Creating an Effective Communication Plan for a Succession Planning Policy

Internal communication plans can educate employees, relieve stress, and inspire open conversations about an organization's future. Most importantly, communication plans can help to identify and overcome common succession barriers. Although an effective communication plan is only a small piece of the overall succession puzzle, it is the first proactive step toward laying the foundation for stakeholder collaboration and the alignment of a cohesive, systematic process. If done correctly, communication plans can increase organizational buy-in, reduce resistance, and strengthen succession planning initiatives.  

In this week's Assignment, continue to examine barriers to succession planning by applying your analysis to the organization that you selected for your Course Project. In addition, use Chapter 6, "Starting a Systematic Program," of the course text Effective Succession Planning to formulate a company-wide plan to change the culture of an organization. 

To successfully complete this Assignment, review Chapter 5, "Making the Case for Major Change" of the course text Effective Succession Planning to determine the strategies human resources (HR) can use to change the succession planning culture of an organization. Finally, synthesize the information from these resources, as well as from the other articles provided in the Learning Resources, and apply them to the scenario below. 

Scenario

 Assume that you are the HR manager for the organization that you chose for your Course Project. After the recent earthquakes and tsunamis that have impacted industries around the world, the scholarly conversations on the benefits of succession planning have reached an all-time high. In fact, because of this, your organization has asked you to develop such a plan to safeguard the company's knowledge and hierarchy of internal workings. The board of directors would like you to set this plan in motion before any changeovers occur due to necessity or as a result of an unforeseen disaster. You are excited about this change in culture, as you have long been a proponent of establishing a succession plan for your organization. You are worried, however, as you know many executives might see this plan in an unfavorable light. 

As you leave your meeting with the board of directors, you have your first and arguably most difficult step ahead of you. You are to come up with a communication plan that will help both the executives and mid-level employees become comfortable with the idea of succession planning. Your communication plan must educate the organization on mentoring options, as well as possible growth opportunities. You must also explicitly state that HR will use both internal and external recruiting methods to find potential successors to fill the company's future positions. Finally, the last emphasis of your communication plan must include a positive message, ensuring all employees of the benefits that succession planning can bring, as well as encouraging them to "get involved."  

To complete this Assignment, respond to the following in a 6 to 7 page paper:

• Develop a company-wide succession planning policy and communication plan that effectively changes the organizational culture.
• Create a list of the top three implementation barriers associated with your organization's succession plan.
• Outline the way in which you would address each of these barriers.

• Solidify the role you would like each member of the triumvirate (HR professional, CEO, and board of directors) to play in this succession plan. For example, should they continue to play the roles you identified in last week's Assignment, or should their roles be strategically refocused? ?Support your response by writing a role description for each player.

• Include a mission statement for your succession plan. (Note: This mission statement should not be the same as the organization's public mission statement. Instead, it should reflect the purpose of implementing your succession plan. Use Exhibit 6-3, "Worksheet to Formulate a Mission Statement for Succession Planning and Management," on page 145 of the Rothwell text to guide you during the creation of your mission statement.)

• Propose two to three goals you hope your plan will achieve. For example, what cultural changes would you like to see?

?Describe three long-term procedures that support the policies you will need to put into place to help change the organization's succession planning culture, for example, Dormant's ABCD model described on pages 128-131 of the course text Effective Succession Planning.

• Develop the key pieces (noting this is not a full-fledged communications plan) of an effective communication plan. ?Explain the rationale behind your succession planning initiative. ?Why are you implementing a new process for identifying successors?

?How can this enhance the organization's sustainable, competitive advantage?

?How will each person in the organization be involved? In addition, how might this new process affect individuals working in the organization?

?Describe mentoring options, as well as opportunities for growth.

?Outline at least two internal and two external recruitment methods you aim to use.

?Include a positive sentiment that will increase buy-in through all levels of your organization.

?Identify at least three communication methods (e.g., internal memo, town hall meetings, outside news releases, etc.) you would use to underline the importance of both the succession plan and the needed change in organizational culture. ?Justify why you would use these communication methods over other available options. For example, how would these specific communication methods fit the needs and culture of the organization and its employees?

Note: Your Assignment must include four new references to support your writing.