Sprout Business Talk

Succession planning is the process of ensuring that you have a back- up plan for each key member
of staff. It is often not something that family owned or small to medium size businesses consider
important. A good succession plan will help you reduce risk to your business, create career paths
for key staff and ensure business continuity.

Having someone who has been identified to move into a key vacancy is crucial to your company,
however that does not mean that you have ticked the succession plan box. Helping the incumbent
of the position to make the “shift” from employee to supervisor or manager to director is equally
important and often harder to achieve.

You will need to have a development program that will prepare the employee for the position
s/he will be expected to fill by having meaningful mentorship and performance feedback. Give
your employees a clear map of the competencies, skills, behaviours and knowledge that are
required to succeed in the position.

Succession is a big risk to a business and can be mitigated by key man insurance products.
Effective succession planning leaves your company prepared for the future and more likely to be
unaffected by key people moving on.

Courtesy of The Bugle.