SUCCESSION PLANNING
Jonathan P. Ruff, P.E.
Environmental Manager
City of Plattsburgh, NY
ruffj@cityofplattsburgh-ny.gov
518-536-7519
Agenda
• What is Succession Planning?
• Why is it important?
• How do we do it?
• Case Study
Houston, we’ve got a problem.
Crisis Background
• 78 million Baby Boomers turning 65 in 20 years
• 16% of workforce is over 55.
• 25% over 55 by 2020.
• Retiring en-masse.
• Insufficient replacements available.
Employees Leave – They always do
• Preparation for that day is Succession Planning
• I understand that most of you are from relatively
small organizations.
• I’m going to lay out the “traditional” approach
that large organizations typically use and then
come at it with a modified approach that tries to
account for the needs/constraints of smaller
organizations.
• Disclaimer
Succession Planning
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Introduction/Definitions
Context
Developing the Plan
Implementation
Succession Plan
• The process of developing a systematic approach
to building replacement workers to ensure
continuity, by identifying potential successors in
critical work processes.
Succession Management
• The integrated approach to workforce
recruitment, development, and retention to
ensure that the organization has candidates
whose present and future potential contribute to
their individual success and the success of the
organization.
Knowledge Transfer
• Processes and strategies that allow an
organization to:
▫ Document key data and policies for critical work
processes
▫ Exchange key process data and information from
one individual or group to another
▫ Define how vital and important information will
be retained within the organization despite
attrition
Context
• Employer – Ensure a sufficient supply of talent
for key roles and tasks.
• Employee – Provide clear opportunity to grow,
learn, evolve, advance.
• Customer – Results. Employees who are reliable,
knowledgeable, and meet their expectations.
More Context
• Civil Service
• Leaders need to prepare in advance to create
smoother implementation and more options.
• Create a partnership with Civil Service in
advance
▫ Identify key personnel who can help
▫ Share your goals with them
▫ Get them involved in your planning process.
Developing the Plan
• Basic Steps
▫ Institutionalize the process and capture
stakeholder support
▫ Conduct assessments of organizational needs
▫ Develop the succession planning model
▫ Implement succession planning strategies
▫ Continuously measure, evaluate, and adapt
Step 1
Institutionalize the process and capture stakeholder support
• Gain commitment from decision makers
▫ Demonstrate why it’s needed and benefits
• Gather resources
▫ Senior leadership
▫ HR/Civil Service
▫ Union representative
▫ Employees groups
• Identify the strategic vision and goals of the organization
▫ Make succession planning a priority
▫ Strategic plan will determine # future employees and skills
needed
▫ What will succession program look like? What will it do for
organization?
• Incorporate succession planning into your organization’s values
• Clearly define the objectives for the program
Step 2 – Assess Organization’s Needs
• As is
• To Be
• Gap Analysis
Step 2A – “As Is” Assessment
• Collect and analyze organization and demographic data
▫ Retirements?
▫ New leaders being developed?
▫ Are you identifying new leaders?
▫ What is average age and tenure of current employees?
▫ What are attrition and vacancy rates?
• Identity and prioritize key work processes/positions
▫ Which are most critical?
▫ Which have the least amount of resource depth?
▫ Which processes are documented?
▫ Are future leaders prepared?
• Identify condition and availability of resources and systems
▫ What items are needed to do work? Maps, policies/procedures, training
guides?
▫ Are they accessible and up to date?
▫ What technology systems are currently in use?
Step 2B – “To Be” Assessment
• Analyze future requirements for services
▫ Future demand
▫ Customer expectations
▫ Regulations
• What are the goals of the Strategic Plan
▫ Demand placed by SP
▫ How will SP change workforce/leadership
requirements
• What are upcoming changes in the industry?
• What demands will technology place on
organization?
Step 2C – Gap Analysis
• How does “as is” organization fall short of “to
be”?
• Workforce
▫ Do current organizational demographics look like the
future ones?
▫ Are you prepared to handle shifts in demographics?
▫ Do we have the people skills to keep up with the change?
• Processes
▫ Which ones are most susceptible to changes in personnel?
▫ Where are we most susceptible to losing essential
knowledge?
• Systems/Resources
▫ What info will we need or not need in the future?
▫ What information needs to be more accessible?
▫ How will technology change our resource needs?
• Determine the talent needs on the long run
• Identify the core leadership KSAs to bridge the gap.
▫ What will future leaders look like?
▫ What skills and behaviors will make them successful?
Step 3 - Develop the Succession
Planning Model
• Determine which employees or levels of employees will be
involved in program.
• Build leadership pipeline.
▫ Identify internal talent with critical competencies (KSAs).
▫ Analyze external sources of talent.
• Identify training and development strategies.
▫ Formal professional development.
▫ Coaching and mentoring.
▫ Use cross training/multi-skilling.
▫ Job shadowing.
▫ Identify career paths.
• Develop retention strategies.
• Create knowledge management and transfer strategies.
Model
• Page 28 Model.
• Step 3 outlines the model.
• Not one size fits all. Adapt to your organization.
Step 4 - Implement Succession
Planning Model
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Determine resource needs for implementation.
Identify barriers to implementation.
Update or develop job descriptions.
Prepare organization for change.
▫ Establish communication plan.
▫ Connect with stakeholders and get their buy in.
▫ Identify and establish peer and leadership champions of change.
• If needed, implement strategies on pilot basis.
• Link succession strategies with HR.
▫ Recognition
▫ Workforce planning
▫ Assessment strategies
▫ Recruitment strategies
• Train staff as necessary.
Step 5 - Continuous Measurement,
Evaluation, and Adaptation
• Define measures of program success
• Determine how frequently the program will be
evaluated.
• Design the reporting process.
• Track progress, communicate and celebrate program
success.
• Get stakeholder feedback on strategy success.
• Adjust or adapt programs based on evaluative results.
• Ensure top management stays engaged and provides
support and attention to program.
• Make 3 to 5 year succession plans part of organization’s
strategic planning process.
IMPLEMENTATION
• Develop pilot program in one department.
• Track and measure how it’s working:
▫ Turnover
▫ Employee survey results
▫ Participant satisfaction
▫ # Individuals promoted vs. outside hires
▫ # “ready now” candidates
▫ Diversity of talent pools
▫ Size of talent pools
• Communicating Program
▫ Share with everyone how it’s going.
▫ Use multiple methods
• Costs/Benefits
▫ Costs – highly variable and hard to quantify
 Consultant, in-house time, lost production.
▫ Employer Benefits
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Stabilize performance
Ensure continuity of leadership
Develops pool of skilled workers
Minimizes disruption during change
Enhances knowledge transfer
Makes “employer of choice” – gets you the better workers
Employee Loyalty/Commitment
Opportunity for skills development/training
Increased organizational resiliency/capacity
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Improves communication and morale
Improved effectiveness
Improve working relationships
Personal/Professional growth
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Improved staff knowledge
More efficient service
Increased staff responsiveness/pride
Better run organization
▫ Employee Benefits
▫ Customer Benefits
• Common Pitfalls
▫ Keeping it a secret
▫ Underestimating talent within
▫ Narrow minded thinking – too old/young, rough,
different
▫ Focusing exclusively on hard skills
▫ Not offering training/development opportunities
▫ Expecting employees to self-identify – help them
see what they can be.
▫ Not holding managers accountable for succession
planning.
▫ Considering only upward succession. Lateral?
▫ One size fits all program.
▫ Producing too many candidates for too few spots.
Program Participation
• Recruit and develop bright career minded
individuals who appreciate recognition.
• Voluntary opt-in.
• Provides self-directed careers.
Leadership Competencies
• Defines attributes desired.
• What an employee must achieve to show
proficiency at each level.
• Effectiveness, communication, ethics,
knowledge, developing people,
flexibility/adaptability, strategic initiative,
effective decision making, customer orientation,
achievement orientation, team orientation.
Knowledge Transfer and Retention
Strategies
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Document processes and records.
Hire new person before old one leaves.
Rehire retirees part time.
Make videos of people doing work.
SOPs, standardized record keeping formats,
archiving and data retrieval systems.
• Cross training existing staff.
What’s a small organization to do?
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Create organizational chart.
List age, years of service.
When do you expect people to leave?
Where do you expect to get replacements?
If they’re abundant and readily available, ok.
If not, where will they come from?
Need to develop in advance?
▫ Recruit for exam?
▫ Trade schools, military, minorities?
Mission Critical
• Identify “Mission Critical” positions/tasks.
▫ If this skill set, expertise, license, person is
suddenly unavailable, we can’t function or
something really bad can happen.
• It might be something that’s not readily
apparent.
 Payroll, IT, pesticide applicator’s license, CDL.
• How many positions/people can perform this
task?
▫ If only one, “Houston, you have a problem.”
▫ You need to plan for back up or when they leave.
• Try to figure out when they plan to leave.
• You need to develop a plan for that event.
• In the meantime, you still need to provide back
up for while they’re there.
Some Possibilities
• Cross training
• Multi-skilling
• Retiree/Part timer
• Outside sources of talent
• Contractors
Contracting Possibilities?
• Electrical
• I&C
• Payroll
• Retirees
▫ Redundancy, training, transition, sick/vacation.
Institutional Knowledge
• SOPs:
▫ Have employees write down how to perform MC
tasks from the perspective of someone who knows
nothing and needs to be able to do it.
• Have them create a video that demonstrates and
it.
Case Study – City of Plattsburgh WPCP
• WPCP
▫ 16 mgd
▫ 23 Employees
• Compost Plant
▫ 140 wtpd
▫ 7 Employees
• Now
▫ No Compost
▫ WPCP – 11 Employees
• 2000 – Many retirements looming
• Significant system changes
Developing the Plan
• Basic Steps
▫ Institutionalize the process and capture
stakeholder support
▫ Conduct assessments of organizational needs
▫ Develop the succession planning model
▫ Implement succession planning strategies
▫ Continuously measure, evaluate, and adapt
Assessment
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Staffed 24/7
7 Operators
6 Maintenance Workers
6 Lab Technicians
• Flows dropped
• Loads dropped
• Revenues dropped
WPCP Organizational Chart
CPO
Storekeeper
Typist
Lead/Process Operator
6 Maintenance Staff
7 Operations Staff
Water Resources
Chemist
6 Lab Staff
• Saw retirements coming.
• Stepped back and looked at the work.
▫ Had everyone list what they did all day and how
long it took.
▫ Evaluated whether all of the work actually needed
to be performed.
▫ Were able to eliminate much of the work and
reorganize how it was done.
Don’t have as much work
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Only needed 8/7.
Significant lab reduction.
Not as much actual maintenance as we thought.
Still needed operators for required certified
coverage.
• Decided to go operator heavy and maint/lab
light.
Plan
• Keep operators.
• Cross train/certify maint/lab staff to transfer as
operators retire. Eliminate their old position.
• Now:
▫ 6 Operators
▫ 2 Maintenance
▫ No lab techs
• SOPs
Act
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Created draft plan
Shared with employees and union
Got their feedback
Modified plan
Conveyed that plan was dynamic
Created schedule for implementation
Created schedule for review and revision
Now Looking at Management
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All 3 managers plus admin gone in 5 years.
140 years of experience.
Identified all mission critical tasks and licenses.
Scary list.
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Compliance sampling and reporting.
Industrial pretreatment.
Decision making.
Scheduling
Payroll
Process control
Data management
Computers
Project management, bid specs
4A Certification
• Developed Progression/Succession Program.
▫ Staff can volunteer to learn mission critical tasks.
▫ Once proficiency developed, recognition and pay
bump.
▫ Provides:
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Back up/Redundancy
Pipeline
Continuous learning environment
Excitement/Competition
Organizational capacity/resiliency.
Step 1
Institutionalize the process and capture stakeholder support
• Gain commitment from decision makers – ME!
▫ Demonstrate why it’s needed and benefits – less$
• Gather resources – CPO, Lab Manager, ME!
▫ Senior leadership – CPO/Lab Manager
▫ HR/Civil Service – Talked to both
▫ Union representative – Pulled in shop steward/Prez
▫ Employees groups
• Identify the strategic vision and goals of the organization
▫ Make succession planning a priority – Yes.
▫ Strategic plan will determine # future employees and skills needed –
Looked at actual work.
▫ What will succession program look like? What will it do for organization?
More cross trained operators, less maint/lab
• Incorporate succession planning into your organization’s values – Imposed.
• Clearly define the objectives for the program – fit # workers to actual work.
Step 2A – “As Is” Assessment
• Collect and analyze organization and demographic data
▫ Retirements? Many coming, across titles.
▫ New leaders being developed? Huh?
▫ Are you identifying new leaders? Round 2/3.
▫ What is average age and tenure of current employees? Old/Forever.
▫ What are attrition and vacancy rates? Nil.
• Identity and prioritize key work processes/positions
▫ Which are most critical? Operators.
▫ Which have the least amount of resource depth?
▫ Which processes are documented? None.
▫ Are future leaders prepared? No, round 2/3.
• Identify condition and availability of resources and systems
▫ What items are needed to do work? Maps, policies/procedures, training
guides? All.
▫ Are they accessible and up to date? Some accessible, not up to date.
▫ What technology systems are currently in use? Old ones.
Step 2B – “To Be” Assessment
• Analyze future requirements for services
▫ Future demand - Lower
▫ Customer expectations – Controlled costs
▫ Regulations – always getting stricter
• What are the goals of the Strategic Plan
▫ Demand placed by SP – less staff, 8/7, cross train
▫ How will SP change workforce/leadership
requirements – move to ops, develop decisions
• What are upcoming changes in the industry? - ?
• What demands will technology place on
organization? More computer savvy, IT
Step 2C – Gap Analysis
• How does “as is” organization fall short of “to
be”?
• Wanted mostly operators. Progress from
Lab/maintenance to operations.
• Develop critical thinking/decision making skills.
• Develop Lead Operator training.
• Cross train Ops to maintenance and lab.
• Develop technology skills.
Step 3.1 - Develop the Succession
Planning Model
• Determine which employees or levels of employees
will be involved in program.
▫ Lab/Maint
• Build leadership pipeline.
▫ Identify internal talent with critical competencies
(KSAs).
 ID’s specific people with promise.
 All ops got turns as Lead Operator
▫ Analyze external sources of talent.
 Reviewed Civil Service lists in advance.
 Recruit for exams.
Step 3.2 - Develop the Succession
Planning Model
• Identify training and development strategies.
▫ Formal professional development.
Certification classes, in-house, proficiency
program, NYWEA.
▫ Coaching and mentoring. Trainees teamed up.
▫ Use cross training/multi-skilling. Lab/maint,
project management, decision making.
▫ Job shadowing. Interns.
▫ Identify career paths. In progress.
Step 3.3 - Develop the Succession
Planning Model
• Develop retention strategies.
▫ Not an issue.
• Create knowledge management and transfer
strategies.
▫ Inventory documents, plans, reports.
▫ Develop/Update SOPs.
▫ Some videos.
Step 4 - Implement Succession
Planning Model
• Determine resource needs for implementation.
Managers.
• Identify barriers to implementation. Staff/Union, Civil
Service, DEC, MUs, alarms.
• Develop or update job descriptions. Reviewed. Ok.
• Prepare organization for change.
▫ Establish communication plan. Meetings to explain
what/why.
▫ Connect with stakeholders and get their buy in. DEC,
MUs, EOs.
▫ Identify and establish peer and leadership champions
of change.
 ID’d ambitious employees, existing leaders and did
one on one.
• If needed, implement strategies on pilot basis.
Too small.
• Link succession strategies with HR.
▫ Recognition – Stars, acknowledgement at staff
meetings, personal thanks.
▫ Workforce planning – Looked at actual work,
what can we reduce/eliminate, practice/dry
runs on tasks.
▫ Assessment strategies
▫ Recruitment strategies
• Train staff as necessary.
Step 5 - Continuous Measurement,
Evaluation, and Adaptation
• Define measures of program success. Compliance/safety
• Determine how frequently the program will be
evaluated. Routine staff meetings.
• Design the reporting process. Informal.
• Track progress, communicate and celebrate program
success. Monthly.
• Get stakeholder feedback on strategy success. ?
• Adjust or adapt programs based on evaluative results.
Yes!
• Ensure top management stays engaged and provides
support and attention to program. Managers.
• Make 3 to 5 year succession plans part of organization’s
strategic planning process.
Questions/Comments?
Jonathan P. Ruff, P.E.
Environmental Manager
City of Plattsburgh, NY
ruffj@cityofplattsburgh-ny.gov
518-536-7519