Succession Planning

The term “succession” contains the word “success.” In that sense, succession planning may be explained as a strategy for the organization to succeed. To some degree, succession planning has been occurring in organizations for many years. People have been groomed to take over positions through mentoring and even job-shadowing processes, but most organizations have failed to put in place a formalized structure for recognizing this tradition.

Succession planning is a process for ensuring that the vitality of an organization continues by developing potential successors for the positions identified as critical to operations. (The overall process of succession planning is outlined in Figure 9.3.) With the fluidity of positions and people in organizations, however, it is important to understand that such planning must be reviewed and revised frequently. A critical step in the succession planning model is to forecast demand and skills gaps for key positions (Blouin et al. 2006). What is critical today is no indication of what will be critical in the future, as evidenced by the rapid changes in technology and other medical advances.

  The Succession Planning Process

In many organizations, the succession planning process is done only for the top executive position. That line of thinking comes with the philosophy that only “high potential” individuals will benefit from the leadership development that is offered to support the succession planning program (Pintar, Capuano, and Rosser 2007). This mind-set is dysfunctional. Imagine an organization facing a huge wave of employees who are near retirement. No one is in line to fill the positions that these future retirees will leave vacant, because the organization’s succession planning is designed exclusively for the top executives. That scenario will cripple the organization. Moreover, it is important to recognize the value of exposing every employee, not just the “high potentials,” to the training and workshops targeted to support the development of those who were identified as successors. It is good practice to keep a list of candidates who are eligible to fill a critical position that someone will vacate or already left either through retirement or other means of attrition. Doing so ensures workplace sustainability and signifies the presence of effective leadership. The candidate list may include the names of potential successors; information related to their professional preparation, including the number of years it would take for them to be position-ready; and the competencies necessary for the position. This list can be as simple or as sophisticated as the organization requires.

Succession planning is a vehicle for social responsibility. It can be used by an organization to give an opportunity to or advance underrepresented or protected groups (Workforce Management 2005). Healthcare still lags behind other industries in terms of growing leaders within the organization—a practice that was almost nonexistent in healthcare in the past. According to a study by the American College of Healthcare Executives, the “overall promotion rate for managerial positions hovers around 64 percent,” while only 21 percent of the more than 722 healthcare institutions surveyed routinely practiced succession planning (Wilson 2005a). Health First, located in Brevard County, Florida, addressed its succession planning needs in 2007. The organization initiated a formal mentoring process, pairing up senior executives with junior managers and directors from across the organization. To make the mentoring relationships more comfortable for participants, each person comes from different business units, avoiding the conflict that can arise with direct-report relationships and allowing participants to freely express themselves (DeMarco 2007). Similarly, Martin Memorial Health Systems in Stuart, Florida, made a commitment to grow its leadership from within the organization. Martin Memorial instituted a leadership development program that uses career mapping (Wilson 2005b).

In the future, the bench strength of an organization will continue to play an important part in organizational vitality