People
Issue No. 5 - April/June 2002
Succession Planning in a Migratory World
by Paul Anderson
Along with a number of other human resource management issues such as 360° performance appraisal, psychological profiling and management coaching, the focus on succession planning has waxed and waned over the years.
In 1996 a plane carrying US Secretary Ron Brown and more than 30 executives from major US corporations, crashed in Bosnia, sending a dramatic wake up call to corporate Boards, CEOs and senior HR managers around the globe. In turn, it led many corporations, government agencies, and even non-profit enterprises to resuscitate otherwise dormant succession planning programs.
The counterbalance to this was the downsizing focus of the late 1980s and 1990s during which middle managers, more than any other group, bore the brunt of a continual push for cost saving measures which dramatically thinned their ranks and lessened opportunities for succession programs and training.
One of the key factors behind the current refocus on succession planning is that employment and tenure of employment trends have changed over the past 10-15 years. Mid to senior level managers are no longer spending 10 years with one employer. In fact, the average private sector tenure in this group tends to be 3-5 years.
This higher turnover of staff is a problem for business as the cost of replacement in terms of loss of productive time and the timing and costs involved in the recruitment process directly effects bottom line profits. In businesses with relationship focussed activities such as product or service sales, the impact is felt even more. Acknowledgement of this has seen businesses place a much greater emphasis on retention schemes and succession planning.
Succession planning itself is a vital staff retention tool in that employees who are provided with opportunities to extend their training and responsibilities within a company, often perceive that company as being interested in their needs and professional development. As a result it en...
