We have just seen one of the world’s biggest succession planning challenges, with the changeover of the US President and the setting up of a new administration.
Like many organizations, The White House has its own unique challenges when it comes to a change in leadership. Rather than just one person leaving, the staff, administration, and back-office workers move on too. The incoming president has to not only lead a team to effectively execute on their policy goals, but find a whole new one who are, for the most part, all new to the job.
In essence, it’s like building a start-up from scratch every four or eight years. If the campaign is setting out the idea, then the transition process is where the actual business plan is formulated to ensure that the promises are kept. And central to its success or failure is getting the right people with the right skills in place to execute on the objectives.
While the U.S. presidency is its own beast, there are certainly parallels in the world of business.
Organisations need to constantly review their people and skills needs based on changing market forces, and should conduct scenario and key employee succession planning to be prepared for any eventuality.
Any company that has undergone a period of high staff turnover knows this challenge. Whenever people leave, they take valuable skills with them. You might even see whole teams of people leaving and taking vital company knowledge out the door. For example, when the CTO of fintech start-up Starling famously left to found Monzo, he took most of the engineering team with him.
A truly strong team has no star player. Yet often organisations find they have key skills concentrated in certain teams or individuals that, when lost, are almost impossible to replace quickly. This is an unexploded bomb – if those skills leave the business and aren’t replaced, you could be left without the ability to function. Or conversely, the individuals with these skills might start making unreasonable demands using their unique position as leverage.
Avoiding this ‘most valuable player’ conundrum requires a strategy that is continually upskilling workers across the organisation in the key skills the business needs. This is the best form of succession planning to ensure a smooth transition of talent.
Data from our recent study shows this has been neglected in recent months – 46% workers say their organisation has cut upskilling opportunities compared to pre-pandemic levels. And the same number fear their current skills will die out in the next 3-5 years.
If you want to build a strong skills pipeline to future proof your organisation and protect it from succession setbacks, consider some of the following factors.
- Identify the skills your business (and your team) needs
You need to know what critical skills your workers will need in the next three years. Consider your company’s overall business strategy and objectives and the skills needed by your workers to achieve those goals. For example, if a company is going through a digital transformation, it could be data science, cloud computing, and creativity.
Then look at the department or business unit level. For example, your Head of Marketing might say, “Our department really needs to focus on analytics or brand strategy.” So those become critical skills.
For individual employees, the skills identified will vary by role and career aspirations. It’s important that workers own their upskilling for you to support. A worker’s aspirations should be in line with organisational objectives, but employees who are excited about learning build a stronger company culture, increase innovation, and stay with your company longer.
- Measuring the skills you already have
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Yet many organisations are flying blind when it comes to skills – our recent study found that only 34% workers believe their company’s HR system has up-to-date information about their skills. Often data about skills is trapped within CVs or online profiles and networks.
To gather the skill data you need, you can start manually by surveying workers through independent assessments or 360-degree reviews. You can also pull data from your human capital management software, or similar applications. Another option is purpose-built technology, such as a platform that integrates with your HR technologies. They continuously collect the latest skills data from your workforce, and help you make sure that skills are up to date so you can create a dynamic talent strategy.
Once you start mapping the skills in your organisation, you might uncover some surprises. For example, those in marketing or sales roles are likely to have good communication and empathy skills, which would make for a smoother transition into a customer service role – if the businesses required it. Or they might have a digital design qualification you never knew they had. This could create career mobility within your organisation, giving existing staff opportunities for growth rather than always looking externally for talent.
- How to map learning to the skills you need
You’ve identified the skills you need, but what is the best way to help workers achieve them? This will require some form of learning but this can be achieved in a multitude of ways. For example, everything from podcasts, YouTube videos or stretch assignments can count towards upskilling goals, as long as you can track progress.
According to our research, people learn best when multiple learning methods are blended in the following four ways:
- Online and self-directed: online classes, articles, podcasts, videos, and more.
- Team-based learning: Working on a specific problem over a series of workshops
- Peer-to-peer: 33% of employees said they ask their co-workers or go to online communities to learn.
- On-the-job. Development opportunities such as stretch assignments can increase engagement by up to 30 percent.
So while you’ll hopefully never have to navigate an administration change in your organisation, smart skills mapping can help you build a robust skills pipeline for any eventuality.
