Throughout any given project lifecycle, we learn lessons and discover many opportunities for improvement. Often, these areas of opportunities are captured and discussed at the end of a project in anticipation that this may assist others who may work in similar future projects. Starting with lessons learned as project team members preparing for any implementation can go a long way in helping make the project more successful.
Having worked on many different types of implementations over the years, we often see that not all projects start with lessons learned in mind. Most of the time, we’ve seen project teams simply diving into the project and going full steam ahead due to various project pressures.
As it relates to a Succession Management implementation, the following are 7 key design considerations that a project team should always consider:
- Aim to understand the link between Succession Management and Career Development & Planning. Understand who is responsible for an employee’s career development in the organization. Ensure that career discussions are being had with Succession candidates and don’t allow your succession plans to collect dust.
- Clearly articulate 3 – 5 top business drivers for investing in Succession Management and relate these back to the overall design of the solution. Ensure that you are not being driven just by a budget and instead focus on what’s in it for your employees.
- Understand the type of reporting that you desire early on. By understanding your goals and desired metrics will aid in design and configuration decisions. Speak with your consultant very early in the process to strategize on reporting needs before more formal decisions are made.
- Familiarize yourselves with all of the tools available in the Succession Management module early on to assist with defining the correct processes that will support your Succession Management strategy. Ensure that your hands are getting dirty in the tool and the processes being defined. How else will you be able to train others on the process?
- Know your culture to understand how to address Succession transparency and access to Succession data via permissions. Succession results tend to be very sensitive in nature for most customers. Ensure you understand clearly who is allowed to see results.
- Less is more. Understand how the data that you want to capture will be used in Succession Planning. There should be a clear understanding as to the purpose of the data. KISS – Keep it Super Simple
- Identify at least one single point of contact that bridges the gap between the implementation consultant(s) and the project team. Ensure you have a project team member that internalizes the top business drivers, understands your internal processes and can help drive requirements/decisions is key to a successful implementation.
While the above lessons learned may seem obvious, the challenge for most projects is following through on the lessons learned. Consider the above as you embark on your implementation journey and you will achieve project success.