Succession planning

Improving the retention of high-quality practitioners helps organisations achieve their mission and vision. In health and social care, retention is currently a problem that may deteriorate further over time. Low turnover is a feature of a resilient organisation and, in turn, resilient organisations encourage loyalty among the workforce. Both practitioners and leaders will flourish in a stable community where learning is developed and sustained through interaction and peer support. People who access services also suffer when practitioner turnover is high, as high turnover thwarts continuity of care and support and impairs relationship-based practice (Buckley et al., 2008). There are many good reasons, therefore, to retain experienced practitioners and build talent from within.

An organisation that offers clear career development pathways is more likely to retain experienced practitioners and enable succession planning. Having only one tier of competent, skilled leaders is a risky strategy for any organisation; they may leave, or you may be reluctant to promote them because of the adverse impact on the rest of the organisation. Developing a talent pipeline requires a shift from reactive recruiting to proactively future proofing your organisation. So leaders should be spotting talent and implementing specific, targeted support to nurture and develop people throughout their professional journey.

Succession planning has many benefits: it saves on recruitment costs, shows that the organisation is committed to professional development, and indicates that it is worth staying as there are opportunities for promotion. Moreover, people who are promoted internally are already clear about the organisation’s mission and vision and can quickly start implementing plans for successful strategic delivery of its priorities. If people are to be successful in their career aspirations, however, they must be supported and trained appropriately, and there should be adequate opportunities for mentoring and shadowing existing practitioners.

Effective succession planning

• Know your organisation: Where are the key risks? Are there people who would create a hole in the organisational fabric if they left? How could you future-proof this part of the service?

• Look for talent: With careful planning, supervision and appraisal you can identify people with skills and potential who can be nurtured and developed. Performance reviews can also feed into this process.

• Create a development plan: Investing in your workforce is an important component of organisational resilience. Looking at your overall strategic direction, what key skills are missing in the workforce and how could these gaps be filled?

• Review: Make sure you are sensitive to potential changes in the organisation and think about how talent can be grown at all levels. Manage the fears of others who may be concerned you are developing people to ‘take over’ their roles.

More information on succession planning is available from the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) here.