Approaches to Succession and Contingency Planning Aimed at Mitigating Workforce Risks.

Succession planning identifies and develops future leaders within an organisation to ensure the smooth and effective transition of key leadership roles and responsibilities (George, 2021). Succession planning aims to prepare an organisation for the departure of key employees and to ensure a pool of qualified and capable individuals who can step in to fill those roles. On the other hand, contingency planning is the process of creating a backup plan to address potential risks and protect an organisation from threats (Todd, 2020). It involves identifying potential risks, evaluating their likelihood and impact, and developing mitigation strategies.

Various approaches can be used for succession and contingency planning in an organisation to help them maintain a talent pool of workers. First is career pathing (George, 2021). Career pathing is an important approach to succession and contingency planning that focuses on individual career development and planning. It involves assessing the skills and capabilities of current employees and planning for the future by helping employees identify career goals and opportunities for growth. This approach mitigates workforce risks by ensuring that the required skills and knowledge are available within the organisation and that employees are prepared to move into higher-level roles when needed. For example, if there is an unexpected retirement of a key employee, the organisation can use career pathing to identify another employee who is prepared to take on the role. Second is training: This involves training employees to assume different organisational roles. This aims to mitigate workforce risks by ensuring that the organisation has a diverse and capable pool of skilled employees who can assume different roles if needed. For example, if an employee leaves an organisation, other employees can be trained to take on the responsibilities of that role.

The third is through job rotation (George, 2021). This involves rotating employees between different organisational roles. This aims to mitigate workforce risks by ensuring that employees have a broad range of skills and experience that can be applied to different organisational roles. For example, if an unexpected vacancy exists in a specific role, the organisation can rotate an employee from another role to fill the vacancy. Fourth is talent management. This involves identifying and developing high-potential employees to mitigate workforce risks by ensuring that the organisation has a pool of talented employees who can assume higher-level roles when needed. For example, if there is an unexpected vacancy in a managerial position, the organisation can use talent management to identify and develop a high-potential employee to fill the role. Finally, mentorship. This is pairing experienced employees with less experienced employees to ensure that employees are prepared to assume higher-level roles when needed. For example, if there is an unexpected vacancy in a managerial position, the organisation can use mentorship to pair an experienced employee with a less experienced employee who can eventually fill the role.

References

George, S. (2021) Succession planning: Factsheets, CIPD. Available at: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/resourcing/succession-planning-factsheet.  

Todd, I. (2020) Contingency succession planning, LinkedIn. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/contingency-succession-planning-isaac-todd/.