Succession Planning

All too often organisations get so busy in the doing that they neglect to set time to prepare their next tier of leaders and high performers. Succession planning is what future proofs a business and drives long term success.

We’ve all heard stories of companies that depend on their senior executives to bring in clients, make decisions, and drive action. These same executives feeling burned out and frustrated because they are carrying the load.

Succession planning is the fodder for longevity and future success. By preparing others to stretch and move into leadership roles ready to hit the ground running an organisation thrives. For mine, leadership is about helping others do their best work, supporting growth, challenging and stretching their capabilities, and finally championing their success.

Leadership starts as a solo state, we first learn to lead ourselves through self-awareness, learning, and understanding the impact we have on others through our actions. A person does not need a title to lead, and I have personally seen many a team be held together by a leader within the team rather than by the ‘titled leader’.

Mid-year appraisals are the perfect opportunity to have career conversations with team members. Get curious and learn what their aspirations are and how you can help them achieve them. Remember not everyone wants a leadership position, they may choose to lead from within and organisations should celebrate this.

Succession planning takes time, but time very well spent. The more you are preparing your future leaders and high performers for roles that inspire and engage them, the greater your retention rate and success will be.

Succession planning takes in both WILL and SKILL and leaders who are curious, courageous enough to let their people shine and take the lead on projects will reap the benefits. Upskilling your team members to be able to make decisions, answer customer queries, be accountable, and be your brand ambassadors is a winning combination.

Some of the skills needed for effective succession and career growth conversations are: curiosity to understand the other person’s motivation and what they see as their strengths, mentoring/coaching – exploring their ideas of how the team could function more effectively, having 2-way dialogue with open and exploratory questions rather than supplying the answers, effective delegation of projects to high performers, creating opportunities for people to lead, debate different points of view, create safe environment for respectful disagreement and sharing of ideas and concerns to name a few.

Leadership skills are not just for your titled “Managers”. Letting others shine and stretch their capabilities keeps them working for you with passion, trust and loyalty. Remember your team’s success becomes your own success.

The best leaders are those that build opportunities for others to shine and succeed.

Next post we’ll look at Influential Communication.

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Mid-Year Performance Conversations coming up?

Performance appraisals can be harrowing for leaders and team members alike. Kreating New Collaborations would like to invite you to reach out and learn about small bite Lunch’N’Learn, or Morning Boost opportunities. Set your team up for success learning delivered virtually or in person.

Learning Bites include:

• Effective Feedback – using our BICK model to drive 2-way focused interactions

• Setting Goals – setting goals that motivate, reward outcomes and energise

• Succession Planning -  identifying future leaders and setting them up for success and growth

• Influential Communication – influence outcome by gaining buy-in and enthusiasm to create accountability and best outcomes

• Building Resilience and Avoiding Overwhelm – helping teams keep energised, focused and in control

• The power of emotional and social intelligence to create positive workplaces