Succession planning is vital to the longevity of your organisation. It is inevitable that managers and leaders will leave your company at some point. Who will you count on to take their places? The information gathered through 360 degree reviews is not only useful for improving performance, it is also a valuable tool for ensuring that your organisation is prepared for the future and has an effective succession plan in place.
Knowledge is key to creating a succession plan. First, you must identify the strengths and qualities that make your current leadership successful. 360 degree feedback will pinpoint the knowledge, skills and abilities of your current top-performing managers. It will enable you ascertain the characteristics necessary for success in specific roles within your organisation.
After you know which qualities to look for in successful leaders and managers, you can begin creating a pool of employees with similar qualities and the potential to play a greater role in the future. 360 feedback gives you valuable information about the strengths of your team, and directs you towards those who have the right qualities to become leaders. By matching strengths with particular roles, 360 feedback will help you identify where potential leaders might fit into the future organisational structure of your company.
The feedback collected in a 360 review will also identify employee weaknesses, including your future leaders’. Once you have this knowledge, you will understand what training and development programmes you need to prepare future leaders for higher level roles and broader responsibilities. This will allow you to train future leaders, fill the gaps that were revealed by your 360 feedback process, and implement employee development plan to eliminate weaknesses.
360 degree feedback is an extremely useful succession planning tool that will ensure your key leadership positions are filled with the right people. Download our free white paper Why Use 360 Degree Feedback to learn more about the benefits of 360 degree feedback.
