Cultivating Skills and Knowledge — Working the Plan

By now, you’re likely beginning to see how a robust succession planning process can support your team and your business. The benefits are numerous, but don’t worry, we’ll summarize at the end of this series. So far, we have identified what succession planning is and reinforced its importance. In the previous article, we covered filling the funnel and ensuring you have a continual pipeline of candidates in development for future roles. I want to discuss the plan and what it can look like in this article.

I’ve probably said this a million times, but planning is the most underutilized skill and activity for any retail leader. Everyone knows it’s important, even aspiring to do a lot of it, but somehow there is never enough time to really plan. It feels like planning has to be this extensive, awful process that takes time. And while it is not something you can do half-minded, it doesn’t have to be an overwhelming process either. Setting up your system for succession planning is the most essential step. And even it can be a relatively simple process.

Knowing Your Pipeline

The first step in a good succession planning program is tracking who you have and where they are in their development. Whether you are a Store Manager or a multi-unit leader, if your company doesn’t have a system for tracking the succession planning process, you should set up your own. And, even if your company does, it isn’t a bad idea to have a set of your own notes and updates so you can quickly reference them at any time.

Key elements

Obviously, you need to have the names of the people in your succession planning process. Include their current position and desired or target positions. Positions in this case is plural, and they do not have to be targeted for a single position. The more options available, the faster you may be able to provide promotional opportunities. Remember, even at the store level, opportunities exist outside your store. Most retailers have multiple locations around the area; different support roles may exist, and don’t forget the possibility of a corporate position. Speaking as someone who has supported stores from a corporate function for a long time, there is always a strong desire to have people promote into corporate jobs from the field.

Define timelines

Once you have names captured and target positions, you can begin to define the likely timeline. These are generally rough estimates of when you believe that person would be ready for the next level or next step role. I use both those terms, as the plan may call for lateral movement to round out knowledge versus always looking upward for the next step. The individual plan will define what those steps should be. Typically, you’ll see a progression of greater than twenty-four months (>24), twelve to twenty-four (12-24), within a year (<1), and ready now. Those are good blocks, allowing you to always see when you’ll have people prepared for open positions.

Track It

Again, whether you are a single-store manager or multi-unit leader, this process becomes your tracking mechanism for seeing your succession planning at a glance. Your system can be as simple as note cards on your desk, an Excel spreadsheet, or a more involved system that combines information from all stores. Don’t let this part prevent you from having a defined program for succession. Something as basic as notecards, with the name, target position, and timeline, is a great starting point. In fact, you can even begin to place the next steps or key points for development on the same card.

Working the Pipeline

Once your system is set up, you need to work it regularly. Updates to your succession plan will not happen daily, even if there may be activities for development occurring (and I hope they are, those should not be purely event based). Reviewing and updating your succession plan monthly is an excellent way to stay connected to where you are and where everyone is. Six weeks might work for store-level leaders, but having a monthly reminder is easier to keep track of. Plus, below, you’ll see why it may work better for you to remain on a monthly plan.

Multi-Unit Approach

For multi-unit leaders, I would recommend the monthly review and completing that with each of your Store Managers. The review can serve two purposes. First, you can discuss your direct report’s (store manager) personal development plan, whether they are in succession planning or not. The time together is a great opportunity to discuss performance. Second, this is when you review the Store Manager’s succession plan for their store. And yes, everyone should have people involved in a succession plan. It becomes an entirely different discussion if you have Store Managers who do not have talent available to be in a succession plan.

Use this time and discussion to update your district or regional succession plan tracking. The review will give you visibility to all the second-level leaders in your stores that could become backfills for any openings you have for your direct reports. You should also be discussing what the backfill process would be for the person getting promoted. Those would be the primary levels to discuss. You would finish the discussion with the general health of the pipeline itself. Just with one open position, you create movement in three places. You have the position you fill (from second level to Store Manager), you backfill that opening (from associate to second level manager), and the associate level needs to be filled in now as well (top of the funnel). And it could be more, depending on the structure and size of your business.

The work at the top of the funnel can be challenging. Identifying talent, especially if you have to seek it externally, can be difficult, especially in today’s environment. It is why having a sound talent system is so essential today. Moving into this next step of succession planning becomes more fun as you have a view of the talent in one place, can see their timelines, and the beginning stages of the development plan. In the following article, we’ll jump into what the individual plans can look like and how you build those to fill the anticipated needs you’ll have for the future.

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