Sponsored Content
Leadership
By Jennifer Carnegie, of Amicus
MOST people in business understand succession planning to be the selection and development of key talent to ensure continuity of critical roles.
There are many benefits to having a robust plan if one of your key people suddenly leaves the company. It provides continuity of service, minimises risk and disruption and protects the hard work, time and investment that has been put into the business.
It can also allow internal people to progress in the organisation, which creates opportunities for others, saves money on senior external hires and provides a structured approach to preparing the next generation of leaders.
At Amicus, we are fans of even the simplest of succession plans but there are three pitfalls we often see, which are limiting for organisations. These are:
nPlans based on the roles and organisation structure for today.
nPlans which are more concerned with skills than traits and the ability to learn.
nPlans which make assumptions about the capability and aspirations of the current talent pool.
Predicting future requirements of any role must look beyond today, anticipate future trends and the impact of advancing technology. Involving diverse and independent people in your discussions is also likely to stretch your thinking.
Skill requirements are changing as fast as the technology around us. With a well-thought-through development programme, the right people can acquire the skills for future roles. The “right people” are those who have the traits – such as confidence, flexibility and attention to detail – that are valued by your organisation, and those who have the cognitive ability to learn and adapt as they go.
You can’t be sure of the aspirations of your current workforce unless you have a structured discussion with each of them, and you can’t be sure of where the best capability lies in your organisation unless you have benchmarked it internally. We have the tools and techniques to do both of these quickly and effectively.
Amicus can support you to gain a thorough, objective understanding of the strengths of your team members, their cognitive ability, potential and aspirations in as little as one day. There is no better foundation to preparing for the future.
