Succession Management

Succession Management planning is essential in any organisation. However, APS Agencies face particular challenges in this domain, as certain key principles - e.g. equity, merit-based employment, transparency - must be respected at all times.

As a result, very few APS Agencies have developed and maintained formal succession management processes. And where these processes exist, they tend to be focused on a limited number of positions/roles, and are not applied throughout the organisation.

With the specific needs of the APS in mind, LINK Learning has developed a Succession Management Maturity Index. This diagnostic  approach is based on LINK's experience at the forefront of Capability Mapping and Development within the APS.

The Succession Management Maturity Index is designed to be scalable, and can therefore be applied at a section, branch, division, or agency level. The key elements of the process are as follows:

• identification of key roles, deliverables and outcomes
• analysis of current individual capability
• mapping of capability to identified roles, deliverables and outcomes
• identification of future strategic development targets.

Some of the benefits of this approach include:

• greater staff engagement and retention, as career pathways and opportunities are identified
• greater certainty that key positions will be filled with suitable staff
• increased confidence that future deliverables and outcomes will be achieved.