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 Home : Developing a Workplace Program : Six Steps To a Workplace Program : Step 4 : Women in Management Tools Return to the previous submenu

The first step is to determine your own model for a succession plan. There are several possibilities.

How have succession plans been defined?
 

"A means of identifying critical management positions, starting at the levels of project manager and supervisor and extending up to the highest position in the organization. Succession planning also describes management positions to provide a maximum flexibility in lateral management moves and to ensure that as individuals achieve greater seniority, their management skills will broaden and become more generalized in relation to total organizational objectives rather than to purely departmental objectives." (Carter, 1986).

More recently however, succession plans have been broadened to include both the need to identify and develop talent or high achievers, as well provide continuity in all key positions in organisations. Defining what the key positions are in the context of a changing business environment is one of the major challenges in designing an effective plan.

Another major challenge is to ensure that the program results in equitable outcomes for women. Of particular concern are the following:

  • The risk of "cloning" existing managers;
  • The risk of overlooking quiet achievers in favour of those employees who stand out in the organisation;
  • The risk of disillusioning and de-motivating the majority of staff who do not make the "high potential" list.

Back to Succession Planning Index
 
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