Succession planning (SuPl) is a vital business and talent practice that increases an organization’s likelihood of having a robust leadership pipeline. And although many reports over the last two years suggest that organizations still struggle with SuPl, this topic has become a more pressing issue amidst the coronavirus pandemic. This became evident with Jefferies CFO, Peg Broadbent, passing away last month from coronavirus complications, and UK prime minister Boris Johnson, who is hospitalized for COVID-19. As management teams and boards continue to prepare for the possibility of executive absences related to the pandemic, it will be important that they: 1) prepare temporary SuPl’s for key executive positions and critical roles in their business, including the identification of successors, short-term and long-term plans for operating the company, decision rights, and shared duties and responsibilities among existing workers, to name a few, and 2) determine and prioritize the risk-level for these roles. Page 3 of this short article by Deloitte provides 5 aspects of SuPl risk including 1) Vacancy, 2) Availability, 3) Readiness, 4) Disruption, 5) Control. These levels of risk are not only a useful framework during times of crisis but can be incorporated into an organization’s succession management approach. In doing so, organizations will be better equipped to gauge “succession health” and derive important insights that inform talent planning and decisions.
