Succession planning

[cantdrv55]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succession_planning

It's a big, big deal where I work. Makes me very nervous. My employer has spent and will continue to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars recruiting recent college grads with very high GPAs. They are hired at hourly wages and get full benefits. They are supposed to shadow us veteran employees so we can show them what makes us successful. I am training my replacement but I am nowhere near ready to be replaced. I've had discussions with my co-workers about this and the general consensus is, these young guns make us fearful to take risks. No risk, no reward. Not exactly a good business strategy.

Anyone else training their replacement? Whatever happened to retention planning? It's not what you did for me yesterday but what you're going to do for me today that really counts. Times like this make me wish I had started my own biz.

[911Rob]

I did this once within an organization. Best thing I ever did, I trained him the best I could and soon saw a promotion beyond my wildest dreams! Put your heart into it, what you sow, so shall you reap.

[aigel]

Not sure if this makes a lot of sense unless you are an executive on a fixed term or in a position where you expect a promotion in the mid term future.

From what I gather in your limited info post, this could be a way for the company to replace the senior guys with young grads (cheap labor). You could get a pink in place of a promotion. What worries me is that everyone gets to train a successor. Where are all the senior guys supposed to go - they can't all be promoted, can they?

That said, I always have actively mentored and groomed people to take my place. Otherwise you may miss out on promotion, as nobody could fill your old spot effectively. The key is that the people that can replace you should not be 100% at your level. They should be at a point where they can start filling in - with your help - while you get to move on. You do not want someone to be able to take your job overnight as that will put you at risk. I am not saying you should hold them back, you just need to be an outstanding performer - and the right balance will fall in place.

HTH?

George

[Jim Richards]

You should be training to replace your boss.

[widgeon13]

succession planning doesn't necessarily mean you are training your replacement, it means you have depth in the organization. It's critical to the organization in the event of a HR catastrophe. I never felt threatened by the concept in 30 years with the same company and retired as a VP. To me it has always been viewed as a practical concept. Early in my career there was a hotel fire in White Plans NY that killed/trapped managers in a conference room, can't remember how many were killed from the same company, plane crashs, 9/11 event. To me it's just good common sense planning concept, certainly better than MBO BS.

The only ones that should feel threatened are the fluffers. In a large organization, most promotions are not predictable, people leave for another company, die, get fired. Most promotions that I received during my career were not anticipated three months prior.

[BReif61]

No, I haven't had to train my replacement; I'm the replacement being trained. However, seeing as once I'm trained I'll bring the count of people qualified to do the job (this side of the MS river) to three, my trainer has nothing to worry about.

[Tim Polzin]

We're in the process of hiring my replacement. He'll have a couple of months to shadow me before I RETIRE!!!!

Tim

[911Rob]

Congrats Timmy!!! 'bout time 'eh?

[Superman]

The study of "Organizational Behavior" is fascinating to me. Of course. Management's decisions and communications cause certain perceptions among workers. From my perspective, management understanding and respect for these perceptions is more the exception than the rule. Management's understanding of the impacts of these decisions and communications and perceptions is usually thin. Creativity is an especially shy creature. A "safe" environment over a long period of time is necessary to foster real creativity and real risk-taking. That creativity and risk-taking results in the kinds of breakthroughs that place a company at the top of an industry. But again, that environment is rarely fostered.