ATD Research found that most organizations either have or are planning to have a succession plan in their organizations and that’s an increase over the data in the 2018 report.
(Alexandria, Virginia), August 25, 2022—Half of the organizations surveyed are engaged in succession planning, and of the ones that aren’t, 60 percent plan to implement it, according to ATD’s Succession Planning: Preparing Organizations for the Future research report.
Reasons for adopting a succession plan included identifying and preparing future leaders (87 percent), ensuring business continuity (81 percent), and creating opportunities for future advancement (68 percent), according to the report.
When asked why their organizations didn’t have a succession planning process, the top obstacle respondents cited was a lack of resources (57 percent). The next most cited barriers were lack of succession planning knowledge and skills among staff (51 percent) and lack of support from senior leadership (44 percent).
Several other key findings emerged from this research:
- While only 20 percent of respondents had a system in place for collecting information from retiring employees, organizations that did so were significantly more likely to be high performers than those that did not.
- When identifying internal candidates for succession planning, organizations were most likely to use performance reviews or nominations from senior leaders. However, those that identified candidates through in-person assessments or nominations from the talent development department were more likely to be high performers.
- · The activities used most frequently to develop internal succession candidates were mentoring and coaching (81 percent), stretch assignments (72 percent), formal learning (58 percent), and regular performance feedback (58 percent). However, organizations using custom training programs (44 percent) and job shadowing (30 percent) were significantly more likely to be high performers.
- · Many organizations to a moderate extent recruited external candidates for succession (70 percent).
A free webinar on the research will take place on Tuesday, October 4 at 2 p.m. ET.
About ATD
The Association for Talent Development (ATD) is the world’s largest professional membership organization supporting those who develop the knowledge and skills of employees, improve performance, and help to achieve results for the organizations they serve. Established in 1943, the association was previously known as the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD).
ATD’s members come from more than 100 countries and work in public and private organizations in every industry sector. ATD supports talent development professionals who gather locally in volunteer-led US chapters and international member networks and with international strategic partners.
For more information, visit td.org.