Is it more effective to recruit superstars from outside or to recruit among your own? Businesses confront the same dilemma that athletic clubs do when trying to look for new talent in key positions.
Our studies reveal that the majority of the businesses analyzed have taken a chance on recruiting among their own, in other words, on implementing the practice of succession planning, because it allows for the conservation of knowledge and talent that is within the organization in a context in which the critical skill is increasingly significant in reaching strategic goals.
In many cases, it’s difficult to obtain the talent that organizations need with newcomers, because the highest impact jobs often require specific skills. Because of this, instead of looking outside, they opt for internal mobility of talent, training their workers with career and development plans.
In fact, according to the facts obtained by Top Employers Institute from the study of the 750 organizations certified with this seal all over the world, the number of companies with this defined succession plan is quickly growing. In the last three years, the percentage of organizations that claim this plan has increased from 65 to 83%.
To prepare the successors, companies utilize a wide spectrum of practices, among those that are gaining great prominence are the use of mentors and rotation in job roles. The executives increasingly share their experience and knowledge.
Due to this rotation, the candidates have been able to try out their new roles by themselves.
Other tools that are often used are the periodical revision of senior positions in order to name successors, the training to prepare adequate employees, or the leaders’ nomination of a successor before being promoted.
We have also discovered that the use of all of these practices is effective. In the countries of all of the continents in which we have analyzed businesses, we’ve proved that intensive use of these tools in this environment reveals a greater rate of succession planning.
Spain is a good example.
The 55 Top Employer companies in our country make more use of these processes to guarantee succession planning than half of the analyzed organizations on an international level and have a higher rate of succession planning (78% compared to 70%). Among the many best practices in this field of Spain, we can highlight those that are found in Accenture. This consultant provides their employees with means of continuous training, mentoring and coaching that guarantees their professional growth and succession planning.
100% of the positions are filled with individuals “from the house.” The professional evolution is closely worked with at all levels, and in the case of leader positions, the succession is planned starting years ahead. “In this way, candidates can prepare themselves for when the moment arrives,” explains María José Sobrinos, Human Resources Director of Accenture.
The insurance company AXA, is equipped with the Organizational Talent Review, which allows for the naming of successors for all of the key positions of the company.
Effective development plans are then established to prepare for the next generation. “The facts support our ideas, since more than 97% of the critical vacant positions are filled using the utilized succession plans,” points out Manuel Domingues, Director of Selection, Development, and Management of Knowledge at AXA.
The succession planning processes not only serve as a way to retain talent and knowledge within the organization, but also assume a guarantee of corporate culture solidity and constitute a recognition of the completed work that very clearly contributes to the commitment and the engagement of the professionals.
As our collaborator Pilar Jericó, general director of Be-Up explains: “Gambling on talent is like gambling on long-term results. Succession politics motivate the candidates, and provides the company with stability and trust.”
Salvador IBañez is Country manager of Top Employers Institute in Spain.
