With increasing corporate governance, timely succession planning in a company has become the need of the hour. Further ensuring meritocracy and diversity in identifying and nurturing the next generation of leaders are even more critical. Until the 1980s, women consisted of only 5% of corporate employees. However due to various initiatives taken by the leaders (not revealing the name of the person, or the gender), the number went up to 25% in just a matter of a decade, and that number is hovering around 30% to date.
Commenting on the idea of enforcing succession planning, Lopamudra Banerjee, Head of Carrier Midea’s India HR said: ” There is a need to step back and look at different perspectives because unless there are different perspectives, different style of functioning & different thought process holistic approach to any kind of a solution or a decision making can never come in.
Anjali Joneja Amar, Vice President, and Country Leader, Tableau said, “Businesses today are becoming more complex. If you are in that environment, succession planning becomes a very complex and important area of your entire planning. So, when you start doing succession planning, it is no longer planning about a role and a person within the organization.”.”
Organizations today start looking at the talent pool and say they will grow it as long as there is a successor. You can pick someone from a talent pool, or you can pick a group of people who can help you develop that ability,” Anjali added.
In an AI world where everything is automated, identify those future skills before determining what the future human will be. So, when HR invests time and effort in identifying these future skills and where the company is headed, it allows us to more accurately and successfully create the talent pool and then upskill the individuals who will be the successors.” Sunny Girdhar, Deputy General Manager of Human Resources at Brookfield Properties, mentioned.
The Role of HR in Finding a Successor
The role of HR is extremely crucial as they act as a bridge, demonstrating to the CEO what their potential successor could be like while emphasizing the path that needs to be taken. HR ensures that the process is properly managed, resources are allocated efficiently, and that the supporting systems and ecosystem related to the succession plan are also aligned.
Empathy and attitude are important. One very important aspect added to all skills is data-driven decision-making. Data allows you to speak a language that you can easily convince stakeholders to speak.
“The ability to make decisions based on data, no matter what CXO leader you are, whether you are a CEO or a CFO, a CHRO or a CM becomes very important to understand the data and make decisions based on the data. According to some studies, 85% of global Organizations say they want to make decisions based on data, but actually, only about 15% of organizations today are making decisions based on data. So, we make decisions based on gut feeling,” said Anjali
Research suggests that approximately 70-75% of the workforce is not actively engaged if they are not disengaged. The most effective composition for success is achieved when future talent is combined with the human factor. Neglecting the human element, or the emotional aspect, can make it challenging for a leader to achieve desired outcomes.
Taking Into Account Fair Competition
Ambition is a quality shared by all leaders. Finding a suitable replacement and ensuring that the rest of the team is not dissatisfied with the choice are both big responsibilities that come with this.
That is why it is good to have a strategy in place at all times. Continual succession planning is important, while putting the team members’ needs first. “Organizations have a huge responsibility in identifying resilient and highly engaging talent and following a structured process in ensuring that it doesn’t lose these talents and that it grooms them on an ongoing basis and makes sure that they are engaged because they are the real differentiator in any organization,” said Sarita Chand, founder of Skills Caravan, in response to a question about how to treat people well.
