Succession Management

4 pages (17 inch by 11 inch sheet folded in the middle, with illustrations, Development Dimensions International (DDI) is an international human resources and leadership development consultancy. DDI works with organizations to make changes related to leadership development, leadership selection, succession management, and execution and performance. The company is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has more than 1,100 employees throughout 42 offices in 26 countries. DDI was founded in 1970 by William C. Byham, Ph.D., and Douglas Bray, Ph.D. DDI introduced the assessment center approach for identifying leadership skills. Byham's article, Assessment Centers for Spotting Future Managers (Harvard Business Review), led to process inquiries. Byham approached Bray about a partnership. DDI later branched out into leadership development. It introduced a leadership development program based on behavior modeling: Interaction Management. DDI created a stand-alone behavioral interviewing system, Targeted Selection, which ensures compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity laws. DDI's also works on HR technology, methodology, and content, including mid- and senior-level development, online assessment for frontline and mid-level leaders, and best practices for succession management. Succession planning is a process for identifying and developing new leaders who can replace old leaders when they leave, retire or die. In dictatorships, it aims for continuity of leadership, preventing a chaotic power struggle by preventing a power vacuum. In monarchies, it is usually settled by the order of succession. In business, it entails developing internal people with the potential to fill key business leadership positions in the company. Succession planning increases the availability of experienced and capable employees that are prepared to assume these roles as they become available. Taken narrowly, "replacement planning" for key roles is the heart of succession planning. Effective succession or talent-pool management concerns itself with building a series of feeder groups up and down the entire leadership pipeline or progression (Charan, Drotter, Noel, 2001). In contrast, replacement planning is focused narrowly on identifying specific back-up candidates for given senior management positions. For the most part position-driven replacement planning (often referred to as the "truck scenario") is a forecast, which research indicates does not have substantial impact on outcomes. Fundamental to the succession-management process is an underlying philosophy that argues that top talent in the corporation must be managed for the greater good of the enterprise. Merck and other companies argue that a "talent mindset" must be part of the leadership culture for these practices to be effective. Succession planning is a process whereby an organization ensures that employees are recruited and developed to fill each key role within the company. Through your succession planning process, you recruit superior employees, develop their knowledge, skills, and abilities, and prepare them for advancement or promotion into ever more challenging roles. Actively pursuing succession planning ensures that employees are constantly developed to fill each needed role. As your organization expands, loses key employees, provides promotional opportunities, and increases sales, your succession planning guarantees that you have employees on hand ready and waiting to fill new roles. According to a 2006 Canadian Federation of Independent Business survey, slightly more than one third of independent business owners plan to exit their business within the next 5 years and within the next 10 years two-thirds of owners plan to exit their business. The survey also found that small and medium-sized enterprises are not adequately prepared for their business succession: only 10% of owners have a formal, written succession plan; 38% have an informal, unwritten plan; and the remaining 52% do not have. …