Next in line or waiting in the wings – whether we’re talking royalty or recruitment, there’s nothing quite like a bit of succession planning to express true strength and spirit.

Last year’s royal agenda – the defiant Diamond Jubilee, unyielding even in the downpours and the Olympic Games complete with an applauding array of three generations of Windsors really highlighted a spectacular example of succession planning in action.

Even our sports stars are getting in on the succession act – last year's Olympics was a perfect example of succession planning in action, with future stars mixing it alongside current stars, while past stars such as Sebastian Coe pulled the strings.

But it seems businesses are lagging behind when it comes to sorting their own succession planning out.

In 2009, it was reported that 28% of UK firms had no formal succession planning process in place, while 28% used informal methods and 44% had no provision at all. You’d think that’d get better with time, but evidently it hasn’t.

According to talent analytics company SHL, in 2012, 43% of UK companies admit to having experienced an unexpected change in leadership in the past year and only 32% of the companies surveyed actually had a full CEO succession plan in place.

Some academics and business theorists even believe that succession planning is a waste of time. So it trying to plan ahead and prepare people for jobs a ridiculous idea since jobs and people are consistently changing or do we need this kind of forward thinking to excel?

Why failing to prepare is preparing to fail in succession planning

Have you ever wondered what would happen to your business if your top three employees left the organisation tomorrow? Or if key members of the senior management team parted ways to start their own businesses? What if your CRO became terminally ill – would everything still run smoothly?

Succession planning is the ultimate safeguard – to ensure a business continues to move in the right direction even if several members of staff jump ship. Deciding which key members of staff would fill the shoes of leaders should they depart is imperative for maintaining business success during a period of change and uncertainty.

Developing individuals within a company can also help to boost morale and engage people to remain focused, motivated and passionate about their role within the company. Succession planning also creates agile workforces who are adaptive to change. Just take a look at these comprehensive benefits that succession planning can bring to any organisation:

1) Being prepared:

Whether they’re retiring or planning to begin their own businesses, if a key member of staff leaves the company, having a succession plan in place will help you more quickly identify which employees will take over open positions so your business can continue to run as normal.

2) Saving time and money:

When you dedicate time to plan the future of your organisation, you’ll ultimately be saving time and money. Plans to promote and train people within your company means less time spent recruiting for external candidates, interviewing them and checking their references. Money allotted to those efforts will also decrease with a solid succession plan in place

3) Uncovering weaknesses:

Discovering the future leaders of your company reveals the strengths within your workforce, but it also uncovers the weaknesses that your organisation must work on to secure business and financial growth

4) Getting an in-depth insight:

Evaluating your workforce in preparation for succession planning gives you a great perspective of the talent in your organisation. When everyone knows who will fill the shoes of another will help the team better understand the day-to-day happenings of your business. So as you’re planning don’t solely include roles for higher-level executives. Incorporate middle managers and their direct reports to create a comprehensive succession plan.

How to implement succession planning 

To begin with, organisations should scope out the current situation before defining it fully. They should ask what roles are critical to the organisation and how far down should succession planning reach. Current positions and current competencies should also be taken into consideration.

The next step is to define the future state (or predicted future state) of the business – asking what competencies are needed for the future and what gaps exist between current and future talent demand and supply.

Identifying talent may seem straightforward as the next step but always remember to assess justly and ask who are the high potential candidates and what is their level of readiness?

When it’s time to develop that talent and those individuals, you should be asking whether development objectives are aligned to meet succession requirements and whether additional tools and resources are needed to implement plans for these workers.

The last and often most crucial step is monitoring and measuring the success of an individual’s development against the plan. Are there any external factors, which serve to enhance or impede this worker’s success?

Remember, succession planning requires planning itself. So for ultimate success, follow these key components:

·      Senior leadership participation

·      Alignment with organisation’s strategy

·      Clear definition of ‘successful leadership’

·      Integration into performance management

·      Talent management culture and mindset

·      Long-term perspective

·      Measurable value

·      Keeping plans current and meeting regularly to discuss updates