Management Succession Planning

Appointing an intelligent and responsible management panel is necessary for the smooth working of any organization. This process of recruiting and appointing suitable people at the management level is termed as management succession planning. Read on to know more about the concept of management succession planning in this article.

Management succession planning can be defined as a top-level management recruitment process. This type of planning is usually done by projecting the future and current requirements of employees for higher management positions in the organization in case of resignations, death or retirement of any of the members of the management committee. A procedure wherein candidates are invited to fill in the management positions in the organization after interviewing them and putting them through tough tests in order to judge their management skills. The most suitable and capable amongst them are appointed by the organization.

The process of management succession planning can be implemented not only by appointing people from outside the organization but also people within the organization. There are many concepts associated with management succession planning, such as the planning procedure, the need for management succession planning and the benefits of the same. All of them will be further discussed in detail. Read on...

The Importance of Management Succession Planning

Many people ask, why it's important to utilize management succession planning in the organization? And I say why not? Business competition is increasing every moment. Only the best and the fittest survives in this competitive market and to hold the organization's position in this competition, you need to have clever people involved in planning and management.

Management succession planning gives you a clear idea of the capability of each and every individual for the respective position. If you do not have good planners and good leaders, your organization might lose business and sometimes even face the risk of closure. However, these can be observed in a company that does not use management succession planning. Therefore, it becomes necessary from the business development point of view to have good leaders in the organization.

Procedure for Management Succession Planning

Generally, people from the human resource management department are responsible for management succession planning as they are the ones who are in charge of recruiting. But, sometimes what bothers them is how to succeed in management succession planning, as they do not have proper knowledge of the procedure or do not know where to start. The steps discussed below will give you an idea of starting the management succession planning procedure.

•The very first step in management succession planning is to foresee your business in the next five years or so by studying the overall business strategy. Determine the expansion of your business for a certain period of time. Consider the requirements of the current positions in your company as well as the future positions likely to be generated with the advent of business expansion.

•Once you decide on the positions, figure out the responsibilities for that position and set up the criteria to apply and work for the position.

•Next, develop interviewing techniques, tests and material that would help you to judge the right candidate for any position.

•Once you have recruited the future leaders of your organization, make sure that you are ready with the grooming and management training programs necessary to cope with the position.

•Impart proper training, by giving the overview, explaining the job description in detail and also the expectations of the organization from them. Assigning projects to the candidate which involve the study of all the higher management functions such as planning, organizing, monitoring and controlling should also form a part of the training program.

•Besides continuing the planning procedure, also keep a periodic check to ensure that the process is heading in the right direction and also whether there are any loopholes in the planning process.

Benefits of Management Succession Planning

•If you develop a management succession plan within the organization, you can ensure the recruitment of people, already in the business and those who already have knowledge about organizational culture. This eliminates the risk of recruiting strangers in the organization for such an important position.

•Moreover, recruitment within the organization contributes to employee retention and reduces the cost incurred in the same.

•On the other hand, recruiting people from outside enables fresh talent to enter the organization, therefore management succession planning proves to be beneficial from both sides.

•You can have the best people planning and handling business for the organization, as you have tested them for their capabilities and other requisites.

So folks, this was a general discussion of the various aspects related to management succession planning for any organization. Do you know the use of management succession planning for family businesses? Management succession planning can be applied to handover responsibilities to your successors in a family business too. Even there, you need to groom your future leaders, make them understand the whole business and take decisions on their own. Now it is up to you to use your leadership skills as a tool in management succession planning and how to go about with the succession plan to help your organization in achieving newer heights!

By Ujwal Deshmukh