Company leaders know that succession planning is a key to success – yet according to Deloitte, only 14% believe they do it well. Why is that?

Deloitte outlines the following:

MOST organizations came to realize years ago that current and future success is heavily based on having the right leaders in the right roles at the right time. And yet…

“The problem? […] the failure to recognize and address the impact of human behavior on the succession planning process. “

The article continues by outlining some of the most common derailers for successful succession planning. PwC’s “Succession Planning… what is the cost of doing it poorly or not at all” then adds to the list of top obstacles preventing companies from doing it right today:

  1. Good data is not available or ignored, leading to subjective decisions. 
  2. There is no clear process for succession planning.
  3. Lack of succession planning beyond the C suite.

“In many cases, however, these efforts are focused only on a handful of high-potential executives who are considered next-in-line for C-suite positions. Beyond that first or second organizational layer, the succession planning team typically has only minimal awareness of the employees who actually produce results for the company – the “pivotal talent” that makes the organization successful.”

So what are the keys to resolving these issues?

According to PwC, ” implementing a succession planning program is no different than the rollout of any other important corporate initiative, requiring a focus on change management, communication and cultural alignment that must be actively managed.”

 

 

In order to be successful, leaders need to take a centered approach, which requires business centric and behavioral insights into the business.

But how to get behavioral insights at scale?

Leaders need to have:

  • a scalable, objective way of collecting behavioral insights
  • a clear mapping of behavioral insights to business metrics
  • a platform capability to view this data at an organizational and then team level

With a Fit-to-Role platform, leaders can leverage behavioral data mapped against success metrics to get visibility into the organization and its people capabilities:

 

Schedule a quick demo today or view an express two-minute snack version of what a Fit-to-Role platform gives leaders visibility into the employee journey.