Planning for Change: Why Succession Planning Matters in Community Transport
Michelle Clarke
“Change is going to happen anyway, so it’s better if you plan for it.”
These were the words of one operator when Emma Bingham, Development Manager for Wales, and I first started asking about succession planning. It’s one of those topics that we all know is important but may put off as it may not seem urgent. Yet if we don’t consider succession planning it can create challenges if someone leaves suddenly, leaving a gap in the organisation which may affect service delivery, reputation or relationships.
What is succession planning? It’s planning for a smooth transition when people leave. It could be a long-serving chief officer or coordinator, a chairperson, or others in an organisation who have a lot of organisational knowledge and business-critical skills, and whose departure will leave a significant gap. We interviewed operators to gain insight into the challenges and benefits of succession planning, facilitated a breakout session on the topic at a CTA Conference, and developed a simple succession planning resource, click here to access it.
More recently, we delivered an hour-long succession planning webinar through the Cranfield Trust, sharing what we’d learned with a wider audience. The Cranfield Trust is a great organisation providing pro bono consultancy, management support, peer support, advice and information for charities https://www.cranfieldtrust.org/. The webinar drew 380 attendees on the day, with many more viewing the webinar afterwards. It shows what a hot topic succession planning is! We valued the opportunity the Cranfield Trust gave us to discuss it and were heartened that, after our presentation, many in the audience affirmed that they were motivated to act on succession planning:
“I’ll be discussing it at our next senior management team meeting with a view to developing our policies and procedures.”
“Work with the board to develop succession plan for critical roles across the organisation.”
“I hadn’t thought about including it in our risk management strategy and risk register so will definitely do that.”
“I’ll put together a brief for senior leadership team to prompt discussion around development of a formal succession plan.”
“Get going with regards to talking to board and team. Reflection (self and team) around what skills we bring and how we can support one another to grow.”
“Will share with our management board and highlight with other organisations I support.”
While our conversations with operators indicated that many did not have succession plans in place, we learned from the Cranfield Trust that this is repeated across the wider voluntary sector. Their Five Years of Impact and Insight report states “succession planning is a critical gap. Across charities of all sizes there’s a lack of charity leader confidence in succession planning, which raises concerns for long-term sustainability and sector leadership continuity.” https://www.cranfieldtrust.org/articles/new-report-reveals-highs-and-lows-of-uk-charity-management-over-the-last-five-years
Emma and I believe that succession planning is part of a proactive approach to risk management, business planning and general good governance. The benefits of succession planning include improved morale and team building, new ideas, refreshed job roles and staff development opportunities. It helps organisations to grow future leaders. As one operator told us, succession planning is about coaching and empowering staff and building a knowledge-sharing culture across the whole team, so that the departure of any one person does not significantly impact the charity’s work.
We will leave the final words to another community transport operator as they perfectly encapsulate the desire to leave a legacy and an organisation that’s fit for the future:
‘I just want to leave the charity as I would wish to find it. Succession planning is about making sure that anyone now who comes into the organisation after me has the best possible chance of continuing the work it does for many more years.”