Your Guide to a Comprehensive Succession Planning Strategy
Develop Succession Slates with Data
Organizations that have identified qualified high potentials and thoroughly defined their critical roles are prepared to develop succession slates. However, the process should be data-informed to be most effective. This will minimize the impact of bias and error.
The Role of Assessment in Slating
Personality assessments don't tell you who to slate for succession. Instead, they provide objective data to inform succession discussions. When succession slates are influenced by personal relationships and subjective opinions, decisions often rely on vague criteria such as whether someone "has enough caliber."
With valid assessment data, organizations can . . .
- Compare potential successors using consistent, objective criteria
- Identify role-specific development needs for potential successors
- Limit the effects leader emergence, organizational politics, and bias have on decisions
- Create more diverse slates
- Compare external candidates with internal candidates when necessary, mitigating the unknown factor
Building Your Succession Planning Process
Success Profiles
We recommend starting with individualized success profiles for C-suite roles, then developing function-specific success profiles for VP-level roles.
Assessment and Development
Once profiles are established, assess potential successors against these criteria, incorporate 360-degree feedback, and design targeted development and coaching initiatives using assessment data to identify gaps.
Establish realistic development timelines to inform successor readiness levels: for example, ready now, ready in one to two years, or ready in three to five years. These timelines should be revisited as both individual development and organizational needs evolve. Geographical mobility, development progress, and changing business priorities can all affect these timelines.
Leader Onboarding and Team Assimilation
When a candidate is ready to transition to a new role, help them onboard with a six-month assessment-based coaching engagement. To further accelerate their effectiveness, facilitate a team development session focused on assimilating the new leader.
Group Analytics
Hogan can help you aggregate assessment data to identify organizational trends, typically presented in the language of your success model. This will help you identify patterns in bench strength and development needs.
