Best-in-class companies implement succession planning

Succession planning has become imperative for assuring that critical talent is prepared and available when needed. According to a newly published report by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks company, “Succession Planning Strategies: The Right People, in the Right Jobs, at the Right Time”, new trends are emerging and top-performing companies are staying ahead of the curve by revamping their initiatives and altering the way they view their employees. Over half of these best-in-class companies evaluate their succession planning programs annually, quarterly and monthly compared to the rest of the market that never evaluates their programs or does so on an ad hoc basis.

The report’s key findings indicate that 60 percent of best-in-class organizations are using automation for succession planning compared to 28 percent of laggard companies. In addition, 48 percent of companies identified “lack of succession planning and career development tools” as their  greatest challenge for succession planning.

"Although one would assume that every company would be a champion of succession planning — revamping their process and adopting new ways to fill talent pipelines — few companies know how to do it right,” says David Foster, Aberdeen Group’s human capital management practice leader. “Succession planning has changed over the past 10 years. It is no longer a reactive, emergency-driven process that targets only executives. Today, succession planning needs to include every level of the organization. It has become the art and science of talent transition management."

Foster offers the following recommendations for improving the succession planning process:

• Evaluate your succession planning processes first; then invest in technology to support them.
• Link succession planning to other talent management processes, such as performance management, learning and development, and compensation.
• Review the success of your program to quantify how it affects key employee retention.

The “Succession Planning Strategies Benchmark Report” examines more than 200 companies, showing how they differentiate themselves in their succession planning process, organization, data management, and technology. Readers will also receive guidance on next steps to take according to the challenges they face and the maturity of their organizations.

Sponsors of this report include Aon Consulting and Insala. To obtain a free copy of this report, visit http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=3682.