Novations Group, a global consulting firm based in Boston, released the results of a succession planning survey conducted in December, 2007.  2,556 senior HR and training & development executives were polled regarding the current state and future direction of their succession planning programs.

Three-fourths of large organizations perform succession planning; among that number, 63% focus on the senior level, but 46% have broadened that to now include mid-level managers.

This growing trend illustrates the maturing of the succession plannning process. Initially it was a program, in some instances,  mandated by regulatory agencies or a corporate board of directors to ensure if the top brass of a company went down in a plane crash, or a key executive resigned or retired,  that company leadership positions would quickly be filled with qualified internal candidates that have been selected and prepared. Now companies are seeing the wisdom in such forward thinking and taking it down into the bread basket of the organization where it can arguably have the greatest and most successful impact — mid management.

Supporting the Novations survey findings, Bersin & Associates released a report in 2007 finding similar results. 64% of 750 companies have succession plans for senior executives. 26% also use succession planning for first-line managers and 47% for functional leaders. This research also found more women and minorities are being represented in succesion plans, up between 4 and 10% from 2005.

A wide variety of tools are available to plan and prepare succession plans. HRN Management Group has been providing succession planning consultation for many years and has a version of Performance Pro that is specifically developed to identify candidates for succession planning development.