidden jewels (people who make a terrific contribution but are "invisible") who, as a result of their "invisibility", aren't even considered in the succession planning process—but should be.  There are others who you might think would fit well, but actually are totally disengaged and would make poor choices.  We recommend conducting a comprehensive workforce analysis before proceeding further:

 

The WorkForce Analysis Profile™

In the midst of the workforce talent crisis, successful businesses are finding it more important than ever to understand the motivation, needs, and intentions of their high potential employees and to translate that information into effective succession plans that build loyalty, efficiency and effectiveness. The WorkForce Analysis Profile™ , which evolved from a $2.3 million study of almost 8,000 employees, is a critical step in strengthening your company's workforce and eliminating many of its persistent and expensive problems.

 

2. Develop High Potentials:

Along with identification and assessment, DEVELOPMENT is one of the most important components for effective succession planning. How else is an organization going to groom successors to do what's needed to propel a business forward? 360 Degree Leadership Surveys  As part of your succession planning, once your high potentials have been identified and assessed, the next step is to discover their leadership strengths and opportunities for development so that you can begin properly grooming each individual for their new role.  SmartMoves! offers a variety of multi-rater surveys, to help you maximize your leadership talent. Some of these are off-the-shelf, while others can be completely customized with your own leadership competencies. After consulting with you, we can determine which survey would best suit your needs. Just a few options are listed below:

 

The Leadership Profile

The InfoTool Leadership Profile is a ready-made early warning system that provides multi-rater, real time data on the effectiveness of your leadership, the environment they create, and their ability to deliver value to your customers (internal and external). Fully customizable, the results of the diagnostic provide a platform for launching leadership effectiveness initiatives that convert your strategy into action, and create a system that links your organization to the customer.

 

The Emotional Competency Framework

Research shows that for jobs of all kinds, emotional intelligence is twice as important as IQ plus technical skills. Emotional intelligence is more than 85% of what sets star performers from the average.

 

The Profiles CheckPoint 360° System is an off the shelf multi-rater feedback process that provides managers and leaders with an opportunity to receive an evaluation of their job performance from the people around them - their boss, their peers, and the people whose work they supervise.

 

3.  Onboarding of High Potentials

Last but not least, you may wish to provide an executive coach to help bring the new executive on board the fastest and smoothest possible way.  Our executive coaching team can work with your newly appointed employee to bring them up to speed based on all the information we have gathered to date and insure that those critical first 90 days launch the new executive on the road to success.

 

Developing leadership talent is a long-term investment

A working succession system results in having more than one good person available for a key job. Real success requires choices between two or more qualified people. In order to have choices, you need to identify who is ready now and what it will take to make others ready when you need them.

 

What are the other benefits?  

A well-developed succession planning process increases the retention of superior employees because they recognize that time, attention and skill development is being invested in them for the purpose of career development. When you continue to challenge and reward talented employees, you eliminate their need to seek opportunities elsewhere.

 

Along with a well thought out and planned strategy, measurement tools can help you make smarter decisions along the way and increase the likelihood that you will make the right decisions.