Succession planning is for identifying and grooming talent to enable them to take up next level of responsibilities.  For example, in an organization having project managers and project director, it is better to identify few project managers and groom them towards project director.  As and when there is a need for project director, you can move one of the project manager to be the director.

It is important to do this succession planning affront for several important reasons:

• Keep the cost low.  Hiring from outside is always going to be expensive and difficult.  Grooming some one internally will always keep the cost low & also will help in smoother transition as this person would know the importance, responsibilities, organization culture, etc. already.
• Grooming someone internally will provide better career planning for individuals.  It sets targets for each person and also help them to move up in their career.  Lot more job satisfaction and morale improvement.
• Will keep the attrition low as everyone would want to move up in their careers.

Succession planning consists of the following steps:

Step 1: Identify the set of people at a level who need to be groomed to the next level.  Leadership potential assessment can be done to find out people who have the relevant competencies as well as the essential leadership qualities.

Step 2: Defining the set of responsibilities for the next level and coming up with the training plan for the individuals to take up these responsibilities.

Step 3:  Assigning these responsibilities and monitoring them

Once someone is ready, as soon as the real opportunity arises, you can easily move the person to the next level.  Identifying and getting them is a key.

How can a performance management system help to identify deserving employees in succession planning?

Performance management software will be designed to produce reports from which the management can choose the set of people who have good potential and achievement history. They come with a feature with which training and development plans for individual employees can be set up. Once the training and development plans are on the board, the employees can be evaluated on the set these competencies / responsibilities .

Performance management software usually has a feature where deserving employees can be nominated for set of next level roles and then can be groomed. This also helps to keep track of the succession planning. Therefore, it is essential for managers and HRs to use performance management software to carry out an effective succession planning.