Organisational Resilience and Succession - Q and A
Lumenii's Human Resouces Webinar, Building Organisational Resilience via Succession Planning, saw South African experts sharing their practical experience with rolling out effective succession planning in their organisation.
There were a lot of interesting questions from audience members, both before and during the webinar, some of which were addressed live by the panelists. We've answered the questions below according to the following themes:
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Building a succession pool
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Best practices for succession roll-out
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Handling successors and employee expectations
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Achieving longevity and buy-in
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Organisational resilience and external factors
Building a Succession Pool
Q: How do you identify individuals suitable for succession planning?
Start by compiling a broad succession pool, based on the organisation's structure. For example, if you are doing succession planning for a senior management role, the succession pool could be all middle managers in the same division.
The next step is to identify high potential successors from your pool. The best way to do this is to use scientific methods to measure the underlying ability and agility of the individual, to understand their innate potential for promotion. Lumenii's clients do this by assessing competency potential and Learning Agility, as well as at times, performance.
It's then important to bring in the subjective perspective, via structured conversations with stakeholders.
Q: Is the 9-box matrix still being used for succession planning?
Yes, the 9-grid matrix is still an integral part of Lumenii's succession methodology, as it is one of the best ways to get a holistic view of employee potential and performance. However, in our experience, organisations often base their 9-grid decisions on management opinion alone; to get the most out of the 9-grid in succession, it instead needs to be based on objective, predictive measures of potential and performance.
Q: In the absence of formal performance record/data, are there any other objective measures to determine a candidate's performance for the purpose of appointing him/her as a successor?
We recommend using 360-degree feedback surveys to provide insight into employee performance. These integrate self ratings along with the perspectives of management, colleagues, subordinates and clients to provide a structured overview of performance, strengths and development areas. These results can be pulled directly into a 9-grid matrix, or combined with other metrics.
Q: Are there online assessments one can use to assess Agility?
Yes, Lumenii offers a range of Learning Agility assessments designed for selection, development and succession. We use objective psychometric assessments to measure and understand Agility; these can be repeated over time to assess the ROI of development and succession initiatives. You can find out more about psychometric assessments at Lumenii.
Q: How do identify that the employee in your pool is ready?
In Lumenii's succession planning process, the relevant HR professional and line manager together decide on readiness level based on a structured scale. This is based on a combination of numerical metrics, organisational data, manager feedback and feedback from the employee themselves.
Best Practices for Succession Roll-Out
Q: How can you effectively execute a succession planning and gap analysis process in an organisation? Who is involved? Who is responsible?
There is no one right way to execute succession planning and gap analyses as this would very much depend on the organisation's structure, resources, budget and other unique needs. However, there are some common best practices that should be kept in mind.
The first is the need for buy-in and support from senior leadership; the process should be managed by HR but driven by leadership.
The second is for a broad succession structure; our suggestion is to start small and grow the process over time. As Ashnie Muthusamy mentioned in the webinar, it is easy to become bogged down in setting up policies and frameworks, but sometimes it is equally important just to start and learn along the way.
Thirdly, we advocate the use of objective talent data into the succession process, instead of relying entirely on management opinion. Lumenii has a comprehensive succession workshop available that teaches HR professionals our end-to-end methodology.
Q: At which level in the institution should you start succession planning?
Succession planning should be done where a role is considered critical. There are a number of questions you can ask to determine whether a role is critical for the organisation, including:
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What’s the day-to-day impact of X position on our company or department?
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If the person currently in X position left, how would that affect our operations?
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Are there some big risks if this position became vacant?
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Does this role require scarce experience, skills or knowledge?
Q: Can you share a Succession Planning Policy and/or template with me?
Unfortunately we do not have a generic policy available, as these vary widely by organisation. We would suggest looking into Ashnie Muthusamy's Succession Management book, which includes many helpful templates and guidelines that can be integrated into your policy. Alternatively, we would suggest Lumenii's end-to-end succession planning workshop, which could upskill you and your team as well as guide you in getting succession off the ground.
Q: If you are a growing Organisation and do not have obvious progressive roles to grow into currently, being fully aware that progression is not always linear, how do you progress?
Some organisations structure their succession pools strictly by role and level. Other organisations prefer to create a broad succession pipeline that includes their "top talent". These individuals are then be provided with development opportunities and earmarked for future promotions, albeit without one specific role in mind. Given your description, I feel that the latter model would work well for your organisation, especially as you are growing and compiling your talent pipeline will also help to provide insights into strategic gaps that can inform selection.
Q: Is succession planning critical for small project based organisations?
Small businesses are quite unique, as the company's knowledge and skills are typically held by a few key individuals. Starting succession planning as soon as possible helps to put a plan into place to ensure the business does not falter if one of these key individuals leaves.
Our suggestion is to start succession planning on a small scale, and iteratively roll it out as the organisation grows. Keep in mind that succession planning also guides the organisation's selection strategy, and thus will be a useful source of insights to ensure the company grows with the right talent at the right time.
Q: Could you share some practical tips on doing succession planning in line with Employment Equity targets?
An effective succession methodology advocates a combination of objective talent data with more in-depth management insights, and also takes into account variables the organisation considers important, for example years of experience.
In the case of employment equity targets, these should be structurally brought into the succession decision making process. Practically, this can be done in a number of ways, including segmenting the succession pool by equity groups, or calculating a particular weighting based on equity profile that can be calculated into a final score per individual.
Handling Successors and Employee Expectations
Q: In South Africa's climate of constitutional fairness, how does an organisation implement a succession plan without risk of accusation of non-open recruitment and unfair promotions?
Implementing succession planning for the first time in organisations requires some change management, both for leaders and employees. Open communication about the process, why it is being done, what benefits it holds and what it means for individuals, is essential for employees to feel safe. A forum for employee feedback should also be available, should they have questions or concerns.
Secondly, it is important that the organisation's recruitment policy aligns with succession initiatives. A policy decision needs to be made about how recruitment and promotion will be handled. This needs to be clearly documented and the organisation needs to consistently stick to this.
Q: Should we inform staff that they being considered for succession or would that create false expectations and inevitable discontentment?
The advice shared during the webinar is very relevant to avoid over-promising to employees or creating expectations that can't be fulfilled. The panelists recommended that successors be given feedback that they are part of the "top talent pool", and that organisations avoid earmarking one person for one future role, as this can create risk, should that person leave. As a member of the talent pool, employees can then participate in development.
Q: Should all successors be advised that they are successors, and should they all have development plans, given that the succession plan could change in a year's time? How widely should the approved succession plan be shared within the business?
We believe strongly that all successors be given feedback on the outcomes of the process, as well as development plans that are tailored to their needs. However, the extent of this feedback varies by organisation. Our advice is to inform successors that they are part of the talent pool, without earmarking one individual for one particular role or promising a particular course of events.
While the succession plan is always evolving over time, development plans are important, because without these, employees may not make the desired progress.
Lastly, we believe the overall succession plan only be shared with EXCO and HR, and versions thereof with other parties, e.g. a senior manager could receive feedback for his/her department.
Q: How do you balance the implementation of succession planning and recruitment policy - all jobs to be advertised and everyone suitable to apply?
This decision rests with the organisation and should be implemented consistently. It should be based on the maturity of the succession planning process and the size of the talent pool. If succession planning has not been rolled out or if the talent pool is fairly small, we would recommend the policy be to open up positions to all applicants. Keep in mind that this policy can change over time, as long as it is well documented and communicated.
Achieving Longevity and Buy-In
Q: How can you convince Executive team that succession planning, along with transformation, is very important and that it is imperative for the longevity of the business?
Our suggestion is to compile a business case for succession planning that includes research and case studies from other organisations. You can take a look at our South African succession planning infographic as a starting point. This business case should also provide some examples of how succession planning could address risk within your organisation's particular context.
Identify a senior leader who would be open to hearing your business case and presenting the cause to other senior leaders in the business.
Q: What measures have you put in place to ensure integrity and success of the succession planning process? That is, to avoid the process just being an HR tick box and not necessarily being considered when a vacancy opens up.
One of the best ways to ensure integrity and success is to obtain the buy-in from leaders. Succession planning should not be owned by HR. It should be driven by leaders, and HR's role should be to facilitate the process and provide tools along the way.
If getting buy-in is difficult, it is a good idea to start with one senior leader and have them champion the process and move it forward over time.
A second piece of advice is to keep going and not treat succession planning as a once-off activity. With each iteration, your strategy becomes clearer, you learn more from the year before and your capability grows.
Organisational Resilience and External Factors
Q: What are the characteristics of a resilient organisation?
A resilient organisation can be defined as one that is able to anticipate, prepare for, respond and adapt to everything from minor everyday threats to acute shocks and incremental changes. While anticipating change and preparing for it is important, it is equally critical to be able to implement your plan at the right time, and adapt it as needed. As discussed in the webinar, building resilience is important at an individual level (building agility and performance) as well as a company-level (culture, strategy and risk). Succession planning brings together the individual and company level, to create a talent pipeline that drives individual development and mitigates organisational risk.
Q: There are so many traumatic challenges in South Africa, like natural disasters, COVID and looting happening one after the other. How do we keep bouncing back wave after wave?
Indeed, research shows that over the last few decades, high-impact events have increased in number, including economic crises, fluctuating market conditions and natural disasters. This is happening on a global scale, but also very much on a South African-level.
An organisation's response to these events relies on their resilience, which can be thought of as a combination of their Leadership & Strategy, their Preparedness & Planning, and their Culture & Behaviours. You can learn more about these dimensions from the model created by the International Consortium for Organizational Resilience.
Q: With the great resignation still raging, how are organisations managing their talent pipeline?
It is our experience that succession planning helps to address the risks associated by the great resignation by (1) developing a talent pipeline to address any gaps when people leave, and (2) by increasing employee engagement via career growth and development opportunities.
Successful organisations are balancing these two aspects to deal with the great resignation: ensuring they are prepared for turnover, while simultaneously working to maximise talent retention and engagement.
Watch the Solving Succession Planning Webinar by Lumenii Talent Management
At the Solving Succession Planning webinar, South African experts discussed their perspectives on the value of an effective succession process. Panellists shared how their organisations tackle the succession puzzle, the approaches they follow and what risks they see in ineffective strategies.
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