Inevitably as the cliched Baby Boomer Bubble traverses the business landscape it leaves in its substantial wake and wash something of a skills and leadership vacuum where fewer people are equipped to pick up the reins. Consequently, it is of crucial Succession Planning essentially means encouraging those who currently occupy leadership positions in an organization to ask the question, "What happens when I/we are not here anymore? What happens to the organizational structure, the people who

Inevitably as the cliched Baby Boomer Bubble traverses the business landscape it leaves in its substantial wake and wash something of a skills and leadership vacuum where fewer people are equipped to pick up the reins. Consequently, it is of crucial importance that those waiting in the wings are mentored, coached and equipped for their future roles and responsibilities, rather than being left in the lurch when retired leaders birdie and bogey the golf courses of Florida. The more training the leaders of tomorrow receive today, the more effective and less problematic that inevitable transition will be in the future.

Succession Planning essentially means encouraging those who currently occupy leadership positions in an organization to ask the question, "What happens when I/we are not here anymore? What happens to the organizational structure, the people who remain behind, the goals and focus, the productivity and profitability, the future directions, the foundational values, mission, strategies and the overall success of our organization?"

Succession Planning is about the development of both the individual employee and sustaining the entire organizational health and growth through the process of change. In essence, a successful Leadership Development program lends itself to the development of the organization by developing the strength of the individuals that belong to it. It is about paying attention to how the infrastructure manages and navigates the inevitable adjustments and adaptations required as people move in, out, and through the network at every level of the operation.

It comes as no surprise therefore that the key to effective Succession Planning is found by asking the question "What happens when?" before anything actually occurs! It anticipates the question and the event and responds by preparing a solution (or solutions) well ahead of time.

It is vital to understand Succession Planning as an organizational strategy rather than as an individual leadership contingency plan. If it merely focuses on managing one individual's replacement situation then the organization will find itself continually reinventing the wheel as it offers knee-jerk responses to the changes and ripple reactions of other shifts and movements of leadership throughout its infrastructure all the time! This is the reason why we enthusiastically encourage embedding or integrating Succession Plan thinking deep within the organization.

The answer is not a profound mystery. It means that organizational leadership accepts and embraces the fact of ongoing change management being a significant part of its lifecycle. The reality of change is rather like the wind that blows; we can try and fight it, we can attempt to ignore and resist it, or we can choose to adapt and harness its power; utilizing the unique resource in a variety of innovative and creative ways.

Similarly, Integrated Succession Planning encourages and equips an organization to embrace and harness the inevitability of change and to use it as a motivational and training tool to its advantage. The ideal and obvious place to begin is with all leadership within the organization and throughout the infrastructure. That is what an Integrated Succession Plan signifies and enables. The same question posed by top management and leadership concerning, "What happens when?" is asked by all team or group leaders and those with responsibility from the shop floor right through to the CEO.

As soon as the Succession question is raised throughout the organization we are then quite naturally led into a discussion and strategic planning opportunity concerning internal leadership development. One of the common occurrences in this arena is that too often people are placed in positions of leadership and responsibility in order "to fill the gap" without being given the skills to succeed. It is assumed that because someone demonstrates technical competence in a job or has worked with another person being replaced, that they will automatically and intuitively know how to lead within their respective environment. Some people can do that very effectively, but they are the exception. The majority require training and mentoring in the more intangible interpersonal skills such as leadership, communication, conflict management, and decision-making; hence the value of intentional leadership development strategies.

All too often the organization responds to the demands of leadership by externally sourcing the talent instead of reflecting internally. One might argue that the difficulty in sustaining loyalty and retention of top talent is the result of leaders choosing not to recognize and develop the leadership within.

Leadership Development and Succession Planning form the two essential scaffolds onto which the rungs of organizational development are fastened and by which they are supported. They provide any size organization with effective solutions and strategies to manage change in leadership and personnel with grace and minimum disruption. By integrating these components into the fabric of your organization you will not only discover that the fear and apprehension regarding future change is transformed into an exciting opportunity, but key personnel will be motivated to participate and contribute to a solution that will positively impact everyone.

Future Focus Inc - High Performance Leadership specializes in developing leaders with independent consultation and organizational development strategies. More information regarding Succession Planning, Organizational Development, and our other professional advisory services can be found on our website: www.future-focus.ca.

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