Succession planning
Featured in the The Competencies Activity Pack training manual
By Roger Pattison & Andrea Moffat
Category: Competencies
Credit price: 4 download credits (Single user)
All companies and organisations must, in order to survive, identify the people who have the talent and potential to succeed. However, this can be a very subjective process. Managers often view their staff through different eyes; some see potential where other cannot. Also the Peter Principle applies. Laurence J Peter (1919-1990) was a Canadian academic. He observed incompetence everywhere he looked. The result was the Peter Principle, which said: 'Managers in an organisation rise to their level of incompetence through being promoted until they failed to do well in their current job.' However, to ignore the need for succession planning in the future would be equally disastrous. People like to know that career progression is possible. Those with talents will leave if they are not challenged and motivated, and the future well-being of the organisation is heavily dependent on developing its future management. This training activity helps participants understand what succession planning is about, and allows them to assess four staff for their potential.
You begin the training activity by looking at the benefits of succession planning, asking the participants for their suggestions and any disadvantages they can see. Using appraisal notes about a project manager called Chris, the participants assess competency levels, further development needs and promotability ratings. As a group, the participants then consider Chris's information as part of a 'succession plan'. They examine why information such as age, length of service and time in the current job is needed to develop effective succession planning. In small groups, the participants then assess another individual and their suitability for promotion in the same way they did for Chris. An training optional exercise provides further practice in assessment for succession planning. The training activity closes with a brief discussion of the participants' findings in the exercise they carried out in their groups, and a review of the key learning points about using competencies in assessment for succession planning.
Who is it for: This succession planning training activity is intended for use by trainers with managers in assessing their people in the use and benefits of succession planning processes using competencies.
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 20 |
| Typical Duration: | 02:45:00 |
| No of Pages: | 22 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Additional resources: Three prepared sheets of flipchart paper.
Purpose: This succession planning training activity is intended for use by trainers with managers in training them to assess their people in the use and benefits of a simple succession planning process based on the use of competencies.The training resource looks at the benefits of succession planning, how to develop effective succession plans and then reviews the key learning points about the use of competencies in assessment for succession planning.
Download the training activity, Succession planning as featured in the Fenman training manual; The Competencies Activity Pack