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PLANNING FOR SUCCESSION

Presented by
Fire Chief Kelvin J. Cochran
 Planning Succession
• Succession Planning
• Professional Development
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• Mentoring

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 Planning Succession

Succession Planning
• The continual business of
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monitoring and developing
internal talent to assure that
employees have the knowledge,
skills and abilities necessary to
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succeed in future leadership roles

 Planning Succession

Professional Development
• Establishing core competencies
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for every rank, while
systematically providing training
and education internally and
externally to meet those
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requirements
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SFD Strategic Planning

March 16, 2007
 Planning Succession

Mentoring
• The systematic approach to
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providing focused support and
attention, both professional and
personal guidance to
subordinates, formally woven into
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the performance appraisal

program of an organization
 Planning Succession

The Need for Planning

Succession
Picture 11 • Forecast Rapid Attrition
• Forecast Rapid Growth
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• State of Organizational
Stagnancy
 Analyze Stagnancy

Organizational Stagnancy
– A period where activities that were
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once exciting have become
common and routine
– Lack luster and enthusiasm
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– Unwilling to challenge dissenters

– Financial incentives do not resolve
dissatisfaction
 Planning Succession
Organizational Stagnancy
– Tolerate things we used to detest
– Relationships more important than
mission
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– Average is disguised as excellent

– Succumb to good, rather than aspire for
great
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– Making excuses rather than make a

change
– Clinging to past traditions with reduced
value
 Enhance Morale

• Many of our members are basing

their job satisfaction and job
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motivation on the forecast of
promotional and professional
development opportunities, and
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the attractiveness of leadership

portrayed by chief officers
 Enhance Morale
• No matter how much they
admire, love and appreciate us,
there comes a point in time
where our subordinates, even
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those who respect us dearly,

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want us to GO!!!
• Forecasting based on who’s
signed up, who’s past retirement,
who’s close to retiring and when
they’re going to go or sign up….
 Enhance Morale

• Forecasting who’s next to move

up in the leadership
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advancement pipeline has
become extremely difficult; but
extremely necessary for us to do
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as a department.
 Planning Succession

• Inability to forecast
– Members are staying longer before
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signing up
– Members are choosing to stay past
their retirement/DROP date
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– Members are leaving abruptly

without much notice
– Members returning to the field
operations
 Planning Succession

• As the leader, and leaders of our

fire department we have an
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obligation to step outside of our
comfort zones to infuse hope and
optimism into our members
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through planning for succession.

 Planning Succession

In organizations where
succession planning really
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works, it is not a stand-alone

activity. It is a core process
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of the business, woven into

the very fabric of its culture.
 Succession Planning &
Professional Development
• Sense of urgency for fire service
leaders
• Lack of professional development
• Every “man” for himself
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• The “fair-haired boy”, “favorite son”

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• Narcissist mentality
• Unaware of organizational vulnerability
 Failure to Succession Plan
• Steady attrition of talented
members
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• Retain people with outdated skills
• Create promotion apathy
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• Create a passive-aggressive
culture
 Wanted: Talented Leaders

• Disaster Management
• Budget challenges
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• Implement progressive change
• Managing community conflicts
• Labor/management challenges
In situations like these Fire Departments
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need to have the right people in the right

places to succeed and thrive!
 Failure to Succession Plan
• Apt for wrong organizational
decisions
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• Promote untested, unqualified
officers
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• Recruit outside of the organization
– Difficult to adjust
– Unfamiliar with the culture
 Common Attributes of SP
• Not stand alone ad hoc activities
• Embedded development activities
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• Chief officers deeply involved
• Chief officers/company officers
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evaluated on their contributions to
the organization-wide effort
 Planning Succession

By engaging officers and

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administrative chief officers in
this way departments can align
its professional development
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processes with its strategic

priorities.
 Succession Planning
Advantages
• Builds a clear and attractive
identity
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• Enhances personnel perception of
leadership development processes
• Authenticates succession planning
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• Attracts future leaders early in

career
 Question???
Is the talent pipeline of the fire
service producing enough quality
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leaders?
– Our department
– Other fire departments
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– Emergency Management
Organizations
– Private Sector Organizations
 Leadership Development
Initiatives and Opportunities

• Fire Training Academy

• National Fire Academy
• Executive Development Institute
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• Executive Fire Officer Program
• John F. Kennedy School of Government
• Chief Fire Officer Designation
• Certified Emergency Manager Designation
• IAFC Professional Development Handbook
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• Higher Education
 Blueprint for SP and PD
• Versed in all aspects of
organization
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• Accountability for chief fire officers
• Unwavering commitment to the
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system
• Share resources-the talent pool
• Job rotation strategy
• Provide opportunities and visibility
 Integrated Approach
• Succession planning drives
professional development
• Succession planning starts at the top
• Train and develop potential successors
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• Each rank should be the training officer

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 Challenges for the Chief
Executive
• Planning your own exit
• Evokes fears and hidden emotions
• Deal with long held defense mechanisms
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• Desire to avoid the issue

The trend is to always look for the next
mountain to climb, not to step down from
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the mountain and look for a replacement.

 “There is no
success without a
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successor.”
 Benefits of Integration
• Alerts rising stars to opportunities
• Ability to assess your “bench
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strength”
• Sense of future incumbent
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leadership
• Minimal business disruption
• Increase stakeholder confidence
• Reduce cost of external
recruitment
 Desired Culture
• Talent alignment and optimization -
striking the balance between the supply
of talent (rising stars) and the demand
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for talent (critical positions)
• Annual review of talent pool-group
setting
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• Evaluation of current roles

• Preparation for future roles
• Develop paths with multiple career
possibilities
 Fire Chief Responsibilities

• Recognize developmental needs

• Help cultivate new skills
• Provide opportunities for professional
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development
• Nudge into new functional areas
• Mentor emerging leaders
• Pass on important knowledge
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• Provide helpful evaluations and

feedback
 Succession Planning
Essentials
• Aligned
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• Attractive
• Authentic
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 Aligned Leadership
Development
• Enables the organization to meet
its mission objectives more
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effectively
• Enables the organization to
produce better innovations more
quickly
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• Rewards individuals who produce

innovative results
 Misalignment
• Occurs when:
– Rolling out initiatives without proper
planning and time horizons
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– Professional development,
succession planning not linked with
mentoring
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– Miss-matched protégé-mentor
(disfunctional development)
– Performance management measures
and rewards inconsistent with
organizational values and culture
 Attractiveness

Personnel are attracted to

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promotions-advancement in
part due to the talent identity
(image) of executive leadership
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in fire departments and in fire

service organizations.
 Attractive Leadership
Development
Does the leadership development system
reinforce the image you want people to
have of our organization?
• Relationship between leadership development
and candidates attracted
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• External stakeholders perception of

organizational leadership culture
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• Personnel’s perception and understanding of

the organizational values and strategic
direction
 Attractive Leadership
Development
• Reinforces a positive leadership
image
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• Emphasizes functional capabilities

• Reinforces proper fit of
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organizational values and belief
system
 Authentic Leadership
Development
• Authentic - Customized, legitimate
system developed internally by
stakeholders
• Talent development effects business
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decisions
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• Not a perception of favoritism
• Not padding and developing resumes
• Persons recruited, selected and
promoted are truly qualified, capable,
competent
 Professional Development
Outcomes
• Actively improve employee skills
• Increase commitment to work
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• Accelerates information sharing

• Better trained personnel
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• Increase willingness to accept
additional responsibility
 Executive Coaching

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The Mentor
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And
The Protégé
 Mentoring
• Essential to leadership development
• Many mentors will enter and exit your life
• Mentors can make the difference between:
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– Satisfaction and contentment

– Stagnation and growth
– Loss and gain
– Pain and fulfillment
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– Deterioration and restoration

 10 Facts You Should Know
About An Uncommon Mentor
1. An Uncommon Mentor is the Master
Key to the Success of a Protégé
2. An Uncommon Mentor Transfers
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Wisdom Through Relationship

3. An Uncommon Mentor Guarantees
Your Promotion
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4. An Uncommon Mentor Can Determine

Your Income
 10 Facts You Should Know
About and Uncommon Mentor

• An Uncommon Mentor Can Cause Influential

People to Listen to You
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• An Uncommon Mentor Will Require Your

Pursuit
• An Uncommon Mentor is More Interested in
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Your Success Than Your Affection

 10 Facts You Should Know
About and Uncommon Mentor
8. An Uncommon Mentor is Not Necessarily
Your Best Friend
– Your best friend is comfortable with your past;
your mentor is comfortable with your future
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– Your best friend loves you the way you are; your
mentor loves you too much to leave you the way
you are
– Your best friend ignores your weakness; your
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mentor removes your weakness

– Your best friend is your cheerleader; your mentor
is your coach
 10 Facts You Should Know
About and Uncommon Mentor
9. An Uncommon Mentor Sees Things
You Cannot See
– Sees weaknesses before you experience
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the pain of them
– Experienced the pain of a problem you
are about to create
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 10 Facts You Should Know
About an Uncommon Mentor
10. An Uncommon Mentor Can Create an
Uncommon Protégé
– Everything you know will come through
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mentorship (directly or indirectly)

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 The Protégé
• A protégé is an enthusiastic learner
• The wisdom of the mentor is
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perpetuated through the protégé
• It is vital to recognize and honor those
connected to you for the multiplying and
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perpetuation of your success and life.
 Passive Protégés
• Reach when it is convenient or
when their personal efforts do not
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produce their desired result.
• They subconsciously expect their
mentor to produce success for
them.
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 Parasite Protégés
• Pursue for credibility, not correction.
• They will use the name and influence of
a mentor to manipulate others into a
relationship
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• They want what the mentor has earned,

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not what he has learned
• They want reputation without
preparation
 Prodigal Protégés
• Enter and exist the relationship freely
• When serious correction occurs they
move toward another mentor who has
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not yet discovered their flaws

• They distance themselves when their
mentor encounters personal difficulties,
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loss of credibility, false accusation or

persecution
 Productive Protégés
• Have a servants heart
• Never make major decisions
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without counsel and feedback of

the mentor
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• They honor and respect their
mentor both professionally and
personally
 6 Facts About The Uncommon
Protégé

1. The uncommon protégé invests time spent

with the uncommon mentor
2. The uncommon protégé follows the counsel
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of the uncommon mentor

3. The uncommon protégé reveals the secrets
and dreams of his heart with the mentor
4. The uncommon protégé freely discusses his
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mistakes with the mentor

 6 Facts About the Uncommon
Protégé
1. The uncommon protégé defines
clearly his expectations to the mentor
2. The uncommon protégé ultimately
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reaches or exceeds the mentor he

serves
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Questions???
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