Succession planning is a massive pain point for many of today’s organizations. According to global research by Deloitte, over 86% of business and HR leaders believe they do not have an adequate leadership pipeline. More than a third of the individuals surveyed are not just concerned, but see this as an urgent problem.
Downward economic pressures on companies to do more with less create lean environments. In many situations, employees have been asked to take on more with minimal time left to invest in developing for future roles. In addition, multiple roles which may require different skills sets end up melded in one employee. Companies have been finding themselves in a situation where there is no back-up plan immediately available when talent walks out the door.
It is more important than ever to continually re-engage and develop your employees to meet the future needs of your organization. Developing both your internal and your external talent pools are a key factor in your succession planning efforts. Your Employer Branding strategy can give you that critical foundation for your succession planning. The work you do to build the branding efforts is the same framework you can incorporate into your workforce planning.
Employer branding efforts force you to look into the future. You begin with the question “Where is your organization today?” and move to “Where do you need/want it to be”? The benchmarking for the present and the gaps between where you are now and where you want to be provide you with the right information for your succession planning. The leaders you have today may not have the skills you need to lead you in the future.
Employer branding helps you to attract and retain the right talent for today and in the future. If you discover that your organization does not have any gaps – then you need to retain those future leaders. The work you do to uncover your EVP with your branding efforts will help tell you how to engage your employees and give them a reason to be excited to stay.
Where gaps have been identified, you need the right talent to take your organization where you want to go. You can identify those areas and develop that talent internally, within the framework of your brand. Externally, your branding will help you communicate and engage those essential talent pools so that your pipeline will be filled and ready when you need it.
Recent Gallup figures that tell us only 13% of employees are actively engaged at work. This describes a huge opportunity to re-engage the other 87%. This also tells us that many of our employees are looking at changing jobs in the next year. The question is – how is your organization preparing for that possibility?