Want to learn..Explaining the Business Need for Talent and Succession Management

Talent management and succession planning is one of the most strategic and value-added processes any company can implement. Why? Because it is good for the company and it is good for the employees. In this article, we’ll explore the key business values of talent management that are applicable for every size, shape and type of organization.

Talent Management is a Risk Management Business Function:  Talent management and succession planning is a critical risk management strategy. Virtually all companies have many other risk management strategies and plans in place—if the computer system goes down, there is a plan to follow to address this issue as a high priority and a process to follow to correct the problem. If a fire threatens a company facility, there is a plan to evacuate employees and to contact emergency personnel. If a safety or security breach occurs in the company, there is an emergency process to follow.

But many companies do not have a plan in place to follow if a key employee leaves the company, or if an executive leader announces a retirement, or if a leader experiences an emergency leave of absence. In these situations, many times the company will either experience months of instability and lost opportunities due to a vacant leadership position, or the company will make an urgent hiring decision that may or may not be the best decision for the organization. A company could even lose a line of business or lose a competitive edge due to a leadership vacancy.  This is analogous to experiencing a company computer system outage that would take months to correct—if this type of system outage is unthinkable, an extensive leadership vacancy in the company should also be unthinkable.

All companies should be discussing vacancy risk of key talent in the organization, and all companies should have valid succession plans in place as part of their overall risk management business strategy.