The Ultimate Guide to Succession Planning

One of the most significant drivers for the greater focus on succession planning in organisations, is the growth of so-called Talent Consumerisation on our workforce and our employees.

The impact of Talent Consumerisation on Succession Planning

What is Talent Consumerisation?

Talent Consumerisation refers to the shift both in the attitude towards work by talented employees, and the relationship between employees and employers. Talent Consumerisation says that those employees with 'in-demand' skills hold a highly powerful position - just as consumers do. Organisations may need to start to think differently about its talented people – and how we talk, work and engage with them.

You can hear more about this - and its impact on succession planning - in this 20 minute video.

So what does this mean for Talent decision makers?

We see five key takeaways from Talent Consumerisation.

1. Re-think succession timelines to 2-3 years. Many talented people will be looking for career moves within the usual 4-5 years of a succession plan of yesteryear. So, change it now to reflect the actions of employees.

2. Move away from an outdated view of mobility. Mobility feeds into succession plans - and career plans - but it's dynamic. What is impossible one year because of children's schooling or ageing parents, may be possible a year later. And, of course, just because someone is not mobile, doesn't mean that they cannot have a career. 

3. Give managers the tools and training needed to have succession conversations. Managers need access to realistic information to help them have the career conversations employees are demanding. You need to give them the confidence to have these conversations.

4. Extend your view of succession planning and look beyond your organisation. Talented employees tend to think about their careers across organisational boundaries. Why is it that we tend to think about career development just within the boundaries of our own organisations? This is brave thinking as what you are relying upon is your employer brand to let go and bring back your great people.

5. View succession planning and business risk management.  Succession planning is not always about the top of the organisation; some of the critical roles are often further down the organisation. Sometimes it's not just about having the right people in the role or a high potential, sometimes it's just about the risk associated with not having someone in the role all the time. The risk element really is made up of a number of components: individual capability risk; organisational risk and market risk. 

As well as the impact of talent consumerisation, we also see that succession planning is beginning to adopt a shorter timeframe. We'll take a look at this in the next Chapter