UCSD Blink: Succession Planning

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Succession Planning

Summary: Learn about succession planning and what you can do to prepare employees for future opportunities.

UCSD is faced with a shrinking workforce, with 25% of its employees currently eligible to retire in the near future. Succession planning ensures that qualified employees within an organization are ready and able to compete for vacant positions and that positions are filled quickly.

Succession planning includes 5 key elements:

Recruitment
Training and development
Retention
Knowledge management (documentation, preservation, and utilization of institutional knowledge)
Workforce diversity

Both departments and individual employees play a role in succession planning:

What you can do		How to do it
	How departments can promote succession planning	Plan: Identify key positions you expect to be vacant at all levels within your department. Contact Human Resources, (858) 534-2825, for help with this process. Analyze needs: Determine the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences needed to carry out the functions of each of these positions. Compare gaps: Determine if there will be any gaps in knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience within your department based on projected turnover. Partner: Collaborate with UCSD partners to create new programs and resources to find and/or develop staff. Set goals: Identify your employees' professional and career development goals at performance appraisal time. Be realistic: Clearly communicate to employees how the university recruits and hires staff and how the reclassification process works. Ensure that they are aware of what it will take for them to become qualified for any vacancies. Capture knowledge: Document institutional and procedural knowledge in formats that are readily available and useful to staff who may need to learn on the job after organizational turnover occurs. Transfer knowledge: Promote learning and knowledge sharing as essential aspects of work and leadership at UCSD. Promote knowledge sharing through various means: Exchange information one-on-one or in groups. Develop electronic repositories of key information including functions, processes, and resources. Create and support opportunities for individuals to acquire hands-on experience. Encourage mentoring. Develop depth of coverage through cross-training. Evaluate: Evaluate the effectiveness of resources and programs and do a periodic review of changes that might be needed. Remember that Succession Planning is a dynamic process.
	How employees can promote succession planning	Take advantage of succession planning resources, including: Career and professional development programs sponsored within vice chancellor areas and by the Human Resources Department, (858) 534-2825 Training and professional development programs available through Enrollment Central and UCSD Extended Studies and Public Programs Track your participation and progress in career and professional development programs. Solicit feedback from your instructors in career and professional development programs. Share information about what's working and what's not. Communicate, communicate, communicate! Network with colleagues and other industry insiders.