My Dad retired from 38 years of work this week. Our family attended the dinner his co-workers had for him, listened to their stories about Dad, and shared his excitement. As we celebrated, I looked around the room and noticed the age of his co-workers. Many of them looked like they were around his age. I asked him afterwards if his company was prepared for the boomer exodus it was about to experience as the others in his generation followed him out the door. He didn’t think so.
Based on the trends Beth saw at ASTD, his company isn’t alone. Boomer retirements are becoming a pressing issue, as companies scramble to retain important organizational knowledge and refill leadership ranks. Unfortunately, most leadership development programs or succession plans won’t be sufficient to meet the need. Bersin and Associates recently completed a research study on high impact succession planning, and a key finding was that best-practice organizations are three times more effective at achieving key business measures than their peers. What are some best practices?
- Succession planning must be aligned with strategic business planning
- Succession planning is about more than the executives, technical and other key contributor roles matter. Yet, fewer than 40% of companies include mid-level managers and barely more than 10% include first line supervisors
- Succession planning cannot be successful unless it is properly linked to employee development programs. For some assistance in growing your leadership pipeline, check out MindLeaders Leadership Roadmap and “Leadership in Crisis” whitepaper.
- Succession planning cannot be viewed as an HR exercise, top level executives must be involved in the process.
What do you think? Is your organization ready for boomer retirements? Are these best practices being used? What others should be added?
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