Guest Blog by Kerry Chown, Cobalt HR
Do you have a clear plan should a key member of staff leave unexpectedly? How would you cope if a senior leader in your business became ill and was off work for a long period of time? If you don’t have a plan in place for these scenarios, and they occur, it could have a major impact on your business.
There are some robust tools that can help you achieve great succession planning:
1. A good appraisal process will help to identify development opportunities.
2. 360 degree appraisals, which include the views of customers and colleagues, will give a rounded view of overall performance and development gaps.
3. A nine box grid, which will help you to identify potential, and what to do with it.
The following tips will help you get started in developing a great succession plan.
- Identify key roles that are critical to business success.
- Ensure your staff have clear career plans. Identify those who want promotion and those who are ready to leave.
- Invest in the skills of your staff.
- Do you have people thinking of retiring? How could you use their skills and expertise before they leave?
- Implement a mentoring scheme to share expertise.
- Keep your plan under review as things will change.
- Develop all your people. If people feel you are leaving some out, it will have a negative effect.
- Carry out a skills matrix to identify gaps and development potential.
- Seek external people support if necessary.
Cobalt HR would be happy to work with you to develop succession planning tools for your business.
