How to keep evolving your Career & Succession Management

Meanwhile attitudes towards employment and traditional careers also change. This all places Career & Succession Management at the forefront of the drive to attract and engage employees, providing the framework for ongoing upskilling and development.

Historically used as a way to identify and nurture the future leadership pipeline, Career & Succession Management now has a broader remit. Whilst executive and critical management roles are still within its focus, it is now increasingly used for critical positions and those requiring expert knowledge across the business. There is a greater transparency of the wider business opportunities available, something that enables managers to better support and encourage their teams in decisions about their career development. Wider visibility isn’t just about duties and remit though, instead encompassing a clear view of the skills required.

This is important as the newer generation of workers see career development differently. They have broader career perspectives, driven by a desire to gain varied skills and experiences, and they take a more lateral view of career progression. The acquisition of a wider range of capabilities and achievements, through project work and rotational assignments, and across functions and borders, are often preferred to linear promotion. They are driven more by the purpose and vision of the business than short-term gains.

The breadth of development opportunities available, and exposure to varied and challenging work, are recruitment differentiators appealing to ambitious talent looking for flexibility and diversification in their careers and therefore provide a powerful boost for effective recruitment. And the opportunity to work on richer and more varied projects engages those older workers who delay retirement and continue working, whose knowledge and capabilities are vital for the business. Important ways in which Career & Succession Management can underline talent attraction and retention strategies.

In common with other Talent Management processes, Career & Succession Management has evolved from being an annual review driven by HR into adopting a more continuous, ongoing conversational approach between managers and their employees. This requires a mindset change for managers.  They need to be effective coaches and mentors, and also to change focus from talent hoarding to talent production. High potential employees won’t stay with a team in which they don’t feel they can develop their skills, so managers need to be actively promoting career development throughout the business, and for that they need greater awareness of the wider opportunities available.

Businesses want their people to stay long term. To make that happen they have to be able to offer a wide variety of opportunities and options, within a culture that nurtures and promotes varied, flexible working with many different ways to build a rewarding career. And recognise that employees no longer embrace rigid, pre-determined career paths. Career & Succession Management is evolving to provide the framework that aligns employees’ preferences and needs with business reality and longer term talent strategy.