1. Florida Public Works Institute
APWA Florida Chapter
Charles R. (Chas) Jordan
M.P.A., P.W.E., F.M.P., ENV SP, LEED GA
President, Radiant Training & Consulting
Public Works Director, City of Madeira Beach
Succession Planning

2. Core Competency: Planning for the Future
• In this Competency –
• Succession Planning sets up your staff for success
• Provides Continuity in difficult times
• Gives support up and down the organization
• Succession Planning is not always formal
• Succession Planning is an art not a science

3. What is Succession
Planning?...
A systematic approach
to identifying and
developing talent
pools to fill key roles
and ensure continued
effective
performance through
leadership
continuity.

4. What is Succession Planning?...
• Effective succession or talent-pool management
concerns itself with building a series of feeder
groups up and down the entire leadership
pipeline or progression. In contrast,
replacement planning is focused narrowly on
identifying specific back-up candidates for
given senior management positions. - Wikipedia

5. Keys to
Success…
Senior leaders committed to growing
employees
Employees committed to self-development
Succession is linked to Strategic Planning
Expectations are clearly communicated
Planning for diversity, recruitment and
retention

6. Succession
Planning Process

7. How do we do
it in Public
Works??
Determine Critical Staffing Needs
Plan for Emergencies
Use Strategic Plan as a Guide
Assess Employees on Skills and Abilities
Development Planning for all Employees
Cross-Training

8. • What positions are essential for
continued operation?
• What PEOPLE are essential for
continued operation?
• Skills
• Personality
• Capability
• Map retirements, potential
move-ons
• What is lacking?
Determine Critical
Staffing Needs

9. • NIMS Requirements
• Emergency Management
Designations and Plans
• Critical Facilities /
Equipment / Resources
• Vacancies / No-shows
• Shift Work
Plan for Emergencies

10. • What is our Core Mission?
• What do we need to do
to improve?
• What will we need in
five, ten, or more years?
• What does our SWOT
Analysis tell us?
Use Strategic Plan as a
Guide

11. • Have each employee
perform their own
assessment
• Review assessment with
them
• Perform Supervisory
Assessment
• Meet together to review and
discuss ways to improve or
ways they can help others
Assess Employees on
Skills and Abilities

12. • Review assessments –
Determine Needs
• Work with Employees to find
training or resources to hone
skills needing improvement
• Develop Professional
Development Plans
• Develop Budget /
Implementation Plan
Development Planning
for All Employees

13. • Pair employees with skill
sets that can help one
another
• Spend time “Walking in
another Employee’s Shoes”
• Shadowing
• Career Step Up Days
• Training for the next job,
not the current
Cross-Training

14. Five Steps to
Success…
Link Strategic and Workforce Planning
Gap Analysis
Develop Succession Strategies
Implement Succession Strategies
Monitor and Evaluate

15. Link Strategic and Workforce Planning
• What is your Mission and is it changing?
• What expertise or skills will be required?
• Connect Succession Planning to organizational
vision and values.

16. Gap Analysis
• Key positions and long term talent needs
• Identify core competencies
• Current supply versus anticipated demand
(talent pools)
• Planning should be based on long term talent
needs not position replacement

17. Develop Succession Strategies
• Communications Plan
• Learning and Development
• Retention
• Recruitment

18. Implement Succession Strategies
• Communicate Expectations
• Training Programs
• Performance Management
• Recognition
• HR Processes

19. Monitor and Evaluate
• Tracking Selections
• Listening to feedback
• Assessing response to changing requirements
• Satisfaction Surveys: customers, employees and
stakeholders

20. Challenges to
Succession
Planning
Job Classifications
Favoritism
Resources not applied to staff development
Ineffective recruitment process
Lack of cohesion between Strategic and
Workforce Planning

21. QUESTIONS?