In succession planning, individual performance and potential are two decisive criteria that need to be thoroughly studied. When a candidate is pinpointed for leadership bench strength, you are invited to assume that he embraces both high potential and performance.

Succession planning is a process of preparation, not pre-selection. Organisation regardless of sizes can benefit from implementing a succession plan as it requires the managers, leaders, and HR professionals to conduct a comprehensive and ongoing evaluation on the competencies of every employee as well as taking in the organisational structure and organisation's goals. 

At the minimum, failing to plan a succession strategy could possibly hinder your conduct of day-to-day operations. Taking it to the extreme, the absence of competent leaders, when not appropriately and timely addressed, could wreak havoc on the business. This may result in it losing its standing in the ever-challenging market and eventually collapsing into oblivion.

The road to succession planning is fraught with pitfalls. Most short-sighted businesses view it as merely a “nice trend” to follow and cannot grasp the true nature of succession planning. Others give up getting buy-ins from members of the Board and top-level management. Some lack adequate tools to streamline the process.

Dominic Barton, global managing partner emeritus of McKinsey once commented on the importance of having a well laid out succession planning in an interview with Forbes: “There’s never been a more important time for leadership because of the volatility in the world today.” Yet, many businesses continue to ignore its importance and choose to march on without any formal succession plan in place.   

Great leaders are the backbone of any organisation; but at some point these key incumbents will depart and leave behind vacant critical-mission positions that need to be filled. That is why succession planning is of utmost importance. By honing your talent to their full potential beforehand, you build a leadership bench strength that is ready for coping with any challenge and responsibility. 

A poor succession plan costed Blackberry 4,500 employees and nearly $1 billion. While the absence of a succession plan is detrimental to the future growth of any business, rushing to draft one up without a deep understanding and careful consideration of all aspects involved can lead to unforeseen consequences. So, what are the tell-tale signs of succession planning failures?

Appeared in 2016, the term “ghosting” is first used to describe a situation for romantic relationships where a person “disappears” and cuts all connections with the other party without any explanation. Recently, this practice has expanded from the dating world to the workplace and became a nightmare for both candidates and employers. Fortunately, there are steps you can take in order to avoid being ghosted by candidates.

According to a study done by ClearCompany¹ in 2016, 68% of workers say training and development is the most important workplace policy. Nonetheless, many companies still view employee training as an expense instead of an investment. But despite all of the resources, time and effort put into making everything happens, many organisations fail to properly measure the effectiveness of the training.  

If you are starting to see a handful of young, new employees here and there in your company who all have the “eager to learn new things” look on their faces and a smartphone in their hands, lucky you for spotting the first crop of Generation Z (those who were born from 1996 onwards).