In business, succession planning isn’t just about the unknown and unforeseen. After all, retirements generally arrive with plenty of advance notice. It’s also not confined to the top levels.
Whether your organization employs thousands or dozens, what’s important is twofold:
- that someone today is thinking seriously about tomorrow
- and that the HR department is helping facilitate those discussions and decisions
While 70% of C-suite executives in a Deloitte survey are “seriously considering quitting,” a Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) report shows only 21% of organizations have a succession plan in place.
Worse, while Forbes found 9.6% of CEOs left their position in 2021 — most likely stayed to guide their organizations through the COVID-19 pandemic — executive resignation has rapidly risen throughout 2022. According to Harvard Law School, CEO succession has risen to nearly 12% among companies listed in the S&P 500 and Russell 3000 as of July 2022.
Even those of us who didn’t ace math can see the potential problem waiting to become a full-blown catastrophe.
As Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio noted, “Any organization run by a 60-plus-year-old that says it isn’t in transition is either naive or disingenuous.”
Where does your business stand?