Succession Planning for GovCon: Ensuring Workforce Continuity

Is your GovCon prepared for a disruption within your workforce? Are you taking steps to prepare for the future of your organization? Internal and external factors can have a significant impact on your current and future workforce. Unfortunately, only 1 in 4 companies have a comprehensive succession plan in place. Working without a succession plan can lead to disruption, conflict, uncertainty and jeopardize the competitiveness of your organization.

The Need for Comprehensive Succession Planning

Succession planning involves identifying what needs to be done in the event that key members of your workforce are unable to perform their duties. This can include situations such as retirement, resignation, illness, death, or any other reasons. A well-structured succession plan for government contractors (GovCons) identifies critical personnel and the necessary competencies required for those roles. It should also be regularly reviewed and updated. By implementing such planning, you ensure a healthy workforce that can support your organization’s expansion and growth. It’s an important business factor that you can control.

Key Elements of an Effective Succession Plan

A comprehensive succession plan for GovCons focuses on identifying key positions within your organization that are essential for its operations. Typically, these positions include upper-level leadership roles and highly skilled positions that are difficult to fill. Additionally, an effective succession plan assesses the competencies necessary for leadership positions, matches potential internal candidates, and identifies promotion or development opportunities. By creating and supporting professional development programs tied to these competencies, you can strengthen the talent pipeline that will drive your organization forward.

An organization’s succession plan should, at a minimum, address the following aspects:

Future workforce needs.
Key positions within the organization.
Competencies required for those key positions.
Competency levels of the current workforce.
A gap analysis for competency development planning.

While it is widely known that succession planning can make a significant difference in a company’s successful future, there are a few barriers that cause leaders to hesitate during the process:

Effective succession plans are not one-size-fits-all and should evolve over time.
The process can be perceived as threatening to the current leadership.
There is uncertainty regarding who should lead or be accountable for the process.
Not having or utilizing data to drive the planning process.

Lastly, like all good business plans, a succession plan for GovCons is a dynamic document that should be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure its relevance and accuracy. Succession planning may require substantial resources and time, but a comprehensive plan can elevate your GovCon business to the next level and minimize disruptions to your operations.

BOOST’s HR services for GovCons can support your business continuity, competency mapping, and succession planning efforts, enabling your team to focus on your core strengths and grow your GovCon business. Contact BOOST today: https://boostllc.net/consultation/

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Key Takeaways:

Succession planning is crucial for GovCon organizations to ensure workforce continuity and prepare for the future.
Only 1 in 4 companies have a comprehensive succession plan in place, which can lead to disruptions, conflicts, and jeopardize competitiveness.
Succession planning involves identifying potential workforce disruptions and addressing future needs.
Critical positions within the organization and the required competencies should be identified for effective succession planning.
Assessing and developing internal candidates can strengthen the talent pipeline and ensure a smooth transition.
Barriers to succession planning, such as resistance from current leadership and lack of data utilization, need to be addressed for successful implementation.
Regularly reviewing and updating the succession plan is essential to maintain its relevance and accuracy.
Succession planning requires resources and time but can significantly benefit GovCon organizations by minimizing disruptions and supporting business growth.
Leveraging professional consultation, such as from BOOST, can support business continuity, competency mapping, and succession planning efforts.

About The Authors

Megan Bergen, Senior HR, and Organizational Development Consultant has been an executive leader for more than twenty years. Prior to joining BOOST, she worked in workforce development, human resources, government contracting and consulting for over 25 years with a diverse set of organizations.

Wendy Rufo has over 20 years’ experience in GovCon Human Resources specializing in HR mentorship, strategy and compliance, policy and procedure best practices, benefits compliance/administration and talent relations. Wendy brings her extensive experience to GovCon clients, BOOSTing their HR organizations to the next level.

Janet Clark is a Sr. HR Consultant at BOOST LLC with over 20 years of experience in HR with a specialized focus on GovCon for over 10 years. She is passionate about assisting clients with their compliance and HR initiatives.