Leadership Development Expert Daniel Feiman: The Five Phases Of Succession Planning
REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Sept. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- There is a ticking timebomb in almost every organization. As the old adage states: failing to plan is planning to fail.
"Typically, there is no succession plan in the vast majority of organizations regardless of size or industry," says Daniel Feiman, MBA, CMC, author of The Book on...Succession Planning Systems: The 30 Secrets To Leadership Development (2024, Indie Books International).
The book explores the best way to succeed through well-detailed succession planning for the entire organization, not just the C-suite. This is not just an American issue. Feiman has consulted and trained firms in over 30 countries, worked with organizations in many different industries, and taught at the university level.
He says building an organization's bench strength is essential to leveraging the firm's future options, not just for the CEO but for all key players.
"True succession planning creates the team to be identified, assessed, and developed over several years," Feiman states. "Some people will be ready much sooner than others and some roles are going to evolve over time."
But leadership development is more robust than just choosing a successor for each role. A leadership development program examines what skill sets are needed and will be required to fill various roles immediately and into the future.
"Whatever occurs throughout their careers, every executive and senior leader will be remembered for what happens after they leave the organization," says Feiman, the founder and managing director of Build It Backwards, a consulting and training firm based in Redondo Beach, CA.
Feiman contends that what is needed is an "enterprise-wide leadership development program that every organization should build for the future."
Feiman uses innovative forms and templates to identify potential future leaders, assess them against a set of ideal criteria, create individualized development plans, implement results over time, track conditions within the organization and concisely analyze resulting data. Once the data has been reviewed, a succession plan for all key personnel is created to ensure future success, which is reviewed and updated regularly.
He recommends succession planning be divided into the following five phases:
Phase one is preparation, where you set the stage for success and establish your vision of your future organization.
Phase two is identification, where you recognize the team facilitating this process, what your ideal leadership profile is, and what and who is critical.
Phase three is analysis, where you examine your staff to see who has leadership potential and where their gaps are.
Phase four is critiquing, where you review what could go wrong along the way and create individual development and action plans.
Phase five is implementation, where you look at what corporate knowledge is critical and what roadblocks to success and periodically reevaluate the program and process.
Each phase covered in the book has six unique steps to reach the end goals.
According to Feiman, firms that fully embrace succession planning typically record increases in productivity within months rather than years. However, changes in staff attitudes are observed more quickly due to increased participation in their futures.
Feiman says, "Succession planning opens up opportunities for those who desire to be a part of it and demonstrate a commitment to do what is required, over time, to succeed."
Feiman has published whitepapers, articles, and YouTube videos on this subject. His third book in the Build It Backwards series, The Book on … Business from A to Z: The 260 Answers You Need to Know, was nominated for a Thought Leader of the Year award by the AMandAA and selected as a Finalist for a Global eBook of the Year Award.
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SOURCE Daniel Feiman
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