Succession Planning: a Key to the Future

Brought to you by Barrett and Greene

In the public sector, one of the great assets of any city, county, or state is the accumulated knowledge of the workforce. But when employees leave a job–because they’ve retired or simply found another position–that information can vanish. “There's a lot of institutional memory that you lose without succession planning,” says Robert Neiuber, human resources director of Rancho Cucamonga, California. “There’s a lot of extra time in bringing someone up to speed to be able to take on the responsibilities of the new position that occurs.”

“Succession planning is really about a risk management strategy,” adds Patrick Ibarra an expert in succession planning and co-founder and partner of The Mejorando Group, a consulting organization. “How do you ensure that services and programs and operations are maintained as people leave?”

The need for succession planning is particularly great right now. “The Baby Boom generation has hit ‘peak 65,’ which means a large segment of the workforce has reached retirement age,” according to the ICMA. “Considering that the state and local workforce has a higher median age than the workforce as a whole, the coming loss of talent looms large. In fact, 46% of survey takers anticipate the largest number of anticipated retirements will hit their organizations in the next few years.”

When planning fails

Governments that don’t prepare to fill key roles face a daunting list of challenges. 

“Without succession planning, critical roles can sit vacant or be filled reactively, leading to service disruptions and slower decision-making,” says Stacey Crockett, chief communications officer of Germantown, Tennessee. “When experienced employees leave, they take with them relationships that have been built over time, as well as practical know-how, historical context and institutional knowledge.” 

The result? “The city may be forced into costly, time-consuming external searches, often bringing in candidates who need time to learn the organization and community.”

Of course, succession planning doesn’t just come into play when an individual leaves the workforce. If it’s not prioritized, the lack of clear growth pathways can hurt morale and retention. That can increase turnover and compound the problem. “Over time, these gaps can weaken leadership continuity, reduce efficiency and make it harder to sustain the high level of service residents expect,” she adds.

The need for succession planning is also of particular importance given the long timelines for many of the efforts that are undertaken by the public sector. “Parks don't get built overnight. Recreation facilities don't get built overnight. Bus lines don't get built overnight,” says Theresa Roche, chief human resources officer of Fort Collins, Colorado. “So, you need to have sustainability in your leadership to carry things through.”

Building a system that works

When someone moves upward in the ranks, there needs to be someone else ready and able to fill their position. That means that succession planning is an effort that can and should begin early in a public sector employee’s career.  “The best organizations actually start thinking about succession planning at the moment of hire,” says Roche. 

Fortunately, succession planning isn’t rocket science and there are many different methods that local governments can use to create a system that works.   

McKinney, Texas, for example, doesn’t have a formal succession planning initiative within its Department of Human Resources but its basketful of approaches achieves the same goal.

An important element comes from the city’s partnership with the University of Texas, Dallas, which is in McKinney’s backyard, explains Joseph Mazzola, director of organizational development and performance management there. This enables the city to assign a small number of employees to earn a graduate certificate in local government management by taking four core Master of Public Administration courses. “We actually have the courses taught in City Hall, and they are opened up to employees in our sister cities,” says Mazzola. “After they finish up this certificate program, we encourage them to complete their Master of Public Administration programs using our tuition reimbursement program. . . . which gives us a pipeline of MPA graduates who become more competitive for internal promotions in the city.”

That’s just one of McKinney’s efforts, with more being added. “We are just in the process of testing a volunteer mentorship program, and idea that actually came from our staff. We’ll ask senior managers and department heads across the city if they want to volunteer to be a mentor, and then match them with employees seeking a mentor, depending on their backgrounds, special interests, and career aspirations,” says Mazzola.

All of this isn’t to say that every public sector employee is necessarily interested in climbing the career ladder. There are many who don’t want additional responsibilities or the need to manage others. And if someone just loves their current job, it’s only sensible to try to stay put. “If an employee is happy in what they're doing, we're happy with that too,” says Neiuber. “But if they tell us here’s something else I’d like to do, we make sure to take notice of that and incorporate it into the learning that’s available to them.”

One way that Rancho Cucamonga approaches succession planning is through professional development plans that provide a road map to an employee’s future in the organization. “We ask them to focus on the future, and reflect on where they see their career progress in the next three to five years and what’s their ultimate career goal?”

To help employees plan out their future career, it’s also important to know what openings may be coming up, and Rancho Cucamonga, has negotiated incentives for employees who provide solid advance notice of when they plan on retirement.

One more example: Germantown, Tennessee, builds a leadership pipeline through a structured, organization-wide approach that starts early and is reinforced continuously. Explains Crockett, “At the core is the use of Individual Employee Development Plans (IEDPs), which are developed collaboratively between employees and supervisors and reviewed multiple times each year.” The plans help to connect an employee’s work responsibilities to the City’s long-range strategic plan. They also identify training and skill development needs that tie to career goals and create a path forward for advancement.

“In addition to formal planning, the City emphasizes ongoing exposure and engagement,” says Crockett. “Lower-level employees are included in department business planning processes, regular staff meetings and cross-functional communication, giving them visibility into how decisions are made and how different parts of the organization operate. This builds both technical competence and organizational awareness which are critical for future managers.”

Another part of Germantown’s approach is LEAD, which stands for Leaders of Excellence and Ambassador Development. The six-month leadership development initiative is employee driven and “designed to build ownership, reinforce understanding of the City’s vision, values and culture and help employees see how their individual roles contribute to broader organizational success. It also exposes participants to different departments and leadership perspectives, strengthening their readiness for management roles.”

In Germantown and other communities with a focus on succession planning the effort isn’t a one-time exercise. As new employees enter the workforce and others exit, the need to build a strong and effective succession planning effort is key to resilience, and sustainability of a city, county, or state.