How to Identify Your Organization’s Critical Roles
Identify Critical Roles in Your Organization
One of the first steps towards building a robust succession plan is to identify which key roles in your organization should be involved in the succession planning process. To do this, you will need to decide which positions are critical to the success of your organization. The Critical Roles Identification Questionnaire is a succession planning template that will help you to identify those key roles that your organization should target in your succession program.
How to Start Succession Planning
Succession planning provides organizations with a roadmap to ensure the continuity of operations when changes occur. A proper succession planning process provides time to develop the future leaders’ knowledge and skills, so that they are prepared to step into their new roles.
The first step in creating a succession plan is to identify which key positions in an organization should be included. Essentially, leaders need to identify which roles have the greatest impact on the company’s performance and are also the most difficult to replace. Consider factors like leadership responsibilities, specialized skills, and the strategic importance of the role.
Hi, I’m Brittney Anderson, a senior consultant at SIGMA Assessment Systems, and I’m here today to talk to you about our Critical Role Identification Questionnaire. This template, which you can download for free on our website, can help you with the early stages of creating a succession plan. A lot of organizations that we talk to are aware that succession planning is an important strategic process, but they struggle to find the resources or the supports to help them create a plan that helps them meet their goals.
This template is designed to help you in the early stages when you’re identifying which roles are important for you to prioritize in your succession planning efforts. Most organizations do create their succession plan to roll out in a phased approach. That means they’ll begin with a few roles, and then they’ll continue to create succession plans for more roles in the future. The number of roles that you choose will depend on the resources that you have available for succession planning.
Identifying Key Roles for Organizational Success
When deciding which roles to begin with, you can use the Critical Role Identification Questionnaire to compare the roles in your organization. Begin on the left-hand side by filling in some of the roles that might be important in your organization. Many people that we talk to begin with their leadership team. They’ll think about their CEO or executive director and move on to other roles like their head of operations, HR, or finance.
This is not a bad place to start. Most organizations are looking for a strong succession plan for their leadership team. When filling it out, I would encourage you to think beyond the leadership team as well. Are there any other roles that are important for the success and the function of your organization? And if so, you might want to include them at this early stage.
Critical Role Identification Questionnaire Criteria
Once you have noted some roles on the left-hand side, you can then look at the five criteria that make up this questionnaire. We’re going to be rating each role on these five criteria using the 1 to 5 rating scale.
Urgency
First, we’ll look at the urgency. How quickly do we expect to have to replace the individual in this role? If we’re looking at a near retirement or other reasons that the person might be leaving the organization, we’ll want to rate a higher urgency.
Impact
Second, we’ll take a look at the impact. How quickly would we feel it in the organization if this role were to become vacant? How challenging would it make us to execute on our functions or responsibilities?
Skills
Third, we’ll look at skills. How nuanced or specialized are the skills that are required to be successful in this role? If there’s specific training, education, or certification that’s needed, we may want to use a higher score here to indicate that the skills might be more challenging for us to replicate in the future.
Talent
In the final two columns, we look at talent. First, thinking about the internal talent pool. How challenging might it be for us to find somebody within the organization that would be willing and able to fill this position? Then, look at the external talent pool. How hard would it be for us to find somebody outside of the organization that could fill in for this role and be successful?
Ranking Criteria for Critical Positions
In all cases, the more priority or urgency that we might have for one of the criteria, the higher the number you want to use on the 1 to 5 rating scale. If you’re using the form-fillable PDF version of this template, you’ll see that as you go, the numbers are auto-tallying in the total column on the right-hand side. If you’ve printed it out or you’re using a paper version, you’ll have to fill in this total yourself.
Once you’ve completed the ratings for each of the roles, you can then compare their total scores. Roles with higher numbers might be more urgent or might need more priority for your succession planning efforts. You can use the star column on the far right to indicate which roles you want to begin with for your succession plan.
Comprehensive Template for Strategic Role Selection
I encourage you to hold on to this template and use it as part of the documentation for your succession plan. For the roles you’ve decided to begin with, this can provide a solid rationale and justification for why you chose to start where you did. For the future of your succession plan, you can revisit this template and look at other roles that were part of the consideration, and which ones now might be most urgent to create a succession plan for.
If you have any questions about how to use this template, or how it can help your organization to be successful in your succession planning goals, you can reach out to us at sigmasuccession.com, and we’d be happy to help.
Benefits of Identifying Critical Roles in Your Organization
Identifying critical roles effectively is the foundation for every subsequent step in the succession planning process. Beyond ensuring the entire process aligns with organizational needs, pinpointing these roles helps to:
- Prioritize the succession planning process
- Prioritize employee development efforts
- Understand the organization’s operations
- Think strategically about who is on a team and why
- Identify roles that have a strong impact on the organization’s success
- Identify roles that have a unique skill or knowledge base
- See trends in external and internal candidate availability
- Establish a summary of critical people and positions in the organization
How to Identify Critical Roles for Succession Planning
One of the common questions our consultants receive when helping leaders plan for succession is, “How do you decide which positions are critical?”
The Critical Roles Identification Questionnaire guides you through the process of determining which roles are critical to succession planning. The questionnaire asks leaders to list all the roles in their organization that are important to operations. While C-suite leaders and senior managers are often the initial focus, it’s equally important to consider roles beyond the management level. Are there any lynchpin roles at other levels? For example, among administrative staff or IT? Evaluate all departments and levels of the organizational chart to ensure individuals from various areas of the business and reporting tiers are not overlooked. Be sure to consider both essential people and essential roles to target when creating the succession plan. If unsure about a role, include it for now. The critical role identification template provides a structured approach to pinpointing the positions that are truly essential to the organization.
How to Evaluate Critical Roles in an Organization
Once all potential critical roles have been identified, the next step in the succession planning process is to rate each role on the following five criteria:
Urgency of Succession
How soon is the position expected to be vacant?
In the context of succession planning, urgency refers to how likely it is that a role is going to be vacant soon. Based on past conversations and eligibility to retire, indicate how quickly you anticipate needing to fill the role:
- Roles where the incumbent is planning to stay for more than five years should be considered low urgency.
- Roles where the incumbent is planning to leave within three years should be considered urgent.
Be sure to take into consideration that an employee may also may receive an external offer or look for opportunities elsewhere.
Impact on Business Operations
How would day-to-day operations or business revenue be impacted if this role were suddenly vacant?
In the Critical Roles Identification Questionnaire, “impact” refers to the degree to which a vacancy would impact the organization. Positions central to core business functions or revenue generation should be categorized as critical. However, impactful roles are those essential for maintaining business continuity — they include gatekeepers, task completers, and decision-makers. These roles might not always be immediately apparent, so it’s important to carefully evaluate whether a seemingly overlooked position lower in the organizational hierarchy serves as a crucial support point.
Unique Skillset or Knowledge Base
Does this role require skills or knowledge that would be difficult to replace or demand specific experience in your organization or industry?
Consider whether the roles you listed require any specialized skills or knowledge. Evaluate not only the skills needed to be qualified for the role, but also the institutional knowledge that is needed to be successful in this role. Understanding the level of skill needed for a role does more than indicate how critical the role is — it is also important information that will be used to identify qualified succession candidates, set development goals, and/or recruit and on-board if hiring externally.
Internal Bench Strength
Are there qualified internal candidates who could step into this role today?
Having individuals within the organization who already possess the necessary background and expertise to step into a critical role significantly reduces the risks associated with a vacancy in that position. Evaluate how long it would take for internal succession candidates to become ready to fill:
- Roles for which you will have multiple succession candidates ready in 1-3 years. These roles should be considered lower urgency.
- Roles for which few candidates will be ready, or they won’t be ready for 5+ years. These roles should be considered higher urgency.
Collectively, this score will be an indicator of the strength of your succession bench.
Availability of External Candidates
How difficult is it to find qualified external candidates to fill this position?
Although promoting from within is generally more effective than hiring externally, some cases will inevitably require you to look beyond your organization. For this reason, it is important to know how difficult it is to fill a critical role with an external succession candidate. If a role requires skills that are scarce in the job market or has specific requirements that are challenging to fulfill externally, it should be considered critical. On the Critical Role Identification Template, higher scores indicate greater difficulty in finding external hires and indicate a stronger need for succession planning and internal talent pool development.
Customizing the Critical Position Identification Questionnaire
In addition to the criteria already listed on the template, you may want to add other criteria to address your organization’s specific needs or situation. Consider whether there is a role with a high risk of turnover, such as a very stressful position, one that is in high demand externally, or one that is not competitively compensated. Deciding which positions are critical ensures that succession efforts are focused on positions that have the most significant impact on business continuity.
How to Use the Critical Role Identification Matrix for Succession Planning
The Critical Role Identification Questionnaire is a tool designed to help leaders begin their succession planning process. While the position identification template can be used in isolation to identify critical roles, it is intended to be incorporated in a larger succession plan. To do this, leaders must consider the end goal. Below are a few tips for how to use the Critical Role Identification Questionnaire in the succession planning process:
1. Create a Succession Advisory Team
The Critical Role Identification Questionnaire can be used by any leader in an organization: executives, managers, and team leaders. When identifying critical roles in isolation, the decision-making process is often dictated by the organizational hierarchy; those who are in management positions select roles they consider important among the individuals reporting to them. However, succession planning requires a more holistic approach to determining which roles are truly critical. As a result, it is recommended that organizations establish a Succession Advisory Team (SAT) to take ownership of and advocate for the succession planning process. The SAT will collaboratively complete the Critical Role Identification Questionnaire and use that information to continue establishing the succession planning process. For more information on how to build an SAT and who should be part of it, read our blog, Creating a Succession Advisory Team.
2. List Critical Positions in Light of Current and Future Needs
Use the Critical Role Identification Questionnaire to list all the key roles in your organization that the Succession Advisory Team considers important to operations. While C-suite leaders and senior managers may immediately come to mind, it is important to take an enterprise-wide approach and look for lynchpin roles at other levels as well. It’s better to be exhaustive at the beginning and then use the evaluation process to pare down your list to the most critical positions. Keeping the overall goal of succession planning in mind, it is also important to have a future-focused perspective when identifying critical roles.
3. Evaluate Positions in Light of Long-Term Strategy
Once all potential critical roles have been listed, the SAT should then evaluate each position against the criteria on the form. It is important to keep the position description in mind during the evaluation, and not just focus on the person currently in the role. Strong business leaders often assume additional responsibilities outside of their role, however, on this template the evaluation should be based solely on the criticality of the core functions.
When completing the Critical Role Identification Questionnaire, it is also important to keep the strategic direction of the organization, and the changing demands of the market and economy, in mind. Consider positions not only as they currently stand, but in light of how they may evolve given the organization’s long-term strategy. For example, there may be some roles which are not important to operations today, but given the organization’s business development goals, they are expected to become critical in the coming years. If changes like these can be foreseen, they should be taken into account when evaluating critical roles for succession planning now.
4. Build a Shortlist of Key Positions
After ranking each criterion, add the individual scores across rows and record the total for each role. Based on these totals, you will be able to develop a shortlist of key positions to consider for your succession plan. To create this shortlist, the SAT should evaluate each role against the established criteria and narrow the selection to the top-priority roles for focusing initial succession planning efforts. Critical role decisions should be based on a minimum threshold for the total number of points. We recommend using 16 as a default cut-off for critical roles, as these roles will be urgent, impactful, specialized, and with little internal or external talent available for on-boarding. Thresholds may also be set lower. The lower you set your threshold, the more proactive or risk-adverse your succession planning process will be.
Once the SAT has decided on the shortlist of roles, use the asterisk box on the Critical Role Identification Questionnaire to mark which roles you identify as critical.
5. Use the Critical Role Identification Questionnaire to Prioritize Succession Planning Efforts
The final step in identifying critical roles is to decide how to begin your succession planning efforts. Depending on the size of your SAT, the number of critical roles you have identified, and the time, budget, leadership, and other resources available to your organization, you may need to work through the succession planning process in multiple phases. Use the scores on the Critical Role Identification Questionnaire to decide which roles are in critical need of a succession plan and prioritize your succession planning efforts accordingly.
Once you are ready to start succession planning, begin with the roles you’ve given the highest score; this will help you prioritize your efforts and ensure you’re addressing the organization’s greatest need first. It’s important to note that all roles listed on the Critical Roles Identification Questionnaire are inherently essential to the success of your organization. This means that, over time, you should work towards building a succession planning process for each.
It is possible that you will find some of the results on the Critical Role Identification Questionnaire surprising. If a critical role scored low on this template, it may have an organic leadership pipeline feeding into it. Investigate how potential succession candidates were developed and continue to invest in this practice by rewarding leaders who mentor their team. After addressing high-urgency roles, formalize the succession planning procedure for these low-urgency roles as well.
Identifying Critical Roles in Small Companies
Smaller organizations may need to select fewer positions to focus on to begin their succession plan, while larger ones may choose to move forward with many key positions. Whether you are a small or medium-sized enterprise, consider what goals are reasonable to set for your SAT. It is better to be conservative than overly ambitious. Starting small will make the process easier to manage and improve the likelihood of creating a successful plan. It will also give you the chance to learn and gain insights, which will enable you to build momentum as you expand the scope of your succession plan. For tips on how to plan for succession in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), download SIGMA’s workbook, Succession Planning for SMEs.
Need Help Getting Started?
If your organization needs an effective succession plan fast, SIGMA’s Succession Planning Sprint is the ideal solution. In just one high-impact, four-hour executive strategy session, our consultants work closely with your leaders to create a customized 12-month succession plan for each member of your leadership team — delivered in only 30 days. For more information, complete the form below and one of our consultants will contact you shortly.