Perform Needs Assessments

The top question to ask yourself when starting any kind of personnel planning is: What skills does the IT organization need, and what leadership does the company need from IT?

Within that question are a host of others, such as:

• Are there management demands not being met by current executives?
• How many managers are due to retire within five, 10 years?
• Is anyone at the senior level looking to move into a new role?

Some of these questions can be identified and answered within the IT group, but working with HR will help standardize and align your assessments with the business. And while org charts have gained a bad name, when it comes to determining succession, they serve as clear documentation of the company's plans.

Determine How Far Down the Ladder to Start

How deep the succession plan should go is another issue to consider. Your direct reports are obviously targets for full-on succession development, but it's often worthwhile to push succession planning down to middle management, such as regional directors or functional unit heads. That way, when someone moves up internally, there are people ready to step in and there isn't a domino effect of empty positions down the line, says Kumud Kalia, CIO and executive vice president of customer operations at Direct Energy.

Creating a pipeline that draws people from the bottom to the top and identifies junior-level staff who could move up into management can help. At The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) , IT leaders identified a set of traits, skills and knowledge considered necessary for each job in the department, and they use that to evaluate the development possibilities for employees. Working with IT, the HR department has also built those criteria into the hiring process. This increases the chance that IT will be hiring those who will fit into the development process, says executive vice president and CIO John Von Stein.

Early identification of staff for leadership development and advancement requires a thorough and consistent approach to individual development plans. This allows for more dynamic and agile employee management since skills can be developed for multiple roles, but it is also important not to push people too fast, too soon, says George Hall, SVP of HR for Information Resources at Marriott International.