Article: 5 ways you can retain HiPos through effective succession planning mechanism

Talent Management

5 ways you can retain HiPos through effective succession planning mechanism

Here are some of the ways organizations can retain their key talent and skills to maintain market competitiveness.
5 ways you can retain HiPos through effective succession planning mechanism

In a rapidly-transforming and highly-competitive corporate sphere, companies are looking to hire professionals who can seamlessly fit into their workforce. And, to do that successfully, potential employees are expected to not just have excellent technical skills but also the ability to work efficiently with cross-functional teams and advanced technologies.

Considering such pressure, employees also expect their organizations to provide them with ample career development opportunities to facilitate their professional growth in an ever-changing business landscape. When employee expectations are not met, organizations usually suffer high attrition rates. 

In order to avoid such a situation, companies must look to forge a long-term association with their workforce by providing top-performing employees the opportunities and training they need to grow professionally. More importantly, they must ensure that they retain the skills they need to sustain their business operations and productivity, even if they don’t end up retaining the individuals.

Here are some of the ways organizations can retain their key talent and skills to maintain market competitiveness:

Making a list of employees to replace incumbents at key positions at every level

Modern-day professionals don’t just need to be technologically-proficient, but also possess deep industrial know-how along with a host of skills such as leadership, strategy-making, and management. In light of this fact, it is important that companies break down their entire organizational structure into key positions, mapping each level to the skills required to accomplish relevant objectives. 

This system will afford company executives with clarity regarding the future course of action with respect to an employee. Consistent high-performers, for example, can then be recognized and duly rewarded. Promising but underserved employees, on the other hand, can be provided access to relevant L&D resources and skilling, re-skilling or multiskilling programs, while consistent underperformers can be replaced. Doing so also helps in accurately identifying prospective replacements for each job role and helps in minimizing the disruption caused by employee attrition.

Combining cross-training and linear training for succession

The organizational ecosystem is full of complexities. Many job roles within an organization run parallel to or overlap with each other. Accordingly, company executives must look to provide access to cross-training for lateral succession and linear training for linear succession to their employees, as per the requirement. This ensures that in case when someone at a key position resigns from the company, organizations are prepared to cope with the loss and have already groomed a successor to replace the outgoing employee.

Activities like mentoring, job-shadowing, orientation sessions, etc., can prove beneficial to employees preparing for cross-departmental transfers. On the other hand, providing L&D opportunities, along with job-shadowing and mentoring sessions, to employees can enhance linear training methods designed for them. 

Aligning an employee’s personal career progression to the organizational vision

Employees stay at an organization when their personal objectives are in alignment with the organizational vision. They leave when they feel that their corporate environment is not conducive to their professional growth, or that they are not being valued. 

Therefore, the onus falls on organizations to provide their workforce with visible career development opportunities and resources. Companies can further make the arrangement mutually beneficial by tying employee goals to organizational profits. Such an arrangement will make an employee feel valued at his or her role, thereby boosting their confidence and trust, and thus nurturing a long-term association. 

Implementing CCE – Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation 

Establishing a culture of continuous learning within an organization can go a long way in ensuring a long-term and mutually productive association between the company and its employees. Every employee looks forward to continuous feedback from his or her superiors to learn and perform better. Therefore, it becomes the duty of managers and leaders to ensure that feedbacks are concise and aligned with each project or the specific achievement of objectives. 

Further, by following a structured approach which also includes an employee’s periodical assessment under Continuous Performance Management modules, the data derived can be leveraged to enhance training and development strategies for the future. Such focus on employee development can play a critical role in curbing the employee turnover rate.

Assigning challenging projects to top performers to let them know they are valued

A crucial step in retaining employees through succession planning is to communicate to them that they are being considered for key positions and that a clear path has been laid out for their professional growth and progression. To reinforce these ideas and highlighting a sense of trust, company executives can then assign challenging and new projects to employees and thus keep them engaged for the long term.

The human resource forms an indispensable part of any organization. Employees form the backbone of any business and play an important role in determining their eventual success and failure. To survive and thrive in a rapidly-evolving corporate ecosystem, organizations have to direct their focus on enhancing the professional prospects of their employed workforce. Not limited to this, organizations can forge a mutually-productive bond with their employees by attuning an individual’s professional aspirations with the organization’s- through which digital transformations serve as a playground of opportunities rather than a setback. 

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Topics: Talent Management, Employee Relations, #GuestArticle, #HIPO

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