For more than a decade, Treasury Board, APEX
and government executives across the country
have identified Succession Planning as a
priority, to manage risks associated with
the departure of experienced leaders and
loss of corporate memory.
In practice, retirements have accelerated
with the recent downsizing, and the
additional workloads from flatter
organizations are making high potential
employees turn away from promotions. Public
sector organizations are increasingly
challenged to respond in a timely way to
strategic workforce gaps, thereby impacting
the quality of management decisions,
alignment of horizontal initiatives, and
partnering across sectors.
Post-DRAP, budgeting constraints and fewer
positions are squeezing the ability of
federal organizations to sustain their
leadership capability. Funding for
developmental positions and leadership
programs is limited. The failure to make
long-term investments in Succession Planning
over the last decade is now forcing many
leadership teams to respond in crisis mode
and bring in contracted resources. This
costs more and puts the performance of
entire teams at risk. Poorly planned
succession efforts that default to external
recruitment also affect the morale of
managers who aspire to more influential
positions in their organizations. Waiting
for the next generation to address the
challenges of proper succession management
is no longer an option.
Consider in your approach:
Implementing an integrated business and workforce plan
that invests in the development of key
competencies to build talent pools for
critical positions
Building on government-wide investments in leadership
competencies, and talent management
initiatives that link succession planning
with performance management, leadership
development, as well as recruitment.
Maintaining a fair and transparent performance
management process to evaluate performance
and potential in an unbiased way, across
organizational silos.
Putting strategies in place to transfer knowledge
through updated processes, mentoring, and
information management.
Providing developmental experiences to employees that
build agility for the future while
contributing usable business solutions
today.
Updating the organization structure to facilitate
horizontal flows of information and
collaboration, as well as collective
leadership.
Communicating the succession management process to
build engagement and commitment in
employees, so they can manage their careers
in sync with the organization’s vision and
future needs.
