By Tim Shackelford, Fire Chief, Chino Valley Fire District and Mike Messina, Organizational Development Consultant, Messina and Associates, Inc.
Unpredictable, a word that often comes to mind when we think about the future. This is for good reason especially in the public sector where often times we are impacted by events that are beyond our control. Events such as natural disasters, manmade disasters, economic downturns such as we experienced in 2008, or even local and national political climates that change our focus and intent. Historically the public sector has tried to plan for such events and given the nature of unpredictable events we haven’t fared too badly. But one area that is almost completely predictable and oftentimes has a long lasting negative impact on our organizations has gone unconsidered, succession planning. Given the large investment many organizations make preparing for large scale events that are unpredictable it would seem prudent to engage in the relatively inexpensive process of planning for future leadership.
While succession planning is often discussed most organizations are hard pressed to define the plan that is in place or if we can it’s something to do with the upper levels of management or at best first line supervision and up. For this article, the term succession planning will be replaced with a more comprehensive process called succession development planning (SDP). What’s the difference? SDP engages employees in the organization at all levels; it is even present in the hiring and screening of new employees. In fact employee development is the key component in succession development as future leaders are identified and prepared much earlier in their careers than has been the case with traditional succession plans.
This article offers your organization a step-by-step guide for succession development planning and implementation. The goal is to engage interested employees in creating their own specific development plan with the assistance of their immediate supervisor. Increasing employee engagement can reduce employee turnover, increase job satisfaction, create more innovation and assist in identifying future leaders for succession. By using the existing performance appraisal process as an instrument to ensure development and assist employees in attaining their career goals, assessment of progress can be routinely tracked. As well the talent development aspects of this plan can serve as a tool to assist the organization with a higher level of focus on succession planning.
The initial step in plan development is a meeting with executive staff members to discuss the importance of employee development. Discussion points should include how an intentional focus on career development for all employees leads to greater employee engagement and assists in identifying future leaders. The overall outcome should include the realization that having a development plan will send a strong message to employees that management places a high value on investing in people.
The second step is creating a leadership development team (LDT) comprised of supervisors, middle managers, managers and other employees (union representatives, etc.) that are interested in being part of a “train the trainer” process to help design a development plan for the organization. The process for putting together this team can be as simple as an all-inclusive email that invites interested parties to attend an informational meeting describing the duties of the LDT and the organization’s need to develop employees. Executive staff and others should invite key members in the organization to attend the initial meeting. Key members can be those who have demonstrated an interest in leadership training in the past, influential members from all levels of the organization, union members, and others.
The LDT’s key function is to collectively develop a customized plan for implementing and maintaining an array of development opportunities for staff. Some things for the team to consider are:
- The effectiveness of the existing performance evaluation tool for employee development
- The ease of use of the existing performance appraisal tool
- When implementation of the plan will occur organizationally
- When individual implementation will occur (mid annual evaluation or at the next scheduled evaluation date)
- How to develop a library of resources including reading materials, video training aids, organizational intranet, etc.)
- How often to schedule LDT meetings
- Effective use of the TILL matrix as a guide for employee goal development (TILL = Technical, Interpersonal and Leadership Learning)
- How to conduct an individual SWOT analysis
- How to develop a personal growth and development network
- How to conduct a coaching conversation
- How to deal with non-engaged employees
The performance appraisal process will serve as a tool for development as well as a method of documenting poor or unacceptable performance. If deficiencies are noted, they can be used as a method of identifying goals for improvement.
Members of the LDT will serve as ambassadors to all members of the organization to make the plan clear and to provide assistance to all supervisors in their work with individual employees.
The final step after all of the above bullet-pointed details are worked through by the LDT will be an employee plan that encompasses the following:
- An employee meeting with his/her supervisor to identify career goals (hopes and dreams)
- A personal SWOT analysis can be completed by the employee to identify known or suspected Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
- Using the TILL matrix both parties will come to consensus on the goals for the coming year. (Technical, interpersonal, and leadership learning)
- The supervisor will assist the employee in developing a career networking team for the employee to utilize in development
- The two will decide on future check-up dates (quarterly) to assess progress (nothing precludes impromptu meetings outside of regularly scheduled meetings to address problems)
A succession development plan gives you the opportunity to make a lasting impact on your organization and employees. The future is unpredictable, but the transition of leadership in your organization doesn’t have to be. Planning for future leaders through succession development is a relatively inexpensive way to ensure your organization’s success and financial stability into the future.