Particularly in bigger organisations, making a difference above and beyond call of duty gets seen to be a valuable quality. Being seen to deliver exemplary standards through their employees is notable. It’s easy to feel a cheat here! Succession Planning facilitates delivery of excellent performance – which others notice and may even ask how. This does no harm at all.

With a plan in place a manager can become more aware of possibilities. Potential candidates will appear and can be recruited to fit later gaps. New skills in existing employees will show through. The awareness of what is going to be required helps process.

As process unfolds, gaps and opportunities will appear. This is well in advance of requirement. So managers can take steps to create development. This pro-activity is of vital importance and enables much smoother transitions in future.

In an organisation where there are clear, focused plans for future, supported key people and developing new employees, mood is different. In fact, engagement of their people is so good that manager presides over a lot of fun, joy and happiness. That is a remarkably thrilling experience at top of an organisation or team.

With much more discussion going on in an open and honest framework, employees begin to talk much more. They begin to see that they can help and create an impact. For managers this can be a bit challenging – but they learn to trust and seek help and support from their people too. That is massively more creative in say, problem-solving that going alone. Better, easier solutions are found.