MANAGEMENT UPDATE.

ERASING OBSTACLES TO SUCCESSION PLANNING

Succession planning is crucial in state and local governments, particularly as surveys show an upcoming jump in retirements. For example, last summer, Mission Square Research Institute reported that 46 percent of respondents in its 2025 annual workforce survey anticipated an increase in retirements in the near future.

Survey answers also showed that while half of respondents believed that succession planning was very important, 61 percent said that they didn’t do it.

This imbalance was part of the focus of a November 5 webinar, presented by the National Association of State Personnel Executives and moderated by Alex Smith, HCM (Human Capital Management) Industry Director at Oracle and formerly chief HR officer in Memphis.

Each of the panelists on the webinar – Sheryl Webb, personnel director in West Virginia and Jonathan Patterson, deputy director of the Michigan Civil Service Commission – explained their frustration with the misinformation that abounds about the difficulties of succession planning in a civil service environment.

As Webb explained, she’ll hear from an agency director who knows a critical employee will be leaving but tells her “I can’t do anything about it.”

Her answer: “Yes. You can prepare. You just have to be very careful about how you prepare.”

The perceived obstacles and barriers to succession planning are part of the reason that succession planning in the public sector has lagged behind the private sector over many years. Back in 2008, we wrote about this in the Governing management newsletter. As we said then, “Succession planning may be one area in which there’s some truth that the private sector is way ahead of the public sector. And that’s unfortunate. Absent this kind of effort, cities, counties and states frequently find themselves with very important positions open – and no one nearly ready to fill them.”

A Different Perspective

Local and state governments are varied in their approach to succession planning, but those that adhere tightly to merit-based systems for their employees, are cautious about pre-selecting one individual out of many to replace a soon-to-be-departing leader.

But as Patterson often explains to Michigan managers and department heads, succession planning can – and should – take place without making those kinds of subjective decisions.

As he told moderator Smith, he will ask managers what they think succession planning is.

When they say, “I’ve identified this particular person,” he responds, “it’s true that in a merit-based system we can’t do that but there are different avenues . . .that actually strengthen the organization and support succession planning.”

The key, he said, is to broaden the view of how succession planning operates. That means providing more general leadership training, mentoring, and job shadowing, which strengthens the organization overall, builds morale and prepares a wider swath of individuals to prepare to take over specific roles in the organization, where retirements may be imminent.

Encouraging Retirement Conversations

Both Webb and Patterson emphasized that succession planning needs to take place well in advance of an actual retirement. “A lot of times, people will say ‘I’ve got somebody retiring. They’re leaving now and I don’t know what to do,” said Webb. “You’ve got to start way before the person leaves.”

To facilitate planning ahead, she said it helps greatly when long-term employees feel they can talk freely about their plans. For example, Patterson, who has worked for the state for 31 years, has made it known that he plans to retire in April 2027.

Of course, not everyone has that clear a sense of what they want in their immediate future.

But if employees do have a sense of their personal plans, Webb and Patterson have tried to create workforce environments that increase the ease and comfort of speaking openly about retirement. “if someone says, I really think it’s something that I want to do, it allows you to start preparing for that,” Webb said.

Throughout the webinar, panelists and moderator spoke about the need to handle retirement conversations with sensitivity, as it can be a difficult transition. If someone has reached retirement age, possibly the worst managerial reaction is, “That’s great.”

“You don’t ever want to say ‘I think you should retire,” said Patterson. If there is a problem with performance, the issue should be handled as a performance question not by guiding someone out the door.

Here is a summary of advice offered in the webinar on the succession planning topic.

Start succession planning well in advance of an expected retirement. Don’t wait until retirees have started packing away the photos on their desks.

Focus on broadly available leadership programs that enhance the potential of many employees, not just individuals who you think may be the next best fit.

Put policies in place that help prepare potential successors. For example, West Virginia added a temporary transition policy a few years ago, which allows overfilling a position for up to six months so that someone can come in and train for a new role.

Help potential retirees to be comfortable talking about retirement plans – so that you have more opportunity to start preparing for future transitions. One way to encourage better planning for retirement is through meetings that focus on financial planning for retirement or provide resources on potential choices regarding health benefits.

Start knowledge transfer earlier than at the point of retirement. You can do a direct transfer of information when somebody retires, but this can take place earlier if knowledge transfer is part of standard agency operating procedures.

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