Hi! Managers: Importance of a worthy replacement

Are you actively planning for your successor? If you're like many managers, you may have a couple of people in mind, but it's more likely a passive, rather than active, business process. That's understandable as you probably have several urgent issues on your plate. But, it's unfortunate - for you and for the company.

An actively managed succession plan will help you empower and develop the key personnel on your team. The culture it helps create benefits the company. The fact that you have a clear successor or successors will benefit you. What many young managers don't understand is that senior managers will think twice about moving you up to a more senior position if they don't have someone they trust to backfill you. So, it is important for your career advancement to identify and develop your successor.

If you work for a larger company, it's likely you've been exposed to a formal succession management process. If that's available, it's best to follow that process. However, regardless of whether there is a company-sponsored programme, you can and should still follow a general succession management process - for yourself. Your superiors will still assess their ability to backfill you as part of the promotion consideration. Consider the following elements of the process.

Identify candidate pool. The first step is to identify the pool of candidates to be considered for your position. While it could be one candidate, it's probably better to identify two to three. Frequently, candidates are identified from within your current team. Certainly the development plans for those candidates will be easier to manage by you. But you shouldn't restrict the pool to just your direct organisation. External candidates may also be considered, but that's usually a second priority, created by a time constraint or lack of internal bench strength.

Assess readiness. Generally you will need to evaluate whether the candidates are ready now to take your position or if they will be ready in the future. If they are not ready now, then you should gauge their development needs.

Define development plans. Based on your readiness assessment, a set of development opportunities should be tailored for each candidate. These should be job-related activities that give them visibility to your management and/or a target group.

Assess retention risks. Typically, people look for new work when they are no longer challenged or satisfied with their current position. You should assess the stage for each candidate and the associated risk of him leaving the company.

Communicate up. Assess acceptance. You should review your succession plan with your manager. It creates visibility for the people you are developing. It also allows you to enlist his feedback on the candidate list and development plans. He may suggest new candidates or restrict ones you've already identified. It's best to understand that early and iterate your plan if appropriate.

Communicate with candidate. You may or may not want to tell the employee that he is a successor candidate for you. However, you will definitely want to discuss the development activities with him, even if succession planning isn't mentioned.

Succession planning will benefit the company, but the real benefactor is you. It empowers your team and makes you a more viable candidate for promotion.

Jeffrey Nygaard is vice president & country manager of Seagate Technology.