Effective organizations and effective leaders are committed to strategic planning. Such planning, to be truly effective, involves keeping your eyes on the three balls of leadership continuity, strategic leader development, and risk management to ensure the invisible doesn’t become a problem when the organization faces planned or unexpected exits of key employees. In nine slides, Patmos provides helpful tips for leaders.

1. According to a 2011 cross-sector survey conducted by
the American Management Association, nearly one in
four companies do no succession planning
whatsoever, and just 8% maintain comprehensive
succession plans.
…Where does your organization rank?

2. Effective organizations and effective leaders are
committed to succession planning.
LEADERSHIP
CONTINUITY
STRATEGIC
LEADER
DEVELOPMENT
RISK
MANAGEMENT
.
Such planning, to be truly effective, involves keeping your eyes on the three balls of leadership
continuity, strategic leader development, and risk management to ensure the invisible doesn’t
become a problem when the organization faces planned or unexpected exits of key employees.

3. Leadership Continuity
• It is important to revisit your assumptions. Don’t
assume the key personnel your company depends upon
will always be there OR are available to carry on in
recovery efforts should a crisis hit.
• Assume the potential for unavailability. Large scale
events such as 9/11 taught us the impact the tragic loss
of personnel across whole departments can have upon
an organization.
• Also, don’t assume that succession planning is only
reserved for the executive management level. It is
important to have back-ups identified for anyone
responsible for the day-to-day processes that are
critical to the operation of the organization.

4. Planning tips:
1. Develop a clearly identified chart of authority and responsibility
for the organization, and designate staff who are prepared to step
up in the event of planned or unplanned leadership change.
2. Establish a back-up strategy… not just for your important data,
but also your key employees. Start by identifying the most critical
department functions and services within your organization.
Then identify key person(nel) supporting these functions.
3. Next, identify back-up personnel. Choose individuals who have come up through
the ranks of their respective units to act as stand-ins when the business managers
are not available. If the back-up employee needs training, chart the action steps
for such training.
4. A key part of continuity of leadership is the development of operational manuals
for admin systems so that back-up staff have the resources they need. Ensure the
documentation is accessible and current.
5. As part of your communications plan, outline who is contacted when and why
during a leadership change.

5. Strategic Leader Development
• Seamless management succession within an
organization is more important than ever in light
of the hyper-competition of a global economy and
mobile workforce.
• But one in five companies is utterly unprepared
for a sudden loss of leadership according to a
2011 study by the American Management
Association.
• Not developing a leadership pipeline within your
organization increases the vulnerability and
decreases its sustainability.

6. Planning tips:
“Strategic leader development” planning includes having
these key components in place in your organization:
1. A strategic business plan exists.
2. Succession plans exist for all key positions and they are
aligned with your strategic business plan.
3. Your organization’s governance structure periodically
performs a self-assessment.
4. Strategic leader development is not just a HR function; it involves
executive leadership committing to meeting quarterly to identify
potential leadership within the organization and the training and
opportunities for employees.
5. Annual evaluations of staff are performed.
6. Operational manuals for admin systems exist and they are accessible
and current.

7. Risk Management
• Succession planning involves risk management. As
part of risk management, it is important to outline
the roles and responsibilities of your key employees -
- and their back-ups -- during and after a crisis.
• It is also important that attention has been given to
contingency plans and they have been documented
at a departmental level.
• Provide a comfortable level of detail of the key
policies that will be followed, personnel needed,
dependencies on other departments and vendors,
and process and procedures, in addition to the roles
and responsibilities of key employees.

8. Planning Tip:
• Direct your staff to focus first on the most important
business functions. If you and your employees are trying
to get what may only exist “between the ears” down in
some documented format, don’t try to document
EVERYTHING that happens in the department; start with
the most critical business functions of the department.
• Duplicate your information so it can be accessed
anywhere and at any time by the key people to mitigate
the risks.

9. Patmos, LLC, provides services for nonprofit and corporate clients
focusing on resiliency. Patmos' diverse and unique set of experiences
and skills – enterprise wide business continuity planning and
management, strategic planning, aligning processes and systems, risk
assessment, and connecting people to resources -- provide the
fundamentals which organizations need to survive and grow, while
adapting to today’s challenging and complex realities.
Get the scoop on our services here.
@2013 Patmos, LLC