Lifestage
succession planning

Best Practices in succession planning

Succession planning ensures that organizations are prepared for anticipated leadership transitions and can better navigate unexpected ones.

Establishing your internal bench of future leaders, growing them through talent development, and having a clearly communicated plan for opportunities, growth, and processes ensures that transitions will happen smoothly, equitably, and with staff buy-in.

Need more help with designing best practices in succession planning? Partner with us.

plan design implement & monitor

plan

Step

Establish Objectives and Scope for Succession Planning

Effective succession planning is a proactive, ongoing process that ensures your organization has the strategy, systems, and internal bench for both planned and unplanned transitions. Preparing for future succession involves first identifying the roles for which succession planning needs to be established, and prioritizing which ones most need a plan. Review recent transitions as well, and identify what went well and what could have been improved.

DEIA Callout

The people doing this analysis should reflect the diversity of your staff and student body, acknowledging how identity and biases influence recognition of potential, and intentionally fostering development opportunities for all subgroups.

plan

Step

Define Success Metrics

A thoughtful succession plan paves the way to a smooth transition when staff departs by setting clear goals for succession success. For each role you need to proactively plan for, quantify the number of potential internal successors you need to identify for each role. Define the profile of what is needed for future leaders in these roles per your Competency Models and a clear Talent Strategy and Staffing Plan. Include target metrics such as staff perception of a transition and time to backfill a role as well, with differentiation for planned and unplanned departures.

RESOURCES

DEIA Callout

When setting succession planning goals, do so in alignment with your Recruitment and Hiring diversity plans, and include metrics to ensure your future leadership reflects your student body.

plan

Step

Identify Your Bench

Once you know what skill profiles are needed for your succession plan to be successful, develop a plan to continuously identify and grow internal candidates for those roles. Establish a formal pathway for up-and-coming leaders to get the support they need before they step into a leadership role. Knowing the strengths and growth areas for each member of your team, along with their career aspirations, is an essential input to this step. Ideally, your succession plan should build on the Talent Development practices you already have in place.

RESOURCES

DEIA Callout

Staff selected for leadership development should mirror your student population, with unbiased evaluation systems and trained people managers ensuring fair assessments. Leaders responsible for identifying the bench should also reflect a diverse range of identities.

plan

Step

Leverage Others

Current leaders should contribute to the design of your succession plan and play a key role in its implementation. They should also receive support in developing future leaders with opportunities to step back and assess the plan’s effectiveness and the progress of staff. Both current leaders and current staff should have a say in shaping the organization’s future direction and development.

DEIA Callout

Consider how the identities of your current leaders, managers, and functional leaders may impact how they support emerging talent.

EdFuel can design succession planning systems and processes for you.

Learn more Schedule a 1:1 with a talent expert Get in touch