A Succession Planning Process for Identifying Project Managers

Many companies only develop succession plans for executive-level positions, but some other companies also develop talent at lower levels through high-potential programs. High-potential programs aim to identify top talent within an organization: individuals to be targeted for development actions and career progression. Participants in these programs are commonly referred to as “HiPos.” The criteria used to identify HiPos vary by company, as do the development activities and methods employed to measure success.

Identifying high-potential talent is a business imperative to ensure the growth and sustainability of organizations; however, talent management differs from actual succession planning. Whether a company has a well-established succession planning process or is on the forefront of implementing a plan, CII Research Team 325 (RT-325) recommends that the organization create a formalized succession plan that can operate at various organizational levels. Simply having a formal company-wide succession plan can greatly decrease the negative impacts of talent vacancies.

This resource covers the six phases and 24 steps that constitute a formal succession planning process. These phases are based upon previous research into best practices for succession planning (Appelman and Kennedy 2013; Tichey 2104). RT-325 recommends that organizations focus on one phase at a time, in order to implement sustainable changes.

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