Succession planning should be done on a rolling basis so staffing plans keep pace with the evolution of future needs and agencies are not caught off guard when positions become vacant, the Merit Systems Protection Boards has said.
It said a core first step is to identify mission-critical positions and the skills and competencies required for them now and in the future.
To do this agencies should examine strategic plans, incumbent capabilities and training needs, internal agency characteristics such as mission, culture, resources, and leadership capacity, as well as their implications for staffing needs, and other factors or trends that have implications for the agency’s mission accomplishment, according to MSPB.
It said a next step would be to estimate when mission-critical positions are likely to become vacant, then determine whether current internal workforces will have the capabilities for continued mission accomplishment or whether recruitment, hiring, or development initiatives are in order.
One such initiative could be the implementation of a succession plan development program to give internal agency employees the opportunity to learn about positions in the succession plan and develop their capabilities to become competitive for applying for future positions in that succession plan, MSPB suggested.
