What is succession planning? I have heard a lot of our employees complain that we lack this.

Succession planning is quite simply the process of determining future leaders who can fill key posts in your company. That means should something happen to one of your managers, you would have candidates to fill in his or her post, so that there is less disruptions to your business.

It's amazing that only 58% of all organisations here in the UK have a programme for succession planning. That means for most, they don't have somebody within the organisation who could step up and fill in key positions.

I think that it is very important to have succession planning not just for the most senior roles in your company, but also for other positions. Especially those that are more difficult to find replacements for.

I agree. I think that this mindset would make succession planning more manageable!

I think that it will be very difficult to find people who would subject themselves to succession planning. I mean, like an understudy in a role in a play, you really don't get the most opportunity to shine unless the lead or the main actor gets sick.

Then you are doing it wrong. What matters in succession planning is not only that a person is given the chance to learn what a higher manager is doing, but also how to develop his or her skills. That means that this person is given a lot of roles in the organisation.

Hi there
Just on the back of this thread, I am hoping to do succession planning as my management report for my CIPD this year, however, I am struggling to find the exact research question to go along with this. Does anybody have any ideas please?

Thanks
Jenny

Right, you don't just develop a specialist function, but a lot of competencies, you get a lot of role and you fill in a lot of jobs.

Hi Jenny:

I've always focused more on what particular problem would be good to study. What is it about succession planning do you want to focus on? Any problems that you think you might have solutions to?