Hello Colleagues,

Here's a brief list of what we do for Succession Planning, remembering someone had been asking for this topic a few weeks back.

1. For what levels does SP happen? Dy. Managers and above. Remember the level must be a decision making one.

2. How are the successors identified? By what process? On what basis?
Various methods can be used. a) Performance Appraisal ratings b) Assesment Centres etc

3. Who identifies them? HR along with the concerned Dept can chalk out a plan of action and shortlist prospective employees and charter their progress.

4. When does this process begin? Ideally at the begining of each year when you can take out the list of people slated to retire and u can do plan for 3 years or so. Let's say for u prepare a list of people who will be retiring (key positions) for every year till 2012. 

5. After a person is identified as successor, what does he do...i.e does he  undergo some training/workshop? After a person is identified, he should be told about this fact and then (remember this can act as a motivational tool!) Identify need gaps if any (based on the future job description) and Training the incumbent in a time bound manner so that if say the position needs to be filled by a year then the successor is ready by then. 

6. What kind of timeframe does he have between s/he is identified & he actually takes up the new role? This depends the Position and the training Needs and fulfillment of those by the employee. Let's say a minimum of 6 months would suffice. In larger organisations, it might go up to 2 yrs. 

7. What about the compensation? How much does he draw? 

8. What if there are more than one probable candidates for the new
position?

 Are they told beforehand that they are being considered for the new
role? Ideally yes.

 9. Is the SP process running successfully? Of course. (But with this turnover rates of the IT industry, I'm skeptical, as the implementation part will suffer in most cases!!!) 

10. Any other info you feel is relevant for the issue. Yes.. get the Top management support for this. And the selection process should be made as transparent as possible.

Hope this helps,

Harish Majithia