Succession Planning Can Improve Business Performance

Succession Planning Can Improve Business Performance

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A significant number of businesses can improve performance by operating a succession planning process.

Research by XpertHR revealed that just less than a quarter of businesses has introduced a formal process for succession planning, which is useful for identifying and developing internal employees to fill key leadership positions within a company.

Furthermore, less than one in three organisations operates an informal succession planning system even though such a process will increase the number of experienced and capable employees that are ready to assume available positions.

The survey discovered that organisations which did not utilise a succession policy were often too small to have the necessary departmental resources to support such a planning process.

Other reasons why organisations did not have a succession policy in place were that they did not have the relevant HR expertise, they enjoyed low levels of employee turnover or the nature of their business made the process unnecessary.

XpertHR found that large businesses were most likely to have a formal process as nearly half of those with 1,000 employees had one compared with 22 per cent of those with a workforce between 250 and 999 and 13 per cent with fewer than 250 staff.

Succession planning is a relatively secret business process as less than half of organisations thought their process was transparent while over a quarter claimed their succession system was effectively diverse.

Rachel Suff, author of the report, said that businesses were increasingly aware of the importance of a diverse workforce and that was impacting on their succession planning policies.

She said: "Some employers have reservations about succession planning inhibiting diversity, although this concern is more understandable in the context of more traditional and elitist succession plans.

"The modern plans around today tend to be more open, fair and inclusive, and based on meritocracy, with many employers taking steps to encourage diversity among successors."

Organisations that are unsure about the benefits of a succession planning procedure should employ performance improvement consulting experts as these professionals have the necessary business knowledge to enhance business processes.

In his report "Why the Leadership Bench Never Gets Deeper: Ten Insights About Executive Talent Development", Gregory C. Kesler said an effective succession planning procedure is dependent on well established clear business objectives.

Businesses such as GE, Honeywell, IBM, Marriott, Microsoft, Pepsi and Proctor and Gamble are well known for their succession planning and executive talent development practices.

About the Author:
Himsworth Consultancy is a leading Management Consultancy firm of senior business and peformance improvement consulting professionals that can improve customer service through systems thinking. Click on the links to find out more.



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