Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst When It Comes to Succession Planning.

Which is a better safeguard, a plan or a dice throw?

Better late than never. This happens to be the sweet-sounding phase that is being hummed by the majority of organizations when it comes to Succession Planning. Be it tradition or the obscure business intelligence, companies used to wait till the time one of their governing leaders decided to move on. It was only then that they finally peered out at their networks with a hope to fill the void. Thanks to a few example setters in each industry, Succession Planning, is becoming the top agenda, NOW. For those, who are still ambivalent of its functional capabilities, it's high time to dive into the mechanics. Shall we?

The management needs to understand that leaders should emerge from their own backyard. You like your own crop, don’t you? Top CHROs, who tread on challenges, are maneuvering the set-up of units, whose sole purpose would be to track the necessities of the company for the long run. Their radars would detect the dangers of a skill-gap that their best talent needs to overcome, to match the level of competition. There would come a time when foreign talent would step-in. Especially, in the case of consortiums that have likelihoods of swallowing brick and mortar companies. With that would come the responsibility of merging external employees into the inherent culture. The peripheral concerns of coping with technologies, communications strategies etc. will fall in line if there is a viable cultural alignment in place.

All that is left for the Talent Management wing to do, is accelerate the delivery of in-house talent development. A concentrated approach towards cultural alignment and strategies would account for an impressive edge over competitors, in terms of managing everyday challenges. It is like walking in an examination hall, only that you would have done your homework!