Making the Business Case for Succession Planning

Authors: Brightmine Editorial Team

Introduction

Succession planning has long been a part of HR and business leaders' strategic agenda, but they generally take little thought or action on it until it is too late - after vacancies in key positions arise. Add the complex and significant social and economic challenges facing workplaces everywhere, along with a tight labor market as organizations scramble to hire and retain top talent, and a reactive scramble to fill suddenly vacant key roles has become the story for far too many organizations.

Unfortunately, for many people leaders and executives, unplanned furloughs and layoffs and the unprecedented rate of employee resignations referred to as the Great Resignation are organizational blind spots. The problem is that although many organizations understand what succession planning is, few prioritize it. If these same leaders had prioritized succession planning before these phenomena prevailed, they would not currently be scrambling to plug revenue loss, to stop the loss of key talent or to prevent slowing productivity and innovation.

This guide helps employers understand the essential function of succession planning in an organization's business, people and HR strategies and how it benefits the organization and employees. It also provides information for making a business case that melds data showcasing the costs of ignoring succession planning with people-centric approaches for executing the process.