Succession planning is the process of identifying talent pipeline and tracking high-potential employees that can assume interim or permanent positions when existing leaders depart.
A detailed succession planning will identify development paths for your highest performing executives, outline protocols for retirement and ownership transfer and mitigate performance risks in the event of unforeseen departures.
Succession planning involves understanding the organization's long-term goals and objectives and identifying employee development needs. It is an ongoing process that identifies necessary competencies, then works to assess, develop, and retain a talent pool of employees, in order to ensure a continuity of leadership for all critical positions.
Succession planning is a specific strategy, which spells out the particular steps to be followed to achieve the mission, goals, and initiatives identified in workforce planning. It is pro-active and future focused and can be from within or from outside the organization.