One of the biggest mistakes companies make in succession planning

Every major company has a succession planning process.

The goal is to have a continuous stream of strong internal talent so that when key leaders inevitably move on, other leaders smoothly step into their shoes.

Despite the best intentions, many companies fail in their succession planning efforts and end up relying on external talent to fill key roles.

Unfortunately, relying on external talent has big disadvantages. External hires tend to be paid more and succeed less often than internal hires. When new leaders come into companies from the outside, it takes time for them to get up to speed. They often make significant changes to how their organizations run. It can be like pushing the pause button on an organization’s momentum. Sometimes that’s a good idea, and many times it is not.

One of the most common reasons companies’ succession planning efforts fail, is a mindset of “hope”.

Many companies “hope” their succession planning efforts will result in internal candidates who are ready to fill critical positions. They spend lots of time identifying potential succession candidates, but they view internal leaders with skepticism and focus on their faults. They “hope” candidates will be ready when the time comes, but, in reality, they doubt they will. It’s similar to buying a lottery ticket and “hoping” to win the $500 million prize while knowing that it is very unlikely.

Adopting a “how can we?” mindset is the key to success in succession planning.

A “how can we?” mindset leads to creativity and planning to get candidates ready. How can we leverage our candidates’ strengths and overcome their weaknesses? How can we get people the experiences, learning opportunities, and coaching they need to get ready? How can we take tangible action to prepare leaders?

Changing the mindset to “how can we?”, leveraging the appropriate tools, planning carefully, and taking action make it possible to successfully groom internal successors and limit risk.

This article was first published on corelead.net. Tom Killen is an executive coach and talent management leader with over 20 years helping leaders maximize their potential and create success for themselves and their organizations.