SAP SuccessFactors Succession Planning

Summary

The webinar transcript discusses the importance of succession planning in organizations, especially during uncertain times like the COVID-19 pandemic. It emphasizes the need for companies to be prepared for unexpected situations and outlines a five-step process for effective succession planning. The session also includes a demo of the SuccessFactors system, showcasing how it can aid in identifying critical roles, potential successors, and developing plans to ensure business continuity.

Takeaways

• 📅 The webinar series has reached its 14th session focusing on succession planning, which is crucial in the current unpredictable times due to COVID-19.
• 🤝 The main goal of the sessions is to support participants with success factors, best practices, and leveraging technology for effective remote work.
• 🚀 Succession planning is essential to ensure operational sustainability and continuity, especially during crises.
• 🤔 Organizations are encouraged to rethink fundamentals and analyze the impact at different levels within the company.
• 📈 Identifying critical positions and having a short-term succession plan for them is vital to mitigate risks associated with sudden leadership changes.
• 🌐 A governance framework should be in place to empower employees to take up new roles within the organization.
• 🛠️ SuccessFactors can be a helpful tool in delivering different aspects of succession planning, including identifying and developing successors.
• 🔍 Organizations should have tools to monitor, control, and report on the talent pipeline and contingent workforce status during a crisis.
• 📝 A five-step process for succession planning includes defining people's scope, risk assessment, identifying gaps, defining a leadership and succession plan, and rolling it out.
• 🔄 Cross-functional role development is encouraged as it provides flexibility in placing employees in multiple roles when needed.
• 📢 Communication and awareness of succession planning strategies are key to employee engagement and retention.

Q & A

What is the main aim of the 14 weeks 14 virtual roundtable webinar series?

The main aim of the webinar series is to support participants around success factors, best practices, and to help them get the most significant benefit from technology during the strange times of working from home.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the way organizations work?

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shift in the way organizations work, with a greater emphasis on remote work and the need for organizations to be prepared for unexpected situations.

Why is succession planning important for organizations?

Succession planning is important to ensure operational sustainability and continuity, especially during times of crisis. It helps organizations be ready for unexpected situations and manage potential risks associated with the sudden loss of leaders or key personnel.

What are some key considerations for organizations when looking at succession planning?

Key considerations include rethinking fundamentals, analyzing existing talents, converting them into operational continuity opportunities, and having a framework that encourages employees to take up new roles within the organization.

How can organizations identify critical positions within their structure?

Organizations can identify critical positions by defining criteria to recognize roles that are essential to the operation and impact of the company, such as CEO, CFO, VPs, and heads of departments.

What is the role of technology in succession planning?

Technology, such as SuccessFactors, plays a crucial role in facilitating succession planning by providing tools for risk assessment, identifying successors, developing individual development plans, and monitoring the progress of potential successors.

How does the SuccessFactors system help in managing succession planning?

SuccessFactors allows organizations to maintain a succession chart, identify critical positions, compare potential successors based on various attributes, and create development plans to close operational gaps between the incumbent and the successor.

What is the significance of cross-functional roles in succession planning?

Cross-functional roles are significant in succession planning because they allow for more flexibility and adaptability within the organization. Employees with multiple skill sets can be placed in various roles as needed, making the organization more resilient to changes and crises.

How often should organizations review their succession plans?

Organizations should review their succession plans at least quarterly to ensure they are up-to-date and aligned with the current state of the business and any changes in the organizational structure or strategy.

What is the recommended approach for identifying successors for critical roles?

The recommended approach involves conducting a risk assessment, identifying potential successors, defining a development plan to address any gaps, and ensuring there is a backup plan for each level of succession, ideally planning up to three levels deep.

How can organizations ensure their employees are aware of and prepared for succession planning?

Organizations can incorporate succession planning awareness into their onboarding programs, provide training, and maintain open communication about the strategy and processes. This ensures employees understand their potential roles and the opportunities for growth within the company.

Outlines

00:00

📅 Introduction and Webinar Series Overview

The speaker welcomes the audience to the 14th and final session of a 14-week virtual roundtable webinar series focused on succession planning. The series began in March amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to support participants with success factors, best practices, and leveraging technology for remote work. The speaker encourages questions and introduces the session's facilitator, Pankaj, who will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on succession planning and demonstrate how SuccessFactors can aid in this process.

05:01

🤔 Assessing the Need for Succession Planning

Pankaj begins by discussing the necessity of succession planning, especially in light of unforeseen events like the COVID-19 pandemic. He poses critical questions to the audience about their preparedness for operational sustainability, risk mitigation, and leadership continuity. Pankaj emphasizes the importance of having a framework that empowers employees to take on new roles and assesses the organization's ability to identify and develop talent for operational continuity.

10:02

🛠️ Succession Planning Strategies and Tools

The discussion shifts to strategies for identifying critical positions and roles within an organization, assessing the risk of losing key personnel, and planning for succession. Pankaj highlights the need for a model that can measure employee readiness from a continuity standpoint and the importance of having a government governance framework to enable immediate succession. He also touches on the role of technology in facilitating these processes.

15:03

🔍 Identifying and Developing Talent

Pankaj delves into the process of identifying and developing talent within an organization. He outlines steps for defining critical roles, conducting risk assessments, and identifying potential successors. The session covers the importance of understanding employee mobility preferences and creating mitigation plans for critical roles. Pankaj also discusses the role of mentoring and the need for a development plan to close operational gaps between incumbents and successors.

20:03

📈 Succession Planning Demonstration

Pankaj presents a demo of SuccessFactors, showcasing how the tool can be used for succession planning. He walks through the process of identifying critical positions, setting up a succession chart, and defining potential successors. The demo illustrates how the system can help organizations maintain and modify their succession plans, including the ability to compare successors side by side and identify gaps in the timeline.

25:06

🚀 Final Thoughts and Q&A

In the concluding segment, Pankaj reiterates the importance of having a robust succession plan in place, especially given the uncertainty of the times. He encourages the audience to reflect on their strategies and to start planning if they haven't already. The session ends with a Q&A where Pankaj answers questions about the development plans and the tool's capability to consider successors from different functional areas.

Keywords

💡Succession Planning

Succession planning is a strategic process that identifies and develops potential leaders to fill key positions within an organization. It ensures continuity of leadership and mitigates risks associated with sudden loss of critical personnel. In the context of the video, succession planning is crucial for organizations to be prepared for unexpected situations like the COVID-19 pandemic, where the sudden change in work dynamics highlighted the importance of having a robust plan in place.

💡Operational Sustainability

Operational sustainability refers to the ability of an organization to maintain its core functions and operations over time, despite challenges or disruptions. It involves having the right measures in place to ensure continuity during crises. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of having a succession plan that supports operational sustainability, especially in times of crisis, to manage risks and maintain business continuity.

💡Employee Engagement

Employee engagement refers to the emotional commitment and involvement of employees in their work, leading to higher productivity and job satisfaction. In the context of the video, succession planning plays a role in employee engagement by providing opportunities for growth and development within the organization. By having a clear succession plan, employees can see a path for advancement, which can increase their motivation and commitment to the company.

💡Critical Positions

Critical positions are roles within an organization that are vital to its operation and success. These roles, often held by leaders or key personnel, have a significant impact on the organization's functioning. Identifying and planning for these positions is a core aspect of succession planning, as their loss or vacancy can disrupt operations and strategic initiatives.

💡Risk Assessment

Risk assessment is the process of evaluating the potential risks and their impact on an organization. In the context of succession planning, it involves assessing the likelihood and potential consequences of key employees leaving and the strategies to mitigate these risks. Effective risk assessment helps organizations prepare for and manage the transition of critical roles.

💡Talent Pipeline

A talent pipeline refers to the process of identifying, developing, and preparing a pool of employees for future leadership or key roles within an organization. It ensures that there is a continuous flow of skilled and ready candidates who can step into critical positions when needed. In the video, the concept is used to highlight the importance of having a system in place to monitor and manage the status of the workforce, especially during crises.

💡Operational Continuity

Operational continuity is the ability of an organization to continue its critical operations even in the face of unexpected events or disruptions. It involves having plans and processes in place to minimize the impact of these events and maintain business functions. In the video, operational continuity is a key goal of succession planning, ensuring that the organization can adapt and function effectively during challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic.

💡Work from Home

Work from home refers to a flexible work arrangement where employees perform their job duties from a location outside the traditional office environment, typically from their home. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in work from home arrangements, making it a critical aspect of business continuity and succession planning as it changes the way employees collaborate and perform their roles.

💡Cross-Functional Roles

Cross-functional roles are positions that require skills and knowledge from multiple business functions or departments. Employees in these roles often work across different teams and divisions, leveraging diverse skill sets to contribute to the organization's goals. The video emphasizes the importance of developing employees for cross-functional roles as part of succession planning, as it provides flexibility and adaptability in responding to organizational needs.

💡Mentorship Programs

Mentorship programs are structured initiatives where experienced individuals, or mentors, guide and support less experienced ones, or mentees, in their professional development. These programs are crucial for succession planning as they facilitate knowledge transfer, skill development, and leadership growth, preparing potential successors for future roles.

Highlights

The webinar is part of a 14-week virtual roundtable series focusing on success factors, best practices, and leveraging technology during the pandemic.

The main aim of the sessions is to support organizations and individuals in adapting to changes in work dynamics due to COVID-19.

The final session of the series discusses succession planning, emphasizing its importance in uncertain times.

The session begins with an overview of the series' progression from the start in March to the current focus on succession planning.

Succession planning is crucial for organizations to ensure they are fully prepared for unexpected situations like the pandemic.

The webinar encourages participants to rethink organizational fundamentals and analyze existing talents for operational continuity.

A use case analysis of COVID-19's impact on succession planning is presented, highlighting steps organizations can take to ensure employee engagement.

The session introduces a model for identifying critical positions and developing a succession plan to mitigate risks associated with leadership loss.

The importance of having a government governance framework and policies to enable immediate succession is discussed.

The session emphasizes the need for organizations to identify high-potential employees and provide them with opportunities for role transitions.

A demo of the SuccessFactors system showcases how it can assist in delivering different aspects of succession planning.

The webinar addresses questions about operational sustainability, risk mitigation, and the ability to fill critical roles in times of crisis.

The session highlights the importance of cross-functional role development and the value of employees with multiple skill sets.

The discussion includes the necessity of tools and applications for monitoring and reporting talent pipeline and workforce status during a crisis.

A five-step process for succession planning is introduced, covering defining people's scope, risk assessment, identifying gaps, and developing a leadership and continuity plan.

The session concludes with a call to action for participants to start planning for succession to add value to their businesses and prepare for uncertain times.

Transcripts

so

good morning everyone or or good

afternoon

uh wherever you are um and thank you for

joining us on time

uh this is our 14 weeks 14 virtual

roundtable webinar series

and we have now come to the very last

session

uh so week 14 succession planning

so we started this series all the way

back in march

uh when we're all badly hit with the new

virus and

and the way we work since then changed a

lot so

the main aim of these sessions is really

to support you around success factors

best practices

and to help you get the most significant

benefit from the technology

during these strange times working from

home

so you can find more information on our

website and you can

request recordings to previous webinars

by email

you know we're more than happy to share

them with you

so today's session will explore

succession planning

and i hope that you find this session

useful

and take something away that's valuable

to you or to your organization

and if you have any questions then

please type it into the question box in

your control panel

and uh i will now pass over to pancaj

who will be delivering this session for

us

today thanks espina

and a very warm welcome to all of you

who have joined today

for this particular session um

what i've tried to put together for you

today is a

simple uh

kind of a use case analysis of code 19

on succession planning

where uh what our organization needs to

do

what they need to think about and

what can you do or what steps can you

take in order to ensure that you are

fully covered

when it comes to employee engagement and

succession planning

plus by end of the session i'll show you

a small demo on success factor

showcasing uh how successfactor can be

helpful

in delivering um you know different

aspects of succession planning

so let me uh jump into

uh the next slide first okay

so the perspective uh why

there is a need for you to plan for

succession

of your employees right now now we all

understand

uh uh covet 19 has been uh

kind of a really unexpected turns of

events for

everybody and we want to ensure

that you uh as the company is ready

all the time right of course at this

time it becomes really really important

if you have if you don't have a

succession plan with you today

uh you need to really start thinking

about it because 19 has clearly shown

to everybody that unexpected situations

are really around the corner

it's really difficult to manage them

when they're really at your face

uh if you are well prepared for it then

definitely uh you can

take some necessary steps to do that

right

so um right now what is expected from an

organization is to really rethink the

fundamentals

how are you look at the different levels

and the impact that has happened at the

unprecedented proportions

within different levels in the

organization

also um we expect

by end of this session you will

understand um

how to analyze your existing talents

and how you can convert them into an

operational continuity opportunity

for your organization now

uh what i have done is i've put together

some list of questions that

you as an organization or you as

somebody who is

uh you know looking at your organization

from saying you know

i might have to let some people go

i might need to uh hire some people or

maybe you are doing pay cuts in your

organization today

right there could be multiple reasons

why people might

uh leave your organization or you might

have to let them go

now um these questions are really there

to

jog your mind and and put you in the

right track

with what i'm about to explain in uh in

the upcoming session

okay can you guarantee that you have

right measures in place to ensure

operational sustainability and

continuity in time of crisis

what it really means that do you have a

model in place to handle these kind of

scenarios

do you have a model in place which

really allows you to measure an employee

uh

you know from a from a continuity point

of view

if yes you are well if no

then definitely you'll have something in

the session today

okay next question

uh are you fully prepared to mitigate

risk related to sudden loss of leaders

or frontline task force right

this really talks about

your senior management as you call it or

leadership

team right if there is a certain loss of

any of the leaders that you have today

do you have a plan in place to mitigate

the risk associated to losing a leader

in the organization

do you have a short-term succession plan

for leaders and incumbent of critical

roles within your organization

so do you have a model in place today

which

allows you to identify critical

positions within the

organization right or critical roles

within the organization

and do you have a short-term

succession plan already in place for it

for example

let's say if your cfo leaves for any any

reason today

then do you have a replacement which can

be

uh you know done within the organization

in let's say next three to six months

time

right or would you have to you know

really go externally and source people

to fulfill that situation because it's

one of the most critical roles for any

organization

next do you have a government governance

framework

and policies in place to enable

immediate succession

so uh this really points towards do you

empower your employees in such a way

that they are

encouraged uh to take up uh new roles

within the organization

right so you need to have some kind of a

framework where you uh tell your

employees that if you do xyz

you will be able to move to the next

role or even go to a cross-function role

that you're doing today

right so they can literally let's say

move from hr to finance

if they have the right skill sets and

they fulfill the

certain requirement criterias but what

is important here is that

to know to let your employees know that

this is an option that they have

and that's how you you know identify

people with high potential because

people who are

eager to take up these new rules they

will come out but if you don't have an

infrastructure or or a framework in

place

they will never uh come out and say uh

you know they want to do something new

right now just to give you an example

of i am doing a project right now with

one of the customers that we have in

telecommunications sector

it's a big customer about 80 to 90

countries they cover

and one of the challenges that they have

is that they don't want

that's doing work for another department

now the question itself is very easy to

answer

right but when you look at an employee

set

where you are looking at a hundred

thousand uh number

it's really difficult to identify which

employee out of this hundred thousand is

the right fit

right so we are working with them to uh

facilitate them with different models

and measurements in place

so that they can identify those people

and then they can make

uh they can maybe they can be made

productive uh in a different kind of a

role

maybe another thing that you need to

think about is maybe this

shift is temporary maybe they are doing

this new role for six months then they

come back to their

original role some people would prefer

that

right some people would totally move to

the new role and they will forget about

what they were doing before but the

experience definitely stays with them

which can be leveraged

again in future if if anything of this

sort

happens to an organization

just a reminder if you have any

questions please type uh in the question

box

and we'll pick them up at the end of

this session

the next question are the successors

able to access key tools and system

to perform their new duties now when we

say that a successor needs to have

access to keys and tools we are

literally talking about

uh in this scenario successfactor system

right do they have access to the

policies for succession planning number

one

number two do they have access to a

system where they can go

and uh showcase their desire to the

uh to the organization right do they

have a tool

which will once they are identified that

they are a successor

do they have a tool where they can

literally

uh formalize and uh do you know

individual development plan take

assessments for the new whole that

they're trying to do

and even um you know uh

kind of uh have a uh evaluation done

uh which will enable them to feel

confident that they can

fulfill the duties of the new role that

they're trying or aspiring to take up

right if you have this kind of data in

place and your employees are

you know participating this on a daily

basis

when a situation like covet 19 hits

you as in your organization you know

which people

have gone through the assessment and

where they can be placed because you are

literally assessing them

on a particular role requirement not

something very generic or random in

nature

one of the big challenges in today's

structure is especially uh i would say

uh in many many uh industries is that

we think about a lot about how to grow

employees and and how to

uh enable them to develop themselves but

we are literally focused a lot on their

current role development which is not

the ideal case because if you are

developing yourself in current role

one employee can only satisfy

requirement of the next level role as a

successor

but not like a cross-functional uh role

so these days if you see that there's a

trend growing on

where people with with multiple skill

sets

are being preferred by organizations to

hire because

of uh this successor reason because then

these employees can be placed at

multiple places as and when needed

right so this is also something that you

should consider

uh when you are looking for a tool or a

system

to help you perform uh the you know

new duties or developing into uh the new

role

okay do you have tools and applications

that

allow for timely monitoring control and

reporting of talent pipeline and

contingent workforce status during a

crisis

right one of the most important factors

um when you look at uh

succession planning at the time of

crisis

right now of course i've been saying

this that

you need to be prepared well in advance

you know for

if something like covet hits and then

you can use the plan

and take necessary measures to ensure

that your employee operations are run

smoothly

right but um nevertheless

right if you have not started doing this

you can start it right now

because this will help you uh of course

koved is not going away very soon the

problems that we have today uh they can

i'm hoping they will get better in time

but uh if i think about it realistically

uh i see we have at least another six

months

to go before we actually start improving

on a business front

so it's really important for you to

strategize your

talent pipeline and contingent workforce

right you there might be some roles

which we want to

fulfill for a short term basis right and

if you have your talent pipeline uh

really well done

uh using a system uh then you will be

able to identify where the gaps are

and then those gaps will help you to

prioritize your

contingent workforce planning for the

next six to one year time

right so any of the questions that you

saw

just now if the answer is yes to all of

them

you are okay right you are absolutely

fine

uh you are doing things in the right way

but if any of these questions

answer is no then definitely there is a

gap

right okay this is a small

model um that

is very famous uh in today's world for

succession planning

right and i wanted to give you some

background on if you haven't started

doing it

what can you do about it as of today

okay so number one is you need to define

people and score

so um when you say people in scope it

really means is

do you have criterias to identify

a critical role or a critical position

within your organization

so typically let's say it could be ceo

cfo

vps right head of talent head of hr

these are the typical critical roles

within any organization but

do you have a criteria to identify if

you have a small if you are in a small

organization it's very easy to do this

activity

but if you are a big organizations

spanning more than let's say 10 000

employees then it's really difficult to

identify you

would not know which role is critical

until unless

you lose that role and you're trying to

hire a new person there so it's very

important

identify your critical positions

okay now uh and define

uh an incumbent list for uh

for the roles okay and set up a code 19

committee

within your organization maybe a

committee of five to ten people

who are responsible to basically

uh define the strategy for the whole

coveted 19

and one of the pieces within that would

be uh definitely

uh succession planning right

next uh is uh once you have identified

your people

and and uh who they are and what they do

whether they are critical or not

and you have this committee set up for

you within the company

you can definitely conduct a risk

assessment on people

now why would you need to do a risk

assessment for people

right number one is

uh you need to assess whether the

employee

or the incumbent who is currently doing

that role or

sitting on that position uh that

employee

whether if they leave the company what

will be the impact

on the organization can the organization

function without that person or not

so really we're talking about impact of

loss for an employee

if you lose the employee then what

happens

what can you do about it second is

uh how likely it is that employee will

leave the organization

right that's something that also being

measured and

and if a certain person who is likely to

leave the organization

is uh sitting on a critical role then

you should be worried and

and very very keenly planning for uh

that particular position succession plan

right okay also

uh you need to keep mobility into uh

into mind

because uh let's say if i'm

let's say i'm based in uk and there is

another person based in qatar

right so uh can

a person from qatar be a replacement for

a person sitting in uk

right yes they might match the profile

they might match all the criterias they

might

fulfill all the assessment requirements

but if the person is not willing to move

from qatar to uk

then whatever you did it really doesn't

pan out

right so one of the things that we do uh

is is definitely capture the mobility

preferences of an employee

especially who is a successor for a

critical role we really encourage

to do that really this has to be done at

an organizational level

right as an employee self-service but

typically

minimum to minimum we should plan for

every successor who is a

uh who is assigned to a critical role in

the organization

right and of course um

you need to also uh come up with the

mitigation plan

that if the person leaves then what

should i do about it

right um you can of course source the

person externally but that should be

your last option

somebody who is part of your

organization from a long time you can

maybe

leverage them to that role and give them

the responsibilities and they

they can basically seek help from

different mentorship programs

and try and fulfill that leadership role

okay the next step is identifying

talent replacements right so once you

have done the risk assessment you have

all

the data and metrics is set up then you

start

identifying successes for these critical

roles and positions

right but only identifying

is not going to help you why because

you may identify a person who is like

literally ready now

you know so a person leaves um and you

simply

promote this person to the next role and

they start doing the responsibilities

that's a very ideal and and uh that's

where you need to go at the end

but typically when you think about

succession planning of a person

uh a successor might be ready to take up

the new role in next

one to two years time or they could be

ready to take up the new role

in let's say five years time for example

in that case though you have a successor

planned and something like code happens

and

and the incumbent of the critical

position leaves the organization

you can't wait five years to fulfill

that position you will

have to take an immediate action there

so it's really important for you

to define a development plan

which is literally used to close

operational gaps

uh between uh the incumbent and the

successor

right in fact some of the companies what

they do is uh

on a on a uh you know yearly basis for

like a month

this is something uh which we kind of

used to do in school

uh but i tend to recommend this to my

customers it really works is

if you have successes identified for a

role and you say that

they can be ready in less than two or

three years period of time

and those successors really need to

shadow at least let's say for a month

for the next role activities okay so and

when they repeat this two or three

cycles of the shadowing process

they really gain that insight into the

new role uh

and they will be much better equipped to

tackle

uh when you really promote them to the

new role

right so we used to do this in school

time uh

like a fun activity but it really works

at the organizational level as well

right and frankly this is one of the

ways to uh

you know train people on the job as well

so really really important aspect of

course you need to define your successes

identify them but also have a

corresponding training plan in place

so that they can take up that role in a

defined set of

time periods okay

next is of course uh you need to develop

leadership succession and continuity

plan which is really really important

[Music]

now um when you talk about leadership

uh roles uh the criterias for leadership

role are

really i would say strict right

um you need you can implement uh

e-shadowing it at this time

now one of the things that we encourage

is uh

is develop new ways to communicate with

within the organization right now it's

called

time so you really can't go and sit in

office and talk to somebody

uh so mentoring mentorship programs

really help play a vital role here

um you can you can uh also take up a

mentorship and try that out uh there are

different types of programs that you can

set up but

uh at the end of the day what it really

means is that to do

two people or or a potential successor

has a forum or a place to go

and look at what he can do to fulfill

or develop himself in the in the new

role right

also uh it's really important uh

not just for code 19 for any crisis in

mind

it could be a natural disaster or

something like a virus like kovite 19

right have some backup of

protocols and develop within the

organization how we are going to help

people

e-shadow themselves and how are you

going to

[Music]

deploy tracing mechanisms for especially

in case of kobe 19

we as a company has come up with a small

tool

which is literally part of the employee

central domain within success factor

which allows you to

capture you know when the test was done

for an employee

whether they have the clean slate to

come to office in case

you are trying to open your office again

right so all those

systems needs to be in place uh there

has to be clear indicators

uh wherever there is a interaction

between people on

practices to follow and not to follow

right

now why we're talking this in terms of

succession planning because

you don't want your successes to be

becoming sick right especially at this

time when

a lot of organizations are facing

challenges if they go sick then

it's again another type of problem that

you are dealing with here and

something which is not in an

organizational control

right so really really important that

your people are aware of

uh what are the regular regulatory

procedures

that they need to follow where even when

they are trying to develop themselves

and trying and contact people

through various medias that you have in

the organization

of course uh the final thing which is

really a

kind of a forum for employees to go and

look at what an

organization has to offer so roll out a

plan

uh roll out the policies right

define an escalation metrics uh define a

point of contact in case of emergency

for your organization now how

this model will help you right this is

one thing that you have this model in

place it helps you to manage a lot of

crisis scenario scenarios

but this example really my purpose here

is to make you aware

of a typical model on how you can start

with your succession journey

um most of that you saw here it's

kind of a framework and policy building

right a system can only do so much for

you

i'll show you a small demo in some

minute on how successful can really help

you to

adapt to these scenarios but

really really the work that you have to

do is is these five-step

process where you

as an organization define people's scope

do the risk assessment

identify gaps and fulfill those gaps for

your potential successors

and then define a leadership plan and

succession plan and continuity plan for

your organization

and then roll it out right believe me if

an employee like let's say i'm planning

to apply to your company

and if i see that these things are in

place within your organization

it really gives a boost high uh for me

to select you as an employer

uh looking uh at an uh as a from a

candidate point of view

and you can really really help market

this as well as one of the

differentiators that you have in your

organization

a lot of organization today they do this

they do it to some extent

they still follow the rudimentary

approach of replacement planning

where they would say oh i have one

person in my company

who is i mean who is the person the

critical role in the organization

who can be his backup right if he is not

around

or he goes on a long leave or he

literally leaves the organization

and then you plan that right it's like a

person-to-person dependency

one of the ways that an organization

can't function fully

is that if they reduce this

people-to-people dependency

and really believe in the framework and

the model that you have put up in place

to mitigate such scenarios right so my

only message here is that

try and create this model for your

organization

um right of course you need to have a

certain governance placed on top of this

model

okay uh like uh monitoring tools

and reporting tools that can be used

uh to check at any given point in time

what is the overall health of your

succession plan

minimum to minimum i would recommend

that you should look at

critical roles and definitely definitely

do a review every quarter

on those critical roles how we are

standing what's

overall health uh on the succession

planning of these critical roles

right of course there are certain

enablers for you to do

uh all all of this is of course you can

choose to do internal and external

communications

right you can uh and you will have to

have to align

so in your framework there has to be a

placeholder

which will help you to align your or

re-strategize your succession planning

in a quick manner

based on the current crisis so right now

we're talking about kobe 19

so our recommendation is to align with

the policies and procedures of kuwait 19

typically

uh forums that you would check is that

literally at three levels that you will

have to check

one is at at a who level where the

guidelines that are wh

providing you can adopt those then of

course at your

country level uh your country might have

a slightly modified version

of of the guidelines that you have and

then there are certain

um like orders being issued by

government

like uh for example uh you know in some

countries right now is that

you can open the mall but only 20

of people or total strength can go in

the mall similar thing is happening in

office campuses as well

i've i've been hearing that a lot of

offices that are opening up but

they're allowed to only have 20 percent

of their actual strength pre-covered era

so if you had 100 employees now you have

to only keep 20 employees at any given

point in time within the office

right so you can align to those and of

course the third layer is

your local uh authorities right let's

say at a city level

right that has been happening uh around

in countries like us uk uh

india you know policies are different at

every every state level right so you

need to adopt those as well

so you need to really really uh align

yourself to policies and procedures

for uh that particular crisis

uh given in time

also to facilitate this you need

technology enabler

one of the technology enabler for you is

success factors which i am going to show

you

uh in some time and of course

most important part if you have rolled

out your policies and procedures you

need to also ensure

that people are aware of it and

and are educated on it right so one of

the things that we do

uh or what we recommend is as part of

your onboarding program

uh you can define uh let's say a

learning item right like a course that

people can take when they

onboard into your organization uh

where uh you have this mandatory

training

uh for everybody who is being hired

within a crisis time or employees

do's and don'ts and of course you can

include

things like key contacts in case

employees are facing problems

uh you know how to handle those and whom

to approach

and for those necessary you know task

force that you will define

for emergency control how they can

engage with employees you need to set up

rules and regulations around that

but most important thing is that

whatever you have set up

users and employees are aware of it and

how they can make

it make it as an actionable item for

themselves

right that's when the beauty of this

framework will will come out

as i said in the beginning right a lot

of companies has this but this is like a

really

harsh thing in the organization of

course i'm not asking you to make your

succession plan public

but what i'm asking you to uh

make the strategy public so that people

are aware and they can opt for these

things right

there could be a scenario where you are

trying for certain

uh business reasons you need to uh

you know shut down certain uh verticals

within your company in that case you are

letting go of a lot of people

but if people are aware you can at least

retain some of them and make them

productive in

in another aspect of your business as

long as they qualify their skill set so

it's really win-win for both

organization as well as the employee

if you have this strategy correctly in

place within the organization

perfect let me jump into a small demo of

success factor

right idea here is to showcase you

how successful can be enabler for you

to do this particular activity so let me

jump right into the system sorry one

second

okay so um business

continuity plan that's what we are

looking at today

i'll give you a small example of

a production director named

charles who is sitting on a critical

position

so if you put your icon here you'll

easily see it's a key position

now what you see here is something

called succession or

chart where you can clearly see

which position is occupied by which

employee so in this case production

directive position is occupied by

charles and these are some high level

parameters of charles

think that we talked about what is the

risk of losing

this employee what will be the impact if

this employee leaves

and what could be the potential reason

by which this employee may live

right so one of the examples is that

employee might get promoted

right do you have a strategy in place if

somebody gets promoted who would do

their job

right and what are the ways to identify

them

right uh mr charles has two potential

successors

and down here if you see there are

multiple more positions here one of them

is a key position

and setting up a key position in system

is really simple

you click on any position and system

opens up this small chart for you where

you can see the incumbent detail name

successors

and there is a flag on top and you can

set up whether a position is critical or

not critical

right as simple as that and of course uh

you can go to these filters and see

certain data

what i want to highlight here is that

you will be able to see critical

positions

directly from here so if you see right

now only critical positions

are being uh shown to you rest all is

grayed out

so if you want to focus only on critical

position there is a very simple way to

do that in the system

just by click of a filter right criteria

and you will be able to see all your

critical positions

of course this arc chart you can

download as pdf jpg

and uh you know you can pass it on to

people

also if you're trying to define

a succession plan for a particular

position let's say in this case mr

charles let me open up this position

you can see there are two successors

which are named now as i said

uh in this case mrs xander is will be

ready in one to two years time

to fulfill the role of production

director and

and gb will be ready in three to five

years remember the thing that we talked

about

e-shadowing right within the role

also having a development plan in place

you can uh

you know define the plan based on

different attributes that you can read

here

very quickly and these attributes are

defined

to make uh you know life easier

for somebody who is a decision maker for

the succession plans

they can easily see their respective

data how they scale in

how they performed last year what are

their

mobility preferences what skills they

possess

and what are the ratings for their you

know

formal education and performance and

potential

of course you can take two employees uh

if you are having doubts which employ to

pick and choose

at that time you can do a side by side

comparison as well

for the data records that you have also

you can add more successes and one of

the things that i wanted to show you

here is

when i'm trying to add a new successor

system will compare

the current incumbent profile right and

show you different

matches based on that profile

right so as you can see there are some

employees who are at 100 batch

uh which can be a potential successor

for this position

and you can pick and choose and this is

like a uh you know

advanced uh analytics option which

system

allows you to automatically suggest or

system allows you to

you know not worry about uh not see each

of the criterias but it allows you to

automatically pick and choose based on

the matrixes which are already built

of course you can also hire external

candidates

uh right into this there could be some

position where you want to source an

employee

you might want to create a job

requisition and then source candidates

through that you can do that as well

right so you can define the objective

plan right through the here

and you can select readiness scale and

then

save and this employee becomes another

potential successor for this

particular position why i'm showing this

uh the reason is idea is to show you the

easiness

by which you can maintain uh your

successors

modify uh how easy it is to identify

critical positions

and also you can do side by side

comparison of

all these three employees right so you

can

literally do a side by side comparisons

and check at any given point in time

all the data that you see is the live

data from the system

now um of course i'm not going to cover

the whole demo of succession planning

that's not the purpose of this

particular call but one tool

uh that i would like to talk about is

called linear chart

so let's look at mr charles again

now linear chart though it's a very

simple tool

to use let me just make this bigger

right so there could be many reasons

uh by which an employee may leave that

particular position

one of the reasons might be that

employee is likely to be promoted

right so let's say if charles gets a

promotion then you have options right

you can choose call in you can choose

santa

or you can choose shimmy the most likely

choice as of today would be

somebody who is at a ready now status so

let's say our calling moves to the

charles position but we don't have a

replacement or a backup defined for

calling right now so who would do

job of calling which is supply chain

director

right definitely there is something

wrong with your strategy itself

right let's look at the second example

where i have mr zander in place

right so if i ask xander to take a

promotion

and become a production director then mr

xander has two potential replacements

right and one of the things that you

need to notice is this flag one to two

years

right if xander is trying to

or you are promoting zander uh in two

years time to charles position

then there has to be a backup defined

for xander with the same time frame

to be taking up his particular position

which is program management office

right which is a pmo role basically so

this is a right way of doing a

succession planning where if xander

leaves in two years i have a backup

ready

and then i have another person which is

ready in three to five years which will

fall

under again one to two years after two

years time period

right also if let's say xender gets a

promotion today for example

if you do that then again i can pick and

choose from

jan and meera who can take up role of

sander but then again i have a problem

here

right who will do their individual roles

so

what we recommend is that at least you

do

planning at this level which i'm showing

you

uh this is level one right

and this is level two and there has to

be another succession plan for

persons at level three for every

critical role

in your organization plan at least up to

three levels

right so if i'm looking at let's say

of a vp then a vp

potential successor let's say the senior

manager and then senior manager

potential successor is a manager

but note that you also have to plan for

the manager

you know so let's say there is somebody

like a team lead level who is who is

nominated that is a good succession plan

um and this tool that it

really helps you to identify those gaps

and differences in the timeline

if you are delivering a succession plan

and of course you can take this present

it to your uh

within your company uh to your

leadership team

to take the decision on them and you can

highlight these

problems that may happen because of

uh you know how it's a bad succession

planning

right so um

that's for the demo

[Music]

if you have any questions right now i'll

be happy to answer

uh this is much what i wanted to cover

today thank you everyone

for attending this session but this is

my message to all of you as a closing

note

is uh please uh look at your strategy

right now okay try and answer the

questions that we saw today

if you think uh by having a succession

or a robust succession planning in place

it will really help and add value to

your business

uh please please start doing this

because upcoming times are really

uncertain for everybody

uh you never know when the situation

will change

so it's really um whatever you put in

place today

let's say if if you know we are living

in a very ideal world still

uh you would need this planning to be a

little

flexible for next two years time because

this impact of kobe 19

is not going away in next two years

definitely after that thing

should improve to a great extent but

yeah

next six months we don't even know what

will happen in next two years we'll see

the impact

of whatever has happened this year 2020

so yeah please please plan and prepare

for it

thank you sweena do you have any do we

have any questions no uh

thank you thank you pankaj so much and

thank you everyone for joining

um yeah i really hope that you found

this session useful

i'll also be sending the recording in

case you would like to share it with

your colleagues

so just wait a minute and see if you

have any questions

if not we just wrap up

i see two questions uh right now

is development plan shown in the view by

person two

uh yes sonal the answer is yes

uh if you are hearing uh you know since

i'm answering it right away

yes the success development plan is by

person

and this is really really helpful in

defining

what this employee needs to do for next

one to two years time

or three to five years time depending on

what category they have been put up in

as a successor nomination but really yes

it will help them to develop that yes

uh next question is from sylvia

in your example is the tool ready to

consider possible successful to charles

ready now who are not necessarily in the

same functional area

yes this is one of the beauties of

success factor

uh you are not restricted to a certain

function of course

we can restrict the tool uh that's

something that we can do through

security and and permissions that we

assign

to a particular successor planner role

but really the tool does not limit you

you can have cross-functional uh

nominations as well and that's the whole

point in fact

the whole session is was about

leveraging the roles and backgrounds of

uh somebody who is not in the same

functional area as you

because uh your functional area may not

be impacted

uh that much with coveted than the other

area it really depends on which industry

we are talking about

so it's really to leverage that uh that

uh

beautiful feature that's in place within

the tool

so that's that's the answer to the

question uh sylvia

okay any any more questions uh please

type in

i'll try and answer

okay uh i don't see any new question

coming

uh as we yeah okay well then let's wrap

up and

again once again really thank you for

joining and spending the hour with us

and wishing you a wonderful day

thank you everyone bye-bye thank you

bye-bye