Succession Planning
Guidance Notes
www.leadershipacademy.nhs.uk
Succession Planning
What is it?
Succession planning is the process of identifying and developing potential
future leaders or senior managers, as well as individuals who could fill other
business-critical positions, either in the short or the long term. The aim is for
organisations to be able to fill key roles effectively if the current post holder
were to leave the organisation. It also helps organisations to identify where
there is a need to introduce new capabilities and skills.
What is it important?
Succession planning is a key component of workforce planning – a process to
ensure the right number of people with the right skills are employed in the right
place at the right time to deliver on the organisation’s objectives. Succession
planning enables the organisation to understand its talent pipelines more
effectively, identifying where posts may be easier or harder to fill so that
appropriate action can be taken.
Who is it for?
Succession planning typically covers the most senior roles in the organisation,
together with short and longer-term successors for these posts. Whilst
reviewing relatively low numbers can make the process more manageable,
larger organisations may find it beneficial to operate devolved succession
planning processes at a directorate/divisional/service/area level to ensure that
other business-critical, technical or hard to fill roles and/or new skills are
covered.
Progressive organisations who adopt an inclusive approach to managing and
developing talent will look to identify critical roles and capabilities at multiple
levels. It does not have to apply to every role, but it is useful to consider
succession across different areas in the organisation, for example looking at the
appetite and motivation of clinical staff in a directorate to move into matron/ward
manager/specialist positions.
Succession planning stages
The following stages are critical to effective succession planning:
1. Identifying critical roles
2. Identifying readiness, requirements and opportunities
3. Creating the succession plan
4. Assessing and mitigating risks
5. Measuring impact
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6. Regular review
These stages apply to all of the different approaches that can be taken (outlined
in the table on the following page).
Succession plans should not be created in isolation, without the knowledge of
those who are being named as successors, nor should do they guarantee roles
to individuals who are seeking to move.
Different approaches
Succession planning can be used in a variety of contexts. All have their own
pros and cons which need to be considered in organisational planning. It is
common for organisations to use a blend of these models to meet their needs
(i.e. for executive and critical roles). This table summarises the key features of
each model:
Model and Pros Cons When to use
description
For Executive
roles only
Where the top team It does not take Where the
This only is critical to account of the organisation
considers the top organisational complexity of most structure is
team e.g. CEO success, this will businesses where relatively
and main Board provide for business less similar roles can uncomplicated
of Directors. continuity, impact business and where the top
strategically and team holds the
operationally. most critical roles
both strategically
and operationally.
For replacement
at different
levels
It makes high- It is ineffective to Where resources
Planning is based potential people identify successors are limited, and
on expected aware of the path who will no longer be the organisation
turnover and may they are on and there when it is time is not dependent
only focus on putting them into to move them up or on roles – e.g.
selected leadership elsewhere in the where most roles
management programmes has a organisation. can be replaced
roles. positive influence on quickly from
retention. outside if needed
or internally with
limited training.
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For critical roles
Continuity and There is a need to In most
Applied to the
stability. The reach agreement on organisational
critical roles
organisation which roles are settings. It may
needed for future
maintains growth critical. This may be not suit small
success. These
and other targets open to subjectivity. organisations
can be
because it has a It is focused in the where there are
determined in
steady stream of short term so needs limited numbers
different ways.
people to fill critical to be balanced with a of people
They are the
posts. Using critical method which available for
roles which are
roles enables a identifies future succession into a
either
broader and deeper required skills or specific role.
strategically or
view of succession, competencies. This
operationally
extending it to may not hold
critical. These
critical roles at any currency if critical
roles can be at
level including those roles change and it
different levels.
below requires effort to
Organisations
director/managers maintain.
using this method
or to key areas.
tend to develop
deep and varied
talent pools and
can be used to
prepare for an
unknown future.
For leadership
development
Based on building Succession It can be Where leadership
leadership planning and inappropriate where development is
capability. The leadership there is a strong essential to the
blueprint for a development allows organisational need organisation –
position’s people to to succession plan this may be
succession can understand the skills for technical skills. It application to
be made required for may raise unrealistic specific tiers of
available to all leadership positions. expectations that the staff with
relevant Managers can help organisation creates management and
employees so develop skills by development leadership
they can see the supporting with L&D opportunities and responsibilities.
competencies activities. that everybody who
and training Combining the two develops will
required to enables a long-term progress.
become a view to be created
candidate. and can support
Employees gain a individuals to take
better up key roles.
understanding of
the likelihood of
their candidacy.
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For technical
competencies
This is based on
building technical Succession It can work less well Where technical
capability. planning and where there is a competence is
Organisations technical need to succession critical to
identify roles that competence works plan for organisational
require deep well with employees managerial/generic success and
technical who have deep skills alone. It may where there is a
expertise and technical raise expectations focus on retaining
create career competence but that the organisation best talent or to
ladders that may need to develop a will guarantee be seen as
not depend upon greater progression based attractive by
people understanding of the on technical external talent.
management skills required for competence. This can be of
skills but are senior positions. use with very
mainly reliant on There needs to be specialist roles.
technical clear
competence. communication of
the competencies
needed to progress.
It can promote the
retention of high
potential technical
staff or your top
talent.
Openness, fairness and diversity
It’s important that there is transparency for employees in relation to the
succession process. This should be applied to the methods used to judge the
suitability of potential successors.
With openness should go fairness; objective assessments of all potential
successors need to be made. Talent reviews provide opportunity to support
and/or challenge in this area and to examine how to improve the process and
practice. This is referenced and explained in the talent conversation training
and briefing resources.
With the value of diversity and inclusion now widely recognised, organisations
are increasingly aware of the need to ensure that diverse talents are properly
developed and that diversity considerations are built into talent development
activities.
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Further considerations
It’s important to keep the purpose of your succession planning approach(es) at
the forefront. Before embarking on succession planning, you may find it useful
to consider the following:
What are the outcomes we would like to achieve through this?
Who will create succession plans?
How far will succession plans reach? e.g. Executive Team, all leadership
roles?
What is our starting point?
What level of succession planning will be discussed during Talent
Review meetings? e.g.
If applicable, what information will our regulators ask for and in what
format will we present this to them?
Who will be able to view succession plan information once finalised?
Identifying critical roles
The first step is to identify positions and/or skills most critical to the organisation
for which potential successors are needed. Whilst arguably all roles in the NHS
are critical in one way or another, it is helpful to prioritise them where possible.
You may find it helpful to do this on the basis of succession challenges you
have already identified in a wider talent context such as recruitment,
development or retention, or apply criteria such as:
The strategic or operational impact of a vacant role on the
organisation/service/team
Unique skill sets or knowledge bases
Strength of the external job market or internal pipeline
It is critical to take a balanced approach to succession planning, weighing up
the impact of the individual and that of the role. In relation to roles, this may
relate to the impact that would be felt if there was a vacancy or difficulty in
recruiting. From an individual perspective, this may involve specific knowledge
or skills that would prove challenging to replace.
The matrix below can support organisations to make an assessment of the
criticality of roles – green indicates not critical, amber, partly critical and red,
high priority. The outputs can be captured/recorded on the Succession
Planning Role Assessment template. The criteria and colours can be aligned to
organisational priorities.
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Impact of High
vacancy on the
organisation/ Medium
service/ team
Low
Easy Average Difficult
Difficulty of filling a vacancy
Succession planning role assessment template
A template is available in the Toolkit which can capture information about critical
roles at a team level.
Identifying readiness, requirements and opportunities
The aspirations, readiness and subsequent development/support requirements
of individuals should be identified through the Review and Career Conversation.
This can be recorded on the Team Succession Summary Template and the
information from this can be used to provide a local succession snapshot or can
be aggregated alongside summaries from other departments/services to
provide broader succession insights and potential opportunities that individuals
can pursue.
Creating the succession plan
The Succession Planning template can be completed once all relevant review
and career conversations have taken place. These can be done on the basis of
teams or specific roles, dependent on the organisation’s needs. Roles, current
incumbents and leaving dates if known are added – the level of readiness of
potential successors is then indicated by entering the names of the individuals
who have been assessed as ready to fulfil the roles in the short and/or long
term.
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Assessing and mitigating risks
The Succession Planning template also provides opportunity to highlight risks
and identifying mitigating actions. Common risks include:
Succession decisions being made on assumptions about the individual’s
aspirations and readiness
Selective plans – only including those who are favoured/deemed ready
now rather than including/discussing the potential, aspirations and
readiness of everyone
Lack of diversity in the talent profile of the organisation following
succession decisions.
Only looking at the short or long-term picture, rather than both may
preclude some individuals from taking up immediate/temporary or future
opportunities
Individuals appearing as successors to multiple roles when they can only
fill one
Over or under supply in the pipeline – having too many individuals who
are ready with no roles to fill, or a lack of appetite/preparedness for
certain roles
It is suggested that this is completed following completion of the succession
plan and reviewed regularly to ensure actions are implemented.
Measuring impact
A selection of Indicators is provided below. These could be used to measure
the strength of your leadership pipelines and succession plans for critical roles.
Examples include:
Number or percentage of critical positions filled internally
Number or percentage of leadership and management positions filled
internally
High potential turnover
Critical positions with 2+ identified successors
Average length of readiness
Identification of multi-successors who are successors to multiple
positions in the organisation
Number or percentage of successors who are in a different location from
the incumbents they would be succeeding
Estimation of leadership turnover expected in the coming year based on
known and/or high risk of leaving figures
Internal candidate versus external candidate fill of critical positions
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Number of candidates who are defined as ready to fill positions that have
been identified as critical to the organisation
It is recommended that metrics selected are linked to other organisational key
performance indicators. Further information is provided in the Talent
Information Guide.
Regular review
Succession planning takes account of the growing recognition that people need
to make their own career decisions and to balance career, work-life balance and
other responsibilities.
Organisations need to ensure that they regularly review and develop their
succession plans to meet current and future skills, capability and behavioural
needs and to ensure they are closely aligned with evolving organisational
priorities.
It is recommended that succession plans are reviewed and updated once a
quarter or as a minimum, once every six-months to notify any changes in the
performance. Potential, readiness and aspirations of potential successors and
to ensure that any previously identified actions have been implemented and/or
risks have been appropriately mitigated.
