When it comes to long-term planning for your business, regardless of its size, succession planning should be a key part of the process. Key benefits of succession planning include:
- Time and cost savings. If your top employees suddenly left tomorrow, your organization could lose valuable time and resources while scouring for replacements. Succession planning can reduce the burden of sudden departures.
- Identify areas for improvement. Taking an objective look at your organization during succession planning can help you identify any strengths and weaknesses in your business.
- Helps HR be more proactive. Rather than hiring or responding to management reactively, succession planning allows HR to be more proactive, making your company a better place to work.
While succession planning is integral for every organization, there are some best practices to keep in mind so that your investment is maximized:
- Evaluate everyone. Yes, everyone. When it comes to the long-term stability and success of your business, strong leadership is imperative. Today’s mail clerk could be tomorrow’s CEO.
- Look beyond CEO. Succession planning is critical for all key roles within an organization. While you’re looking at all of those employees we mentioned above, be sure to consider their best potential roles. To determine which roles need succession planning, ask yourself this question: “If [blank] left tomorrow, what would we do?”
- Think about mentoring. Extensive preparation is needed by all successful leaders. Once you’ve identified successors, it’s imperative you give them the preparation they need to succeed once their opportunity comes.
- Identify talent needs. When it comes to succession planning, a strong talent pipeline is critical. Now’s the time to assess your talent and identify any current or potential future gaps that could hinder your succession planning.
Taking the time and resources for succession planning now can mean a much more stable and successful organization in the long term. The team at Helpmates is experienced in talent strategies and assessments. We are here to help businesses across Southern California with their succession and talent investment planning.
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