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If you think your company can postpone succession planning for a while, consider that the retirement crisis has already created a shortage of such critical skilled workers as air traffic controllers, nurses and engineers, just to name a few. Our country may even face a shortage of lawyers. That's right, lawyers. <br /><br />So, no matter what industry your company is in, chances are good that you, too, are going to lose key people sooner than you might think, making succession planning imperative right now. <br /><br />The great news is the companies that work hard now to be prepared will enjoy a significant competitive advantage. By developing a lifeline of better-trained managers who know their company and stay because they want to advance, these companies will become known as rewarding, challenging and stimulating places to work, thus attracting more and better people. <br /><br /><strong>The ABCs of Succession Planning</strong> <br />Succession planning is a system for identifying and preparing employees to replace key players. This preparation can include mentoring, training, job rotation, recruiting and other strategies. This is important because it can take years to groom senior managers. It's important for another reason, too. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 highlights succession planning as an issue in corporate governance and risk. <br /><br />It's easy to see that succession planning is not something that should be left to haphazard processes, chance, or a folder filed away in a dusty cabinet. Accordingly, technology is an essential building block in succession planning because it makes the process more accurate, easier and faster - and therefore less prone to failure. Best-practice organizations are already deploying Web-based systems because they offer the best combination of speed, worldwide access, data accuracy and large-scale integration of data. <br /><br />Keep in mind that succession planning is not just about replacing people who retire. The larger issue is developing leaders. Successful succession management means creating better matches between your organization's future needs and the aspirations and talents of your people, which is good for both them and your company. <br /><br />While succession planning requires you to get your employee information organized, the building blocks are most likely already in place - so it doesn't have to be painful or expensive. All you have to do is extend the usefulness of your present HR system, taking it from mostly transactional to strategic. In doing so, you'll be able to better manage and utilize your workforce. <br /><br /><strong>Silos, and Other Things to Avoid</strong> <br />Before you can decide where you're going and how you're going to get there, you must get to know your own company: its present workforce ambitions, talents and desires and its future goals and direction. Thus, data integrity is vital. <br /><br />Does your HR data today equate to an accurate picture of reality? If you have multiple HR systems - a likely result of M&A activity - then you probably don't have accurate HR info and you probably aren't exposing it to enough people because it's siloed. Not only are you hindering succession planning, you're blocking your ability to make quick decisions and respond to changes in the marketplace. <br /><br />Most companies have no position management system because they have no way to logically store positions; many even have a separate recruiting system. If valuable information is spread out among multiple HR systems and storage silos you need to aggregate it into a single management entity. This is critical because it becomes the foundation for your succession strategy. Not coincidentally, it also becomes a way to better utilize your workforce so that your organization becomes more efficient and agile. <br /><br />Of course, whether the subject is succession planning or IT/HR best practices, accurate data is a good thing. To accomplish this, managers need more than just great tools to easily correct the data in the system - they need visibility via a strong, web-based organizational charting tool. <br /><br />Even aside from succession management, one of the next steps in HR and the efficient handling of your most important strategic asset - your people - is visual organizational management. Visual organizational management provides the tools that enable managers to see and easily manage positions. This is such a simple and powerful concept, yet it is still missing in many modern organizations. Plus, a powerful, web-based organizational management and visualization tool enables companies to get on the same page with employees regarding career paths and the roles they are being groomed to fill. <br /><br />The above steps serve as the outline for the start of a succession planning program that could make all the difference in your company. Don't delay. Your Baby Boomers are already more than halfway out the door. <br /><br /><strong>Some Benefits of Strong Succession Planning</strong> <br />" Retention and recruitment of superior employees; <br />" CEO has a "trusted advisor - the succession planning information - on which to make key decisions;<br />" Company gets a clear path toward grooming a steady supply of well-trained, experienced, motivated managers; <br />" Career paths are defined, which goes a long way toward key employee loyalty. <br /><br /><em>This informational data sheet has been developed by Irving, Texas-based Aquire, Inc., the leader in visual workforce management solutions. The original is available at </em><a href="http://www.aquire.com/press/datasheets/succession_planning_data_sheet.pdf"><em>http://www.aquire.com/press/datasheets/succession_planning_data_sheet.pdf</em></a><em>. For more information on Aquire, visit </em><a href="http://www.aquire.com"><em>www.aquire.com</em></a><em> or </em><a href="http://www.orgpublisher.com"><em>www.orgpublisher.com</em></a><em>.</em>