How to identify critical

roles
Facilitators notes
Introduction
Organisations often focus their succession planning on a few key roles, normally
those at the top of the organisation. however, there are other roles which
should be included because a vacancy in them causes maximum disruption.
These exercises provide different ways to identify those roles which are most
critical to the success of your organisation.
Although the focus is on roles, some roles become critical because of the
skill sets of the incumbent. Succession planning will focus on critical
roles. Talent management should identify such individuals to ensure their
retention.
Aim of the Tool
To identify critical roles in an organisation.
When to use

hOW TO IDENTIFY CRITICAL ROLES TOOL NUMBER 19

Section 3
Planning succession

In the early stages in the succession planning process. The risk analysis can be
conducted at any time.
Materials needed
The organisation chart, job descriptions, full details about the role and the

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PLANNING SUCCESSION

impact it has on the organisation both from an internal and an external

perspective.
Access to line managers and key decision-makers in the succession planning
process.
Procedure for using it
1 A session might typically start with a brainstorming exercise to get people

thinking about critical roles. They should not be censored and must be able
to put down anything eg If we lose the tea lady, production stops.
2 Move to the organisation chart exercise which considers the structure and

roles that hold organisational knowledge or are critical to operations or

future strategy.
3 Get people to tell stories or interview each other so they can tell the other

persons stories about the difficulties or successes of the company and what
roles played a part in either scenario. They need to identify the roles that
caused the most upset.
4 Finally, for thoroughness, complete the risk assessment. This will identify

any final roles that may prove difficult to fill externally or where internal
knowledge is a prerequisite for success and should therefore be on the
succession plan for internal successors.
5 The exercises in the Tool can be undertaken in groups or individually, and

some will have better face validity than others, depending on the culture
and nature of the organisation. Pick and choose from the exercises.
Evaluating its uses
The value of this tool lies in:
identifying from many different perspectives those roles that require time
and attention in the succession planning process
helping to explore those roles that do not need to be succession-planned.
References
Rothwell W. (2001) Effective Succession Planning. New York, NY: Amacom.

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Extract from the CIPD Talent Management and Succession Planning Toolkit
138

Key positions: brainstorming

Introduction to the exercise
A key position exerts critical influence on organisational activities
operationally, strategically, or both (Rothwell, 2001)*.
Individually or in a group, brainstorm which are the roles you consider to be key
positions. Do not censor your thinking in any way. You may find that one role
appears in different places allow this. Use the descriptions of roles below to
prompt your thinking.
Descriptions

Roles in your organisation

Roles that if suddenly vacant would

cause the most disruption to your
organisation. Roles that left vacant
would cause concerns

Roles that are operationally critical eg

a key data input role which provides
real-time information for a sales force

Roles that are strategically critical eg

head of Research

Roles that are both operationally

and strategically critical eg Chief
Operating Officer

hOW TO IDENTIFY CRITICAL ROLES TOOL NUMBER 19

The Tool

*Excerpted from Effective Succession Planning by William J. Rothwell

2001 AMACOM, a division of American Management Association. Used by
permission of the publisher, AMACOM, New York, New York. All rights reserved
www.amacombooks.org
Extract from the CIPD Talent Management and Succession Planning Toolkit
139
This document can be downloaded as a Word document from www.cipd.co.uk/tsm
Copyright Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Copyright waived.

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PLANNING SUCCESSION

Organisation charting
Working individually or in a group and using a chart of the organisation,
identify those roles that you believe are critical to success and in which a
vacancy would cause the organisation difficulties. An example is shown below.

Managing
director

Director of
finance

Director of
marketing

Director of
knowledge

Director of
consulting

Management,
finance,
facilities
and
administration

Marketing
development
team

Knowledge
and
information
services
team

Consulting
team

This role is easy to

fill from outside, and,
has proved effective
in the past

Critical role, because

he/she holds a significant
body of knowledge
about the organisation

Maybe a critical role,

as custodian of
client relationships

Telling stories
Invite people in the organisation/group to tell stories about times when the
organisation has suffered difficulties or has been particularly successful. Use the
following questions to help them tell their story.
Alternatively, invite people to work in pairs and to interview each other using

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the following questions. Then ask them to tell their partners story.
Extract from the CIPD Talent Management and Succession Planning Toolkit
140
This document can be downloaded as a Word document from www.cipd.co.uk/tsm
Copyright Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Copyright waived.

 Tell me about a time when the organisation went through a particularly

tough patch.
What roles were vacant?
What impact did vacant roles have on the situation?
Think about the last resignation that caused difficulties for the organisation
why did this cause so much disruption?
What was it about the person or role that caused the difficulties?
What conclusions can you draw?
Talking about the successes
Tell me about a time when the organisation was particularly successful.
Which roles were instrumental in the success?
What was it about the people or the role which helped the success?
how much organisational information did the job-holders have?
how did this feature in the success?
What conclusions can you draw?

Risk analysis
The headings/questions here will help you identify which roles should be
succession-planned, and of those, which need an internally-sourced successor.

Extract from the CIPD Talent Management and Succession Planning Toolkit
141
This document can be downloaded as a Word document from www.cipd.co.uk/tsm
Copyright Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Copyright waived.

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Talking about the difficult times

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PLANNING SUCCESSION

The job role [write in the title, with

a brief description, or refer to a job
description]

Potential risks of the job being vacant

[be honest about this there will be
roles in which there is minimal risk to
the business]
Likelihood of the role becoming
vacant within the next three years
[guesstimate, unless you have concrete
data]
Impact of the role [rate it high,
medium or low, and say why you
rate it so]

Key skills, knowledge and

competencies of the role [write notes
here, or refer to the job description (if
that is up to date)]
Availability of skills in the marketplace
[to the best of your knowledge]

Is internal organisational know-how an

essential requirement? [If it is, this role
may require an internal successor in
which case say how much and what
know-how is essential]
how long can this post be vacant
before there is a detrimental impact?
[Can the team make up for the
vacancy and if so, for how long?]
Do we need to succession-plan this
position? [yes or no; either way, what
do we do in the short term, and what
do we do in the longer term?]

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Extract from the CIPD Talent Management and Succession Planning Toolkit
142
This document can be downloaded as a Word document from www.cipd.co.uk/tsm
Copyright Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Copyright waived.

You should now be in a position to identify the key positions in your

department/organisation.
Remember,
A key position exerts a critical influence on organisational activities
operationally, strategically, or both.
Rothwell (2001)

What are the key positions?

Why are they key posts?

hOW TO IDENTIFY CRITICAL ROLES TOOL NUMBER 19

Identifying key positions

*Excerpted from Effective Succession Planning by William J. Rothwell

2001 AMACOM, a division of American Management Association. Used by
permission of the publisher, AMACOM,New York, New York. All rights reserved
www.amacombooks.org
Extract from the CIPD Talent Management and Succession Planning Toolkit
143
This document can be downloaded as a Word document from www.cipd.co.uk/tsm
Copyright Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Copyright waived.

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