Are your succession plans in place?

The past few years have accentuated the talent skills gap that exists for hiring new employees. What also has occurred in the wake of the pandemic has been a lot of management-level team members choosing early retirement (or at least bowing out earlier than they had originally planned).

It’s challenging enough to find skilled welders and press brake operators; finding senior people who can knowledgeably manage the shop floor is an additional skill set. This came up in a recent conversation I had with Mathew Smith, director of the Centre for Welding Technologies and Metallurgy Research in the School of Construction and the Environment (SOCE) at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). He noted that the development of management-level talent in a shop is often an ad-hoc process based on longevity and recognized talent. While it’s good that skills garner recognition, it often places a person in a position for which they are lacking some skills.

Smith believes there is a place for institutions like BCIT to fill that skills and knowledge gap. While that would be a positive for a lot of shops, until such courses are available, it’s up to businesses to determine how to plan for succession in the shop.

Staffing services company Robert Half has its own “7 steps” for building a succession plan. And while those steps seem self-evident, it’s not surprising that many companies fail to plan in the rush of getting the job done.

The most obvious points I think the company’s list makes are: be proactive; pinpoint the best succession candidates; and let those candidates know, and explain how the succession process will work.

This latter point is very important; it may be that you have someone in mind for a management position, but do they want to pursue that track? Some people prefer to do what they do best, and sometimes that’s the hands-on welding.

Ultimately, when you hire new people, it’s best to explain clearly how they can work their way up to certain positions. If you can show employees the steps required to reach certain roles, they will demonstrate relatively early on their goals and potential to your organization. If you can train from within for this, that’s an even greater benefit.

The most important thing is to develop a plan that works for your organization. Laying it out clearly for those affected will help create confidence in the company and encourage others to ask for support to fill any knowledge gaps they see in the plan.