In India, Succession Planning (SP), in the past has not been given as much importance as it should have been. This could have been due to a few sociological factors and the mind sets of those who have the responsibility of developing the context, climate, urgency and a framework for SP to succeed.

Firstly, many senior/top management executives and at times, the Entrepreneur (and their family) too feel that they are ‘indispensable AND immortal’. Secondly, there is a fear that if a potential successor (or successors) is identified, the current role holder could feel insecure, intellectually threatened, etc. Lastly, in the Indian societal context too, be it at the family, community or political level, succession has been messier than seamless. SP led decisions, more often than not, seem to emerge only after the reality-crisis ‘gate-crashes onto the table.’

Readers may find it interesting that in Chinese companies there is a reluctance to engage in ‘structured and visible’ SP, as the investor community does not take it too well and that explains one of the main reasons why SP has not taken off there too.

Why then has SP in the recent past gained some traction? I would like to share three possible reasons for that.

First, SP is one of the key components of an organisation’s risk mitigation system from the Business Continuity point of view. Investors and other stakeholders are hence putting pressure on the Boards of large public limited companies to embed the process of Succession Planning.

Second, the explosion in opportunities for talented employees in India and other BRIC countries (recession or otherwise) has led to an acceleration in attrition levels, which punch unplanned & unexpected ‘holes’ on the organisation chart. Hence, the new reality of top talent/key employees quitting and the increasingly difficult challenge of obtaining an external replacement has brought SP into focus.

Third, in today’s world and the emerging way forward, excellence in the knowledge component of all jobs/roles is going to drive the success of businesses and other forms of organisations. This applies to the brick and mortar and e-based business models (such as Flipkart, etc.). Therefore, the continued success of the organisation is very closely related to not only having talented and competent employees in key roles (senior and top management) but also having processes of continuous identification and assessment of internal & external talent. This discipline alone can feed the population of the talent pipeline with potential successors having different levels of acceptable competence and the time frame in which it has to happen.

Look at McDonalds, which in the recent past lost two CEOs in a short period of time, but the company was able to name a third competent person to fill the shoes of that role. GE is legendary in their record of generating successors across management roles and functions. When the current CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, was elevated to the position, two other candidates were also in the fray. Once Jeffrey was named, two large global companies immediately offered the top job to the other two GE potential CEO candidates.

The only way forward for Indian corporate and other forms of organisations to get better at this process, quickly, is by embedding SP in the KPI’s of Critical Role Holder(s) (i.e., all senior and top management role holders). The brief should be to communicate to them that they have to make themselves ‘redundant’, in their current role, at the end of a tentatively indicated fixed period of time by generating a competent successor (internal and/or external). The current role holder should be considered for their next role, lateral or vertical, only if they deliver on this KPI.

Succession Planning is too important a process to be internally ‘outsourced’ to the CEO and top management, the HR team or external consultants.

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UD:  An organisation must systematically identify and develop high-potential talent, accelerate their development and growth in compensation and responsibility and should control their attrition in a planned manner. Every growth organization must aim to be in a high-talent surplus position. This requires top leadership commitment and enterprise wide focus.

ET:  It is sometimes felt that succession planning is a hypothetical exercise and an indulgence by HR professionals, as the reality is that companies take reactive steps to fill vacancies that arise. Please comment.

UD:  Yes it is a reality in many organisations that positions are filled in reactively. It perhaps reflects paucity of long-term talent review processes in the organisation to identify and develop successors rather than a policy shunning succession planning! There are many good examples of effective succession planning in India itself.

ET:  How does ITW create succession plans & manage careers?
 
UD:  Since 2010 ITW units worldwide are practicing annual Talent Review and leadership development programs worldwide. The framework which we follow is as follows:

ET:  Can you please give us your views on why succession plans fail?

UD:  Succession planning is bound to fail if it is just a pet project of HR. To be effective, the succession planning program has to be the CEO’s agenda and high-potential talent should be owned by the enterprise rather than by departments.

ET:  Can you please offer some examples on how companies have managed succession planning well?

UD:  Components of a good succession plan are a detailed and well thought out long range plan, defining talent implications of the long range plan, performance and business growth focus (there should be roles for people to grow into!), robust talent review processes and above all top management commitment. The Tata group, Unilever, Murugappa Group, Siemens and Proctor and Gamble are some of the organizations in India that practice succession planning. Most “Best Employers” have succession planning programs.

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In this book, the author focuses on a key business process, that challenges all organisations, i.e.: Succession and related processes. More often than not, this process gets embroiled in a ‘high emotion, high drama’ with outcomes of winners and losers.

Marshall uses the metaphor of him writing a series of memos to help the CEO of a large corporation, who is nearing the end of his term, helping him to navigate the Succession process well - so that all the stakeholders involved benefit. According to the author, the key pillars are: preparing for transition, choosing a successor and coaching a successor.

He uses another powerful metaphor, that of an athlete who is participating in a relay race and has to pass on the baton to the next runner in a manner that it does not fall down, hinting that the current CEO should learn to slow down and make the handoff of leadership as seamless as possible. This, along with coaching the successor, would facilitate speeding up the process and ensuring a successful baton changeover of leadership.

The book, quite rightly, expounds on the human dimensions - emotions, mindsets, feelings of the processes that are normally associated with a CEO succession (for that matter, succession involving all C-level personnel). The author highlights that the ‘final act’ of great leadership of the current CEO, is about passing the baton to the successor. Leaders, who manage this transition well, do so by ‘creating a great rest of your life’.

The challenges of internal candidates and/or external candidates being involved in the succession process, has been extensively commented upon in the book. If it is an internal candidate, the current CEO would have to consider connecting coaches for their rounding off to be ready. For an internal candidate(s) to succeed, fair chance should be provided by the concerned stakeholders. Hence, it is vital that the key stakeholders be identified, their expectations and commitments be obtained, in addition to specifying their role in the process. The author points that the key to internal candidate(s) succeeding to take the CEO role, depends on an ‘authentic effort to change’. He sums up with an insight that if the potential successor wants to be a great CEO, he/she cannot afford to ‘switch off’ from the people that he/she would be leading.

Goldsmith also reminds that the current CEO is required to pay attention to the quality and the care that is needed to be displayed while exiting, walking away to ‘the next destination of life’.

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Score Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation founded by George Abraham in 2002 is located in New Delhi and through its project ‘Eyeway’ which was launched in 2003 disseminates information on living life with blindness.

In India, there are over 16 million blind and 28 million visually impaired persons who are often marginalised; not given the same education, career opportunities and social standing as their sighted counterparts. In fact, they are often perceived as lesser beings. Due to a lack of access to information, they are unable to lead a fulfilling, independent, economic and socially productive life.

At Score Foundation, they believe that the problem is not with the eye, but the mindset. And it is the mindset that Score strives to change through its various activities under project ‘Eyeway’. Eyeway is a one-stop knowledge resource about living life with vision impairment. Using knowledge, the foundation informs, inspires, & thus empowers. They reach out to people through the following channels: Helpdesk, Radio Show, Website, SMS Alerts, Workshops/Seminars, and Talking books.

The foundation’s overall objectives are:

1. To inform, inspire, and empower all people with visual impairment.
2. To realise equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities for people with visual impairment.

For its exemplary work, Score deserves a Standing Ovation!

If you want to get more information and support Score Foundation, you can visit its website http://scorefoundation.org.in/ or write an email at scorefoundation@eyeway.org.

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