Holistic approach of Talent Management for a successful Succession Planning

Preparing ourselves for future volatile economic environment is a challenge. Every Organization needs to develop a succession plan for taking up the roles and responsibility by the next generation leaders.  Indian Public Sectors Units (PSUs) often find themselves in a challenging situation while positioning suitable manpower for the key leadership positions in the changing market situation. They adopt several Management Practices to develop future leaders within the organization, as it is more preferable to develop a Talent Pool in-house, rather than acquiring it from outside. Based on various studies in the past, relationship between Succession planning and Talent Management is well established. Yet, the impact of Performance Management in particular, needs to be specifically addressed, critically analyzed and reviewed in depth in line with acquiring, developing and retaining the talent for a successful Succession Planning.

Problem statement - how does Performance Management System impact on Succession Planning? what is the relevance in integrating these two and how does it contribute to organizational sustainability? what are the Talent Management processes that support successful Succession Planning?

The study involves a sample of Indian PSUs from various sectors. A mixed method approach for data analysis is preferred. Document analysis involves review of Policy/guidelines, Procedures and Reports related to Human Resource Development (HRD); whereas feedback on perception of employees were collected through interactions with key stakeholders and analyzed using thematic analysis to identify linkage between Performance Management and Succession Planning.

The study suggests the holistic approach towards Talent Management and its best practices for a successful Succession Planning. It recommends to identify and develop individuals in-house, for the critical and key leadership roles thus achieving organizational sustainability.