How AI in Talent Intelligence Platforms Help Succession Planning

We put a lot of emphasis on what occurs when people join a company, from onboarding to learning and developing skills gaps to offering continuing opportunities for advancement. On the other hand, many organizations are unprepared when staff leaves, especially those in critical positions. As a result, sudden resignations frequently leave HR teams and managers in the dark. The importance of effective succession planning cannot be overstated.

Organizations can be prepared for unexpected resignations by building healthy bench strength and leadership pipeline with succession planning. Here we explore how the rise of talent intelligence platforms and their AI capabilities can help organizations do succession planning better.

Utilizing TalentPulse’s Succession Planning Features

Why Succession Planning Is Easily Overlooked

One major issue in succession planning is urgency, or the lack thereof. When HR teams are bogged down with other operational projects, succession planning’s strategic value is overlooked. Because the ramifications of having a weak bench strength only hits later on, but when it does, its impact can be huge.

It’s also usual for organizations to still rely on the more traditional informal approach to succession planning, relying primarily on verbal conversations and recommendations. Bias can be unchecked as a result of this approach, which is a severe issue. It’s human nature to allow subjectivity and choose a successor who is similar to them, even if it’s subconscious.

Finally, suppose succession planning is not consciously integrated. In that case, it can quickly fall out of sync with the business strategy and hiring strategy, causing a considerable gap between the talent available and the skills needed.

How AI In Talent Intelligence Platforms Helps

1. AI helps with internal vs. external hire decisions.

Internal candidates are frequently the most successful succession candidates. However, there are situations when an external candidate is a better fit for a specific position. Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in talent intelligence platforms link succession planning to your recruiting process, allowing you to assess and evaluate both internal and external applicants simultaneously. Now, you have the correct information to choose the best candidate with confidence.

Because external recruits are more expensive than internal hires, especially if made at the last minute, AI can identify prospective leaders at the hiring stage based on a mix of attributes that indicate leadership potential. You can then put these individuals on a development track and give them a head start by hiring for leadership.

They will be more engaged, involved, and aligned with the organization if they know their potential career curve from the start. The probability of a potential leader leaving without a successor, whether internal or external, is reduced.

AI helps with internal vs. external hire decisions.

2. AI makes development targeted and personalized.

The talent intelligence platform’s AI can gather individual learners’ capabilities, problem areas, and personal goals. Based on this, it can provide a personalized learning path for honing existing abilities and filling knowledge gaps, if any exist. Research has consistently shown that investing in L&D can help reduce attrition by making employees feel more appreciated; however, if employees believe the learnings are too generic, they may disengage. They also consider staying with an organization advantageous if their time there directly adds to their professional development. AI may be used to identify people with leadership potential, train them in the areas they need to know, and promote a culture of innovation.

On the same platform, an AI-based talent intelligence platform can deploy talent assessments for both current and potential employees, intelligently connecting each of them with individualized recommendations for stretch projects, training modules, and leadership prospects. Therefore with minimum manual interaction from HR, your entire candidate pool — internal and external — is continuously developed and trained.

3. AI enables data-driven talent matching

Talent matching is one of the most complex and tedious parts of succession planning to be done manually. It is also the process most prone to mistakes and bias because it depends on HR or managers to decide a candidate’s suitability for a role. AI-driven talent matching takes candidate data directly from any internal HR system or assessment, connects those data points against the success profile of the candidate’s potential/current role, and produces an automated fit score. With that role, suitability is now data-driven, objective, and can be done at scale because it is automated.

The other benefit to AI-driven talent matching is that it unearths strengths or gaps about a candidate that the human eye may not be able to tease out. This can be caused by many factors such as incomplete information on a candidate, assessment reports being misinterpreted, or a flawed interview process. By understanding the true strengths and weaknesses, the talent intelligence platform can then close the loop by building targeted development plans for the selected candidate.

Learn More: How AI in Talent Intelligence Platforms Help Succession Planning