Succession management in the
Queensland Public Service
February 2009
Table of contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 3
What is succession management? ............................................................................... 3
Why do succession management? ............................................................................... 3
Who does succession management apply to? .............................................................. 4
What are critical or key roles? ....................................................................................... 4
How can succession management be successfully implemented? ............................... 4
What are the key elements of succession management? ............................................. 4
What are the four categories of risk which need to be addressed to ensure effective
succession management? ............................................................................................ 5
How can succession risk be assessed?........................................................................ 5
Guide ............................................................................................................................ 6
Flowchart ...................................................................................................................... 8
What are the main activities that can be implemented to minimise succession risk? ... 9
Manage Vacancy Risk ........................................................................................... 9
Manage Readiness Risk ........................................................................................ 9
Manage Transition Risk ....................................................................................... 10
Manage Business Risk ........................................................................................ 11
How can success be measured? ................................................................................ 11
Succession Management in the Public Service
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Introduction
In an environment of rapid change there are significant concerns about the need ‘to ensure
organisational sustainability, flexibility and responsiveness’ in delivering services to the
community. Our capacity to perform and deliver services whilst dealing with issues such as
an ageing of the workforce and labour and skills shortages requires new approaches to
ensure the public service has the capacity to sustain our performance and responsiveness in
the future.
It is within this context that organisations, and more importantly leaders and managers, need
to look with increased scrutiny at the need to manage employee succession effectively to
ensure they have the future leadership, management and technical capacity to deliver
government business. Agencies that have a high impact succession management system will
more successfully manage high calibre employees, which will positively impact on long-term
leadership quality and business performance.
Succession management is an important risk management strategy to ensure the
continuation of effective service provision to the community, regardless of organisational
change. Without planning, disruptions caused by both expected and unexpected departures
can lead to suboptimal outcomes in the efficient delivery of government business. Forward
planning to manage succession helps develop a diverse workforce better equipped to
respond well to a variety of challenges, not just personnel-related change.
What is succession management?
Succession:

is a strategic process to ensure the continued supply of skilled employees to fill critical or
key roles;

facilitates the preservation of corporate skills and knowledge;

is an integral part of workforce planning;

may be linked to recruitment and selection, capability development, and retention
activities;

operates within principles of merit and transparency in selection processes; and

does not target individuals, rather is about developing capability to ensure that there is a
suitable pool of potential applicants when positions become available.
Why do succession management?
To address fundamental workforce challenges facing all organisations including:

labour and skills shortages;

the ageing population. Mature-age employees account for an increasingly large
proportion of the Queensland public service workforce. As at December 2007, around 48
percent of Queensland permanent public service employees were aged over 45 years;

the increasing rate of retirement from the public service. Forty percent of current senior
Succession Management in the Public Service
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executive service and senior officer staff will reach retirement age in the next five to eight
years;

trends for younger employees not to remain in the same job for very long;

attracting and retaining people with particular skills sets; and

effectively managing and developing the skills of existing employees.
Who does succession management apply to?
Succession applies to critical or key positions where there is a reasonable risk of not having
sufficiently skilled people to undertake these roles.
What are critical or key roles?

Leadership or senior level positions within an agency

Roles requiring agency-specific technical or business capabilities that are critical to
achieving an agency’s outcomes

Roles that are critical to continued service delivery, for example, sole positions in rural
and remote communities

Roles likely to emerge in the future.
How can succession management be successfully implemented?

Establish a business case demonstrating the need for succession using HR metrics and
information

Ensure executive commitment to, and involvement in, succession activities

Integrate succession into your agency’s planning activities

Facilitate shared responsibility for succession across your agency

Develop succession activities that are simple, flexible, equitable and transparent

Develop practices that observe the principles of merit

Establish measurable outcomes and opportunities to review and evaluate succession
activities on a regular basis.
What are the key elements of succession management?

Identification of key roles

Assessment of the risk of not having sufficiently skilled people to fill these roles

Alignment and development of capability.
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What are the four categories of risk which need to be addressed to
ensure effective succession management?

Vacancy Risk

Readiness Risk

Transition Risk

Business Risk
In order to ensure effective succession management, agencies must address each of these
four risks. Firstly, agencies must adopt succession planning processes to protect the
business from key role departures. Secondly, agencies must ensure the readiness of
possible successors to the key role. Finally, a holistic view of succession should be adopted
to ensure a thorough transition is effected, including effective and ongoing delivery of
business outcomes. Refer to the ‘guide and flowchart’ for more information.
How can succession risk be assessed?

Identify key roles in your agency

Look at your agency’s planning processes:
o
outcomes of scenario development and environmental scanning
o
analysis of your agency’s current and future business goals
o
agency workforce data and information and trends
o
job roles and accountability mapping.

Assess the risk of each key role

Look at the potential shortages and surpluses of pools of sufficiently skilled people for
each key role:
o
the likelihood and consequences of not having sufficiently skilled people available to
potentially fill and perform successfully in the role

o
whether pools of sufficiently skilled people are internal or external to the agency
o
implications for recruitment and selection practice
o
implications for capability development
o
implications for retention strategies.
For roles which carry an unacceptable level of risk:
o
attract people with particular skills sets
o
develop the capabilities required, including ’growing your agency’s own
o
retain suitably skilled people.
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Guide
Creating a succession management strategy
Whilst many agencies undertake some form of succession management, many focus on a
narrow definition resulting in replacement planning. The following steps outline a way to
design a succession planning strategy by creating a receptive organisational environment and
managing the ongoing succession process.
Component 1: Engage Senior Executives in commitment to development
Senior Executive
commitment to
development
o
Initiate communication from Director-General to agency on importance of
leadership development
o
Publicly recognise senior executives as role models
Component 2: Reinforce the importance of development throughout the agency
Organisational
reinforcement of
o
Modify development opportunities based on agency strategy
o
Hold all managers accountable for employee development through
performance and development planning
development
Component 3: Focus attraction strategies on organisational compatibility
Attracting for
organisational
compatibility
o
Incorporate assessment techniques appropriate to role of vacancy
o
Determine applicant’s compatibility with the ‘fit’ of the agency
o
Consider applicant’s interpersonal skills and compatibility with agency culture
and environment
Component 4: Implement a Performance Management System
Performance
o
Ensure performance management system is effective and rewards and
recognises outstanding performers
management
Component 5: Provide cross-agency development opportunities if required
Exposure to
o
breadth of
leadership
challenges
Include or create key learning experiences through opportunities to:
-
manage large groups of people
-
launch new businesses, initiatives, programs or projects
-
make significant decisions
-
work on cross-functional teams
-
work in customer/client-facing role
-
turn around a struggling business program or project
Component 6: Select successors based on key leadership attributes
Selecting
successors for
their leadership
o
Prioritise leadership ability, honesty, and integrity in successor criteria
o
Consider interpersonal skills and relationships with peers and direct reports
o
Emphasise alignment of skills with future business priorities, ability to identify
and articulate long-term vision of future and expectations, and ability to
ability
allocate resources across competing priorities
o
Ensure successor applicants demonstrate leadership through recognising
and rewarding achievement
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Component 7: Identify successors for specific positions
Focus on scarce
skills and fit with
position
o
Ensure talent pool includes applicants across organisation/sector in different
functions and regions
o
Incorporate individuals in external labour market who may be hard to find
Component 8: Manage the ongoing process through four succession risk categories
Four succession
o
Manage vacancy risk by focusing succession efforts on most vulnerable
areas of business by accurately translating business strategy into talent
risks
strategy and effectively planning for key departures
o
Manage
readiness
risk
by providing future
leaders
with
needed
development experiences, balancing short-term business risk with long-term
development benefit, and enabling movement across organisation
o
Manage transition risk by understanding transition derailers, managing
expectations of new hires, and creating accountability for success in roles
o
Manage business risk by ensuring talent is effectively aligned and deployed
against evolving business priorities
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Creating a Succession Management Strategy*
Flowchart
Managing the Ongoing Succession Process
Vacancy Risk
Readiness Risk
Risk of critical leadership positions remaining
vacant
Risk of underdeveloped successors
Readiness Risk Urgency Drivers
Vacancy Risk Urgency Drivers
o
o
Risk of turnover not identified
No prioritisation of hard-to-fill positions or skill sets
o
o
Limited view into development pipeline
Limited understanding of successor experience or skill
level
Vacancy Risk Imperatives
Readiness Risk Imperatives
o
o
o
o
Incorporate business strategy into successor
assessment and development strategy
Align successor identification with key leadership
qualifications
Protect key operations from critical talent
departures
o
o
Strategies to Manage Vacancy Risk
Provide critical developmental experiences to leaders
at appropriate times in careers
Balance the risks of placing potential succession
candidates in stretch roles with long-term
development benefit
Develop talent through cross-organisational roles and
functions
Strategies to Manage Readiness Risk
Transition Risk
Business Risk
Risk of poor assimilation of leadership talent
Risk of poor deployment of talent against business
goals
Transition Risk Urgency Drivers
o
o
No benchmarking against the external labour
market
No selection criteria focused on compatibility or
leadership ability
Transition Risk Imperatives
o
o
o
Manage expectations of leaders in new roles and
raise awareness of potential transition challenges
Target organisational interventions at identified
transitional challenges
Initiate developmental activities early in new role
and create accountability for action plan at all
levels
Strategies to Manage Transition Risk
Succession Management in the Public Service
Business Risk Urgency Drivers
o
o
o
Assumes current structure and definitions of
responsibility
Does not incorporate organisation-wide goals (eg
specialised skills)
Does not account for changing business needs
Business Risk Imperatives
o
o
o
Identify organisational needs for future growth and
align them with leadership competencies
Manage talent pipeline to ensure the organisation has
leaders to achieve future growth objectives
Maximise utilisation of talent while ensuring leaders
are not over or under-stretched
Strategies to Manage Business Risk
8
What are the main activities that can be implemented to minimise
succession risk?
Manage Vacancy Risk
Attract people with particular skills sets

Look closely at how jobs are marketed, analysed and described;

Actively recruit, retrain and retain under-utilised sections of the labour market,
including mature-age people;

Consider your agency’s recruitment and selection practices in relation to the
following:
o
Content and placement of job vacancy advertisements;
o
Whether screening, interview and other selection tools are relevant to the role;
o
Whether selection panel members have been trained in effective selection
practice;
o
Whether all applicants are managed consistently throughout the selection
process;
o
For suggestions and tips on analysing job requirements, vacancy options,
attracting and assessing applicants, and applicant care go to Attraction,
Recruitment and Selection publications
Manage Readiness Risk
Develop the capabilities required for critical roles

Implement executive capability development activities, for example
http://www.psc.qld.gov.au/page/corporate-publications/catalogue/leadershipcapability.shtml

Implement performance and development planning to:
o
Determine employee capabilities;
o
Identify employee career goals;
o
Establish an understanding of employee needs;
o
Identify whether there are critical roles of interest to employees;
o
Determine strategies to develop capabilities required for current roles and
possible future roles;
o

Understand employee learning and development priorities;
Provide formal and informal learning and development activities including:
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o
Coaching and work shadowing;
o
Mentoring
o
Relieving opportunities, including job rotation, higher duties and special projects;
o
Variety of job assignments and action learning projects;
o
Support for further formal study
o
In-house or external training programs, for example GLADIS:
http://www.psc.qld.gov.au/page/developing-people/professionaldevelopment/government-learning-portal-gladis/index.shtml

Ensure that opportunities for learning are offered to all employees throughout their
working life; Monitor uptake of training by all employees, including mature-age
employees.
Manage Transition Risk
Retain suitably skilled employees

Where appropriate, actively implement flexible work practices to encourage work/life
balance including:
o
Part-time work and job sharing;
o
Working from home (telecommuting);
o
Special leave (including purchased leave); flexible use of long service leave;
o
Leave without pay
o
Accumulated time;
http://www.psc.qld.gov.au/library/document/catalogue/retention/retentionresource.pdf

Consider flexible or phased retirement options and job redesign for mature-age
employees, for example
http://www.psc.qld.gov.au/library/document/catalogue/mature-age/managing-anageing-workforce.pdf

Review what recruitment information, staff opinion surveys and exit interviews tell you
about what attracts people to work for you and why they stay or leave;

Identify retirement intentions, including flexible retirement options, where appropriate.
Transfer valuable knowledge and skills by:
o
Developing specific systems and processes for capturing knowledge and
passing knowledge from experienced workers to other employees
o
Encouraging job sharing between employees who may be staying and those
who are intending to leave;
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o
Actively encouraging coaching, work shadowing and mentoring;
Using job redesign to create roles that value and reward formalised knowledge and skills
transfer.
Manage Business Risk
Effectively Mange Change

Ensure that your agency is prepared for changing business needs, by:
o
Identifying future growth patterns and ensuring there are sufficiently trained
leaders to meet this;
o
Making sure that the talent identified and developed by the methods outlined in
this framework are effectively aligned against your agency’s business priorities.
How can success be measured?
To evaluate the success of your strategies, decide the most appropriate measures against
the four categories of risk. For example:

Regularly review key roles, risks and strategies in relation to your agency’s planning
processes;

Consider the impact on your agency’s outputs and outcomes;

Establish relevant outcome indicators, including:
o
Retention of people in feeder groups to key roles;
o
Age profile of your workforce;
o
Time to fill;
o
Quality of applicant pools;
o
Average age of retirement.
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