Succession planning at its very essence is a process to ensure that the right people are in the right places at the right time. A main goal of succession planning is to, as much as possible, fill vacancies with internal candidates that know and understand the culture of the organization and whom the board has a true understanding of character, performance history and work ethics.
CUNA’s 2010-2011 Complete Credit Union Staff Salary Survey Report shows 58% of Credit Union’s have a CEO succession plan, 16% plan to by year’s end, but 25% don’t have one at all. 25%! Add to this another sobering statistic—by 2016, 60% of the credit union CEOs will be retiring and the supply of leadership candidates will not meet the demand.
And this is just an example of one small vertical industry. The trends are the same in many industries as baby boomers reach retirement age.
At the risk of oversimplification, the five steps in developing a meaningful succession plan are:
- Identify positions and estimate timeframe of projected transitions
- Identify succession candidates
- Implement development plans for candidates to acquire and enhance required skill sets
- Assign mentors and periodically evaluate readiness of candidates
- Continually review plan with CEO and Board
It’s no wonder talent management vendors are hopping on the bandwagon and scrambling to provide succession planning services. HRN has been providing succession planning consulting and plan development services for over 10 years.
