Succession Planning

Succession planning identifies and develops individuals within an organisation. The process may be applied only with the most senior positions in mind or expand to cover critical roles within the organisation.

The aim of succession management is to manage the risk posed to the organisation if key personnel are lost. The process allows an organisation to identify, train and mentor individuals that could potentially fulfil the roles on either a temporary or permanent basis. This allows an organisation to maintain a level of continuity without ruling out the option to recruit externally for a role.

In order to implement succession planning an organisation must define the characteristics, skills, qualifications and other attributes that define jobs, roles and individuals. The activities broadly fall within competency management but are also a part of recruitment management where similar attributes of a job or role must be defined.

Succession planning is an ongoing process which is fed information captured through other human resource processes such as performance management, competency and training managements.