Essay On The Definition Of Succession Planning And Steps Towards An Inclusive And Integrated Succession

1. What is Succession planning?
Succession planning is whereby an organization identifies and develops employees with the ability to take up key business roles and leadership positions in the Company. Employees end up recruited after undergoing preparation through gaining knowledge and skills before entering into challenging roles (Greer & Meghna, 219). Succession planning is importance as it helps human resource managers to fill the needed responsibilities with personnel having the required skills and knowledge. According to Mello, succession planning is a way of retaining potential employees in the company (222). Preparing the workforce for challenging responsibilities and appreciating their time and success through promotions allow employee retention.
2. What different approaches/steps can organizations take to ensure this process is integrated and inclusive for all members of the organization?
There are approaches for adoption by organizations in ensuring that succession planning is inclusive and integrated to all members. The approach involves five distinct steps that could help a company carry out successive planning in an inclusive and integral manner (Mello, 225). The first step is coming up with a business strategy. A defined business strategy acts as the basis for identifying various competencies to help in designing the experience and responsibility in the succession plan. Skills for workforce change over time and so demand the incorporation of workforce requirements in the business strategy for flexible and continuous hiring of employees into challenging roles.
The second step for an inclusive and integrated succession planning in the organization is the establishment of a diverse-competent leadership. Executive leaders that foster diverse succession will lead to involvement and consideration of the minority and females (Greer & Meghna, 221). The Company CEO ought to turn out as diversity-competent to ensure that employees that succeed them come from different groups of people and who will in turn appreciate succession diversity in future. For instance, an executive leadership that fosters diverse succession leads to managerial accountability through mentoring the females and minority.
After establishment of a diverse-competed executive leadership, the organization carries out planning as the third step. Planning follows the business strategy of step one using the executive leadership structure under step two. Planning involves laying down the periods for employees’ developmental practices and preparedness in accordance with the expected competencies in the future (Mello, 224). The demand for the workforce ends up identified for the required personnel recruitment process that occurs irrespective of the employees’ gender, age, religion or social status. Planning helps the organization to deal with shortages by hiring competent workforce in an inclusive and integrated manner basing on the talents identified.
The fourth step is coming up with development practices to cause the inclusion and integration of all members of the organization during succession. Development practices involve systematic approaches to engaging the minority and female in the succession. Methods such as female special developmental practices in career and talent plans increase female chances during succession hiring (Greer & Meghna, 223). Additionally, mentorship is another development practice to help different people in races and gender to get an opportunity during succession. For example, women mentorship by fellow women leads to gathering of information on how to overcome gender-based barriers like balancing between family and workplace roles.
The last step in the process of including and integration all members of the organization during succession is the establishment of program management practices. The practices help in managing the strategic implications of diverse succession in the organization. The process helps in the monitoring of different successors using mentors and the identified skills without bias. Practices such as reward systems and performance evaluation lead to hiring of successors in an inclusive manner (Greer & Meghna, 225). Consequently, program management practices will help the organization during succession monitoring to ensure diversity representation of all members.

Works Cited

Greer, Charles R, & Meghna Virick. "Diverse Succession Planning: Lessons from the Industry Leaders." Human Resource Management. 47.2 (2008): 217-226. Print.
Mello, Jeffrey A. "Strategic Human Resource Management."Strategic Workforce Planning”. 20.4 (2006): 222-226. Print.