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Succession Planning

Important Definitions Career Development Team - A team of Senior Leaders selected by the President to maintain the Key Position Succession Plan and oversee the career development of Employees identified as Leadership Development Candidates including those selected as potential successors for a key position. Development Plan — A selection of assignments used to develop potential successors for their future role in a key position. Key Position — Those leadership and management positions that are critical to the long-term success of an organization. Succession Plan — A plan that aligns successors with key positions. Successor — An Employee identified to assume a vacated key position.

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What is succession planning? Succession planning is the process for identifying both the key positions within an organization and the potential future candidates (successors) to fill those positions in the future. An effective succession planning process also incorporates development activities for the identified successors to ensure they are adequately prepared to succeed in the key position. Why is succession planning important? The ultimate goal of succession planning is to achieve long-term sustainability as demonstrated through an organization’s ability to meet Operational Goals over a long period of time. Within any organization, there are positions that are critical to the organization’s continued success (as defined by their goals). These leadership and management positions are defined as key positions. Should one of these positions become vacant for any reason, not having an identified successor adequately prepared to step in and keep the organization moving forward can be problematic. It could mean the difference between meeting and not meeting established goals. Without proper succession planning, either a gap in leadership occurs or, possibly even worse, someone who doesn’t align with the values and culture or lacks the necessary capabilities is promoted into the position and fails, both of which can have serious implications on long-term sustainability. How do we conduct succession planning? As daunting as it may sound, succession planning is pretty straight forward. An organization must first identify the key positions, or those positions that are critical to their success. There typically aren’t a lot of these. A mid-sized organization (500 Employees), might have 15-20 key positions. Once the positions are determined, the potential candidates, or successors, for the position are identified. Successors are identified using input from the performance review, leadership development, 360 review and mentoring processes, giving critical attention to

ensuring potential successors align with organizational values and culture. The process creates development plans for successors by aligning them with the appropriate development activities to prepare them for success. (See Baldrige Criteria, 5.2c(3).) Lastly, when the successor is promoted into the key position, a transition plan is put in place to help ensure the candidate’s success in the new position. The process for creating the succession plan and development plans at MidwayUSA is executed by a special team, the Career Development Team, and is driven by the Company strategy of “Hire locally and promote from within whenever possible”. Once the succession plan is created or updated, it is reviewed by the Senior Leadership Team. Oversight of the succession plan is offered by the Board of Directors with an annual review of the plan for the top level key positions (See Baldrige Criteria, 1.1a(3) and 1.2a(1)). The authority for filling key positions, or who gets the final say in the person promoted into the key position, is outlined in the Organizational Governance document. A systematic process for creating and maintaining a succession plan is critical to the long-term sustainability of any organization. However, just having a process to create and maintain a succession plan doesn’t ensure it is effective. Ultimately you know if your succession planning is effective if you continue to achieve your Operational Goals well into the future!

Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, Criteria for Performance Excellence Item 1.1a(3) Creating a Sustainable Organization; 1.2a(1) Governance System; 5.2c(3) Career Progression

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Key Position Staffing

Ultimately, the success of the

succession planning process

is gauged by the ability to

continue to meet Operational

Goals over a sustained peri-

od of time and well into the

future.

Obi-Wan Kenobi mentored Luke Skywalker

in the ways of the Force, preparing Luke to

become a Jedi Master. Picture from illustra-

tor Tsuneo Sanda.

A succession planning

process should be

measured for effec-

tiveness.

Succession Planning

Identify Key Positions

Identify Potential

Successors

Achieve Operational Goals

Achieve

Long-Term

Sustainability

Which positions are

critical to the success

of your organization?

Development plans include opportunities such as Missouri

Quality Award program examiner participation, mentoring

with senior leaders, participation in strategic meetings, spe-

cial assignments and stretch projects.

Identification includes information from performance eval-

uations, 360 reviews, demonstrated leadership characteris-

tics, mentoring sessions and other development programs.

Candidates MUST align with values and culture!

Examples of key positions include:

CEO

President

Vice Presidents

Senior Managers

Which Employee is

the best candidate?

What capabilities are

needed to

succeed? Develop Successors

The success of the succession planning process is gauged by the ability to meet

Operational Goals.

The ultimate goal of succession planning is to achieve long-term sus-

tainability as demonstrated through the ability to meet Operational

Goals over a long period of time!

The Career Development Team (CDT) identifies the posi-

tions that are critical to the long-term success of Mid-

wayUSA based on the current and future needs of the organ-

ization.

Transition plans will include things like training on the

strategies and processes within the new area of responsibil-

ity, meetings with key individuals, and training on area-

specific tools.

What will the succes-

sor need once in the

position? Promote Successors

The CDT reviews the proposed development plans from our

Quality Management Systems department. These plans are

geared at providing the best developmental opportunities

for the identified successors to prepare them for their future

role in a key position.

The CDT identifies potential successors for each key posi-

tion using not only performance information but also align-

ment with values and culture. The Senior Leadership Team

and the Board of Directors validates these successors.

Once a successor has been promoted into a key position, the

CDT ensures a transition plan has been created and is in

place to provide the successor with the training needed to

bring them up to speed on the responsibilities of the key

position.

Key Position Succession Plan

Example

Key Position Identified Successor CEO President President VP of Marketing VP of Marketing Director of Marketing Director of Marketing Sr. Marketing Manager VP of HR Sr. HR Manager VP of Finance Sr. Accounting Manager Sr. Accounting Manager Accounting Manager