succession planning
Create a culture of leadership and career development so you never have to wonder how you will fill your next vacancy.
Avail Leadership helps organizations apply leading edge succession practices across their whole organization so employees are constantly developing and preparing to take on greater responsibilities.
leadership &
career development implementation
Avail Leadership partners with clients in two ways. First, Avail Leadership provides clients with a series of workshops designed to lay the groundwork for an organization-wide leadership and talent development program. These workshops educate senior managers on the implementation process and their roles and responsibilities, and helps them develop the tools and skills they need to carry them out. Second, Avail Leadership guides senior management teams through the implementation process to ensure all critical positions have an effective succession plan and key employees are being developed to fill critical positions.
Workshop Modules
Module 1 – Developing Leadership Competencies
Length: Two non-management cohorts: Half-Day. Sr. Management cohort: Full Day
The very first, most foundational talent management priority is to establish consistent criteria for performance and promotion. Effective leadership competencies provide the platform for, and guide, all other talent management programs and decisions, including recruiting, on-boarding, recognition, training, development, performance management, and promotion. Simple, compelling, leadership competencies align everyone in the organization with what it takes to be successful, and define the level of performance required in leadership positions.
Participants will learn:
- The definition of leadership and how everyone can be a leader, regardless of their formal title.
- How to become more proactive and cultivate a results-oriented approach to management.
- The purpose of competencies and the role they play in succession planning, as well as every other talent management practice.
- The value and benefits of establishing a consistent criteria for recruitment and promotion.
- The role that competencies play in culture change, and how to apply them to change behavior and achieve desired business results.
Module 2 – Succession Fundamentals
Length: Full-Day
Participants learn the essential building blocks of establishing a succession plan or improving an existing one, and how to avoid common, costly pitfalls. They will also begin taking the initial steps towards building a customized succession plan for their organization.
Participants will learn:
- The 3 fundamental principles of building a practical, sustainable succession plan that works for any size of organization.
- How succession planning and talent development can be integrated into the corporate strategy.
- The most common challenges of implementing and sustaining succession planning, and strategies to overcome them.
- What a world-class succession plan looks like and how it works.
- The principles and mechanics of identifying critical positions and high potential employees.
- How to conduct an effective talent review
Module 3 – Delegation and Empowerment
Length: Full-Day
How many times have you asked someone to do something for you and the result was disastrous? After a few experiences like these, many managers have unconsciously adopted the belief that “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” When managers believe this, they stop being a leader. Their capacity is limited to what they personally can do, and employee development and engagement go out the window.
Effective delegation is the cornerstone of leadership. Organizations that delegate effectively engage the full capacity of their workforce and save truckloads of salary dollars as work gets logically and efficiently passed down to the lowest possible level in the organization.
Participants will learn:
- The principles and benefits of effective delegation.
- What, how and when to delegate.
- Five essential steps of effective delegation.
- How to maintain control without being controlling.
- How to effectively use delegation as a training and development tool.
Module 4 – Career Coaching
Length: Full-Day
One of the most effective retention and engagement tools organizations can employ is to hold regular career development discussions with their employees. Managers who do so are able to align employee’s goals with the needs of the organization. They send a clear message to employees “Look no further: you have a future here!”
Employees who feel that their employer truly cares about their development are proven to be more engaged, more productive and have lower absenteeism and turnover. The ability of managers to hold effective career development discussions with their staff is a critical skill required to enable organizations to increase the capacity of their people and enhance their succession planning efforts.
Participants will learn:
- The benefits of holding career development discussions.
- How to craft development plans that facilitate and fast-track development.
- The components of effective career development discussions and how to bring them all together.
- To conduct a development gap analysis, and design high impact development activities.
Module 5 – Career Coaching Follow-up
Length: 1.5 hours
A few months after the career coaching program has been established, it is important to circle back to career coaches and career owners to receive their feedback on how well the program is working and to make adjustments to the program based on their feedback. Avail Leadership will administer a survey to career coaches and career owners and provide a summary of the survey results to the steering committee to share with both groups. Avail Leadership will facilitate a 1.5-hour virtual follow-up session with the Career Coaches to discuss the survey results and identify improvements to the program. It is recommended that HR facilitate a similar session with Career Owners to discuss the survey results and any changes they plan to make to the program based on their feedback and the feedback of the Career Coaches.
Outcomes:
- Career Coaches and Career Owners will have the opportunity to provide feedback on how well the program is working and suggest changes.
- The organization will have the opportunity to reaffirm the purpose of the program and sustain its momentum.
- The organization will be able to make improvements to the program and demonstrate that management is willing to act on employee feedback.
client success stories
Follow the critical path of leadership development today
Based on in-depth interviews with over 50 senior executives, Succession Planning That Works unveils a step-by-step approach to develop or improve a succession plan for any size of organization.
Discover why some succession plans succeed, and others fail.
