In the first part of the column on Succession Planning we had focused on the importance and need for creating a Succession.

Through the second part on the same topic I will be sharing with you the specific ways in which the succession can be accurately planned. We could even call it as ‘Critical steps towards successful succession planning’

Vision – Succession Planning the link

An organisation, in the short-term, medium-term and most im­portantly in the long-term must al­ways have or set a vision for itself.

This vision would constitute its Profits and its People and their re­spective growth journeys.

Having said this, it also extremely vital and critical that the activity of Succession Planning becomes an important part of the vision. Yes! I am of the firm belief that any or­ganisation that has long term plans for growth must make the sincere effort to conduct a Succession Plan­ning Initiative and for good reason.

The link between Vision-setting and Succession-planning is very important.

How many organisations have taken this initiative to assess the present and plan the future in the context of choosing the future lead­er or head of department? May be it is time for the management team to sit across, discuss and explore the next set of people who could be made ready for the various higher positions in the future.

Selection based on Relevant PA­RAMETERS- How should a candi­date be chosen to become part of the succession planning?

The answer is simple and yet ex­tremely effective. There are a few but highly important and funda­mental parameters to help in the assessment of the ‘right or appro­priate’ candidate and I have stared them below:-

‘COMPETENCY’- An important parameter to help decide the future leader or manager is the compe­tency or the ability to work with the highest levels of effectiveness. competency also could be under­stood as the deep and strong levels of ‘Knowledge or Skill Comprehen­sion’

‘COMPETITIVENESS’- This is also a relevant parameter to help chose the next leader. A candidate may be competent but as a future leader it is important that he or she is highly ‘competitive’ and robust about winning and staying ahead of its other competitors!

The competitive spirit of a leader will always have a positively simi­lar influence on the entire organi­sation and its employees.

‘COLLECTIVENESS’- is that part of the attitude which is about the future leader’s ability and desire to convert the ‘I’ in to the ‘WE’. What I am talking about is ‘Team Build­ing.’

The leader must be perceived and be looked at as someone who will lead his entire team by creating the feeling of ‘collectiveness’ and the one who discourages people from becoming ‘individualistic’.

As the proverb goes, ‘All fingers are not the same’ and hence it is im­portant that the future leader must be able to handle each of his team members of different attitudes and abilities in different and yet effec­tive ways!

‘COMMUNICATION’- While ex­ploring the future potential leader an important parameter is the candidate’s ability and attitude to ‘effectively communicate’ with his colleagues, his seniors and bosses as well as the ability interact and communicate with Customers and Clients and other ‘external agen­cies’ with the attitude of Confi­dence and Verbal Assertiveness. Listening too is much required quality that will always help the leader in understanding his team and others as well!

‘CRISIS Management’– Up’s and Downs, as they say, are always go­ing to be an integral part of an or­ganizations growth and therefore it is important that the future leader develops the attitude of courage and composure when the organi­zation is facing small or big crisis situations. Managing failure is it­self an excellent quality of a future leader.

I also believe that it is in such ‘crisis’ situations where he or she must become a ‘motivator’. I there­fore believe that the future leader must be Inspiring and Motivational towards his employees in helping deal with Tough Challenges and Crisis Scnarios.

Creative and Innovative- I believe, ‘In Today’s world we must not use Yesterday’s methods to be Tomor­row’s business’.

The leader of the future has to possess or must be open to Crea­tive and innovative thinking. As we progress towards accomplishing our vision the future leader must be someone who not only thinks creatively about new products, new strategies and ‘new ways’ but also encourages others in the organisa­tion to do the same. IDEA-Creation must become an integral quality of the future leader and this aspect needs to therefore be evaluated during the discussions related to Succession Planning!

‘CONTROL’- by this I do not mean controlling other people, I am actu­ally referring to the Control over negative and stressful emotions as well as controlling the emotions of ANGER. I have seen that many leaders create fear among the sub­ordinates due to their inability to control their anger and their harsh words and ‘tones’. The future lead­er must develop within himself or herself, if not complete control ,at least substantial control over his ‘Anxieties, Stress, Negativity or Pessimism, Aggression, Anger and overall ‘Negative Attitude.’

‘CRITICISM handling’- There will be umpteen scenarios when the leader will face negative feedback and extremely harsh criticism too and these are the situations where he or she must have the strength and fortitude to absorb and pro­cess the ‘criticism’. He or she must have or develop the maturity and wisdom to evaluate ‘criticism’ and extract whatever is best for him or for his organization.

CHOOSING and Selecting- As a leader, the ability to analyse and select the right person for the right job or right task is highly required.

The leader must have the prowess to conduct ‘Effective Delegation and Decentralisation’ of tasks and responsibilities to his or her team members and subordinates.

Although there could be a few more similar and useful param­eters, through this column I have tried my best to highlight those ones that I personally believe are extremely helpful in deciding the most appropriate and ‘right’ candi­date for Future Leader.

Feedback: selita.bolanavanua@fijisun.com.fj