Succession Planning:

A Step-by-Step Guide
The Workforce Planning and Analytics Section (WPAS)
Workforce Support and Development Division (WSDD)
Office of Human Resources (OHR)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Contents
Introduction to succession planning....................................................................................... 3
What is succession planning and why is it important? ............................................................... 3
The risks of not succession planning .......................................................................................... 3
Get buy in for succession planning using analytics .................................................................... 3
Leverage positions, not people ................................................................................................... 5
Steps in succession planning .................................................................................................. 5
Identify roles and responsibilities ............................................................................................... 5
1. Identify critical and vulnerable positions ............................................................................. 6
2. Develop eligibility requirements.......................................................................................... 6
3. Identify a talent pipeline ...................................................................................................... 7
4. Nominate successors from the qualified positions............................................................... 7
5. Create an action plan to prepare successor(s) ...................................................................... 8
6. Evaluate the succession plan................................................................................................ 8
Appendix A ................................................................................................................................ 9
Succession planning templates and resources............................................................................. 9
NIH HR Systems Tools .............................................................................................................. 9
Contact Information .................................................................................................................... 9

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Introduction to succession planning
What is succession planning and why is it important?
Succession planning is the process of identifying very important positions in the organization
and creating a talent pipeline, by preparing employees to fill vacancies in their organization as
others retire or move on. A successor is an employee with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to
fill a vacant position until a permanent replacement can be identified.

Succession planning helps ensure business continuity and performance, particularly during
times of shifting leadership and change. Even when there is no identifiable successor within an
organization, succession planning can help identify the knowledge, skills and training needed in
a future external candidate.

The risks of not succession planning

Having no identifiable succession plan for critical roles poses an enormous risk to the
organization.
These risks include:
 Loss of mission critical knowledge that may never be recovered.
If your organization lost its
 Naming a successor who lacks personal drive, commitment, most critical employees
knowledge, training or skills needed to perform the job today, would you have a
successfully. successor with the
 Significant loss of time spent getting a new successor up to knowledge, training &
skills needed to fill their
speed. shoes?
 Potential disruptions to workplace processes, workflows, and
protocols.

Get buy in for succession planning using analytics

Your workforce data has a story to tell! Leveraging workforce data can help you visualize your
workforce. For example, how much of your workforce is currently eligible to retire? Using data
to provide a visual representation of the workforce is a highly effective strategy for garnering
support and interest in succession planning.

Consider summarizing workforce data into a snapshot for your leadership. Include the snapshot
during workforce discussions, strategic planning, and as you discuss your mission, to reinforce
the importance of workforce planning. To see a sample snapshot, or for help building your own
workforce analytics, contact the Workforce Planning and Analytics Section (WPAS) in the
Office of Human Resources using our mailbox: [email protected].

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Data points to consider in your workforce snapshot include:
Data Point Data Insights for Succession Planning
Employee onboard count & Provides visual representation of the employees onboard, their
retirement eligibility distribution across the organization and how much of the workforce is
retirement eligible.
Years of service Identifies employees who may be closer to retirement and have more
institutional knowledge to capture.
GS level distribution Identifies whether there is a junior pipeline of employees for succession
planning. May also help identify critical positions.
Separations and Accession Shows hiring and separation trends for forecasting future staffing needs
(hiring) counts over years across different scenarios.
Retirement eligible by Identifies demographics areas that may experience future turnover and
demographics (such as series) may be vulnerable to knowledge loss without a successor.
Time stayed past retirement Provides insight into how long employees typically stay past their
retirement eligibility date.
Separation and accession Identifies areas of high turnover to prioritize for succession planning
trends by series activities.
Time to hire Helps determine which positions take longest to fill and are therefore
more vulnerable when turnover occurs.

Below is a sample snapshot of what some of the above data points might look like visually:

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 Leverage positions, not people
In the civil service system, no determinations of who will succeed an employee are made until
all qualified candidates are provided equal opportunity to apply and be considered for the
position. Situations where a candidate is “pre-determined” before the competitive selection
process is considered “pre-selecting”, or “pre-positioning”, and should be avoided. It is more
effective and a best practice to determine which positions are best qualified to succeed
another position rather than the individual people filling those positions at any given time.

Focusing on the qualified positions rather than people offers many benefits, such as:
 Fostering a culture of trust and fairness.
 A competitive process that promotes diversity and inclusion.
 Discovering unexpected and highly qualified candidates that may emerge through the
competitive process.
 Reduced risk that a pre-selected candidate may leave the organization before they’ve
assumed the successor position.
 An increase in employee engagement as a result of the creation of career paths.

Steps in succession planning

Identify roles and responsibilities
Succession planning is not just a one-time administrative task, it requires continued employee
development. The roles and responsibilities you may want to consider include:

Project Manager Stakeholders

An employee to kick off the basic Senior leaders to help endorse the
steps in the project and help track the project and identify mission critical
progress of the plan. roles for succession plans.

Incumbent Potential Successors

The expert to share their The potential successor positions which
knowledge and skills in the role will participate in developmental
being planned for. activities towards successor positions.

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1. Identify critical and vulnerable positions
The first step in succession planning is to choose positions most in need of successors. Two
factors to consider when prioritizing are the positions vulnerability and criticality.

1. First, determine which positions have no identifiable successor, these positions are most
vulnerable to knowledge loss.
2. Next, consider the impact each position has on the
Determining mission critical positions
organization’s mission; if a vacancy in a position would
can be time consuming and difficult to
impact the organization’s ability to accomplish their reach agreement on. Identifying
mission it can be classified as critical. Critical positions at vulnerable positions first makes the
process easier because it reduces the
NIH often extend beyond senior leadership roles to include
number of potentially critical positions
technical and scientific positions. to assess.

The matrix below will help you visualize how to identify positions in need of succession
planning. Use the excel Succession Planning Tracker Template available in Appendix A to
perform this step for your own organization. You may also consider whether there is a lack of
candidates available externally for recruitment. Positions that have high vulnerability and high
criticality pose the highest risk.
Vulnerability:
No successor position identified for this position
Low Moderate High
Criticality: Vulnerability Vulnerability Vulnerability
Impact of High Moderate High High
the
Criticality Risk Risk Risk
position
on the Moderate Low Moderate High
mission Criticality Risk Risk Risk

Low Low Low Moderate

Criticality Risk Risk Risk

2. Develop eligibility requirements

Once you’ve identified positions in need of a succession plan, the next step is to develop a
profile of the position and the performance expectations; this will help your organization
determine who has the experience to take on the role. Use the questions below, along with the
Succession Planning Profile Template available in Appendix A to create a profile for the
position. You may also choose to use the Transition Planning Interview Guide (Appendix A) in
the toolkit to meet with the position incumbent and gather information.

Questions to consider as you develop eligibility requirements:

 What selection criteria would be used to fill this position if it were vacant?
 What knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies are needed in this position to
achieve success?

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3. Identify a talent pipeline
Using the profile you’ve created, you can now identify positions that are well-suited to
temporarily transition into the successor position should a vacancy arise. These positions may
also be qualified to apply for the successor position when the announcement is made. Use the
questions below to help you assess successor positions.

Questions to consider: Consider sharing the

succession requirements
 What are the best aligned duties between the two positions? openly with employees to
 Does the position have similar day to day experiences in the encourage transparency,
functional areas and tasks performed for the successor role? trust and engagement with
the process.
 What are the gaps between the two roles?
 Does the position cultivate the core competencies needed to perform
the successor role?

4. Nominate successors from the qualified positions

The next step is to identify employees in the qualified positions who could temporarily fill the
vacancy and potentially apply as candidates for the position should the need arise.

Consider inviting leaders to nominate qualified employees for development in a succession

plan, but also invite employees to express their interest as well. Making the opportunity and
candidate requirements transparent cultivates equity and trust in the process, and helps
employees see potential career trajectories for their role. Work with your leadership to
determine a final list of candidates whose performance and job description makes them eligible
for development into the successor role.

Consider the following qualifications:

 Sustains high performance.
 Demonstrates a measurable positive impact on the organization’s performance.
 Is recognized by colleagues, customers and managers as a future leader.
 Is a good fit with the organizational culture.
 Demonstrates the organization’s values.
 Innovates to improve their functional area.

It is important to remind candidates that the position is not guaranteed to any one candidate
because it depends on performance, and an employee may be removed from consideration
should their performance fall below expectations. The civil service rules on competitive hiring
will still apply for final candidate selection.

If you do not have any eligible candidates in positions well-suited for the successor position,
consider incorporating your succession qualifications into your recruitment strategy. You may
also want to evaluate whether gaps exist in your learning and development programs
preventing people from reaching career opportunities.

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5. Create an action plan to prepare successor(s)
Creating a developmental plan for potential successors helps to identify meaningful
opportunities for growth. The following list of learning and development opportunities may
help you create a succession development plan, but it is also important to ask the incumbent to
identify opportunities for the successor as well.

Successor development opportunities include:

1. Creating a succession development plan with training and learning opportunities that
are aligned with the successor position. Consider opportunities available through NIH
Leadership Development programs.
2. Participating in the functional areas of the incumbent’s role, especially areas outside of
the incumbent’s current experience.
3. Mentoring from the incumbent.
4. Providing coaching opportunities.
5. Acting for the incumbent while they are away from work.
6. Working on special projects or opportunities to stretch skills into aligned areas.
7. Dual incumbency opportunities when the incumbent transitions out of their role.

6. Evaluate the succession plan

By evaluating your organization’s succession planning efforts each year, you can continually
improve your succession planning strategy and your organization’s effectiveness.

When evaluating your succession planning program, consider the following:

1. Your organization’s bench strength prior to succession planning versus after succession
planning started.
2. The number of qualified “ready now” candidates compared to before succession
planning started.
3. Improvements in the way your organization develops employees, such as new learning
and development tools or processes.
4. Organizational performance overall.
5. Whether there is reduced risk associated with employees leaving the organization.

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Appendix A
Succession planning templates and resources

 The Succession Planning Tracker Template in Excel

o Use this template to identify vulnerable and mission critical positions in your
organization and track your progress preparing successors.

Succession Planning
Tracker Template.xlsx
o

 Succession Planning Profile Template

o Us this template to develop a profile of the knowledge, skills, abilities and other
talents needed to fill the position you are succession planning for.

Succession Planning
Profile Template.docx
o

 Transition Planning Interview Guide

o Leverage the transition planning interview guide to meet with your incumbent
and learn more about the knowledge, skills, abilities and talents needed to fill
the position.

Transition Plan
Interview Guide.docx
o

NIH HR Systems Tools

 The Workforce Planning and Analytics Section creates workforce analytics resources,
such as the Workforce Analytics Module, which is available through the SMARTHR
website.
o To view the Workforce Analytics Module in SMARTHR visit:
SMARTHR.od.nih.gov
o To request access to SMARTHR, visit: https://hr.nih.gov/hr-systems/request-hr-
systems-access

Contact Information
 Additional ad hoc analytics support is available upon request for NIH employees. To
request assistance with workforce analytics, contact the Workforce Planning and
Analytics Section: [email protected].