Create a Failsafe Succession Plan with a Competency Framework

Organisations rely on upper management to make crucial decisions and formulate long-term strategy. The cost to the company of an executive hire is substantial, and retention of these personnel is key to an organisation’s growth.

However, as per Forbes, CEO turnover increased by 1.8% in 2024. Thus, having a management position open up is not out of the norm.

But to keep the company functioning smoothly, it is a huge task to fill the role. Further, it is important to place only such a person in the role who is well suited to it.

As an HRM, it falls on you to identify suitable talent, train them, and raise them to a leadership role. To do this well, it is important to have a proper succession planning process in place.

Only 14% of leaders believe that the succession plans in use are effective. Thus, evaluating candidates should be done using a framework made via the leadership competency framework development process.

The Basics of Succession Planning

Knowing and cultivating the next generation of leaders is essential to keep a company running smoothly. The primary reason is to have a backup ready in case one from the existing leadership team plans to retire, take a leave, or switch organisations. Further, being chosen for a leadership role is a motivating factor for people.

Thus, a succession planning process involves the following:

• Identify the key roles.
• Create a job profile against these roles with a leadership competency framework development process.
• Take a look at your talent pool for potential candidates.
• Evaluate their skills and traits against a leadership competency framework.
• Provide training and mentorship programs to those eligible.
• Integrate them into the company’s succession plans.

Benefits of Having a Succession Plan

By taking up the succession planning process, you get to ensure the following:

• Build a leadership pipeline.
• Ensure continuity with a seamless leadership transition.
• Provide career maps for your employees.
• Save on the costs of external recruitment.
• Improve the performance of existing workers by making succession plans an incentive.
• Induce positive competition among employees.
• Have a more diverse and qualified leadership team.

Using Competency Framework for the Succession Planning Process

Traditionally, the companies that take up the succession planning process usually just train the senior-most employees in every department. While there is nothing wrong with this per se, it tends to limit the talent pool. Further, priority is given to seniority instead of skills and performance. While, when the reverse is done, employees feel dissatisfied due to being passed over for promotions.

Thus, the best path forward is to evaluate a talent pool against a uniform standard set using the competency framework development process.

Skills Needed for Leadership Competency Framework Development Process

As per an HBR (Harvard Business Review) study, 40% of those placed in a leadership position fail to perform as expected. To be considered for a leadership position and do well, a candidate must have the below technical skills:

• An educational background to fit the role.
• Significant work experience in the relevant industry.
• Skill training and additional certifications.
• Positive feedback from past employers and managers.

Further, the following behavioral traits are a necessity for people in a leadership role:

• Clear and concise listening and communication skills.
• Analytical decision making.
• Conflict management and resolution.
• Being adaptable.
• Empathy and emotional intelligence.
• Teamwork and collaborative skills.
• Problem-solving skills.
• Being able to motivate others.
• Having integrity and ethical values.

Steps to Create a Relevant Competency Framework

When designing for the succession planning process, the competency framework development process is as follows:

• Identify the role for which you need to develop a leadership pipeline.
• Define every qualification that is necessary to be eligible for the role.
• List the behavioural traits needed to perform well in said role.
• Get feedback regarding the same from responsible stakeholders.
• Fine-tune the framework to suit the organisation.
• Test and review this with a sample group of employees for more feedback.
• Update and edit this to keep it relevant.

Deploying the Competency Framework

Once the competency framework development process is complete, it is time to use it for the succession planning process. Here are the steps to do this effectively:

• Assess your current pool of employees.
• Weigh their skills and traits to fit the leadership competency framework.
• Identify any gaps in competency to retrain them.
• Create an effective and targeted training plan.
• Set a career progression path for selected employees.
• Check their values to see if they align with the company.
• Evaluate if they are ready to be part of the succession planning process.
• Reassess and repeat for every department and leadership role.

External Hiring with Leadership Competency Framework

Not having suitable talent in place for leadership roles is rare in an organisation but not unheard of. When this happens, there are only two courses of action:

• Provide extensive training to the most suitable candidate from your current talent pool.
• Hire qualified talent from elsewhere, i.e., external recruitment.

While not the best course of action since existing employees may feel demotivated, it is still a route chosen by some companies.

To make sure you hire the right people, it is important to take up the leadership competency framework development process. Further, listing the key skills helps streamline the recruitment process and lowers the chances of wrong hires.

Succession Planning with Competency Framework

According to Forbes, 70% of succession plans fail within the first 2 years due to lack of leadership support. Thus, it is important to impress the importance of the succession planning process on the members of the organisation.

Take up the leadership competency framework development process, evaluate your talent pool, and streamline succession planning in your organisation.