Succession planning is the process that employers use to hire, develop, and manage employees who become "successors" to the incumbents vacating positions within an organization.

While there are a number of terms that are synonymous with succession planning, such as "talent management," "succession management," and "organizational bench strength," semantics aside, the need for focused succession planning is probably greater than at any time since the term's inception. The reason? The unprecedented numbers of employees, largely baby boomers, exiting organizations for retirement.

The mass exodus of employees due to the demographics of an aging workforce has enormous implications for UC San Diego and the University of California system. With employers competing for top talent, organizations that are able to develop thoughtful and effective game plans for finding talented people and then growing the people to assume broader and more responsible roles will flourish.

Those employers that do not have a plan will be unlikely to attain the level of excellence they require from their employees. And in the case of UC San Diego, there is simply no substitute for continuing the excellence that staff have contributed to making the campus extraordinary.

The Human Resources Department has formed a Succession Planning Team to create a Blueprint for UC San Diego staff aimed at developing organizational strategies in five key areas:

• Recruitment and hiring
• Training and development
• Performance management
• Workforce diversity
• Knowledge management

Underpinning all of the strategies in these areas is the need to develop performance dimensions that will provide the framework for the skills, knowledge, abilities, characteristics, and values that UC San Diego will seek in its acquisition and development of staff.

It's important to note that succession planning requires an organizational commitment on the part of the entire UC San Diego campus. The blueprint will evolve and expand given that succession planning is a dynamic process that must be adjusted based on organizational and individual developmental needs.

Thus, this succession planning blueprint site is a venue for sharing programs, training, initiatives, and services that are supporting succession planning in each of the Vice Chancellor areas. While some of these efforts are uniquely tailored to specific areas of the campus, there is a great opportunity for UC San Diego departments to partner with each other to integrate succession planning efforts.

As programs are created or achieve "best practice" status, informational links will be established on this site to promote the sharing and further the understanding of succession planning at UC San Diego.

Thomas R. Leet
Assistant Vice Chancellor, Human Resources