Succession Planning: Can AI Help?

AI can do everything, right? Maybe, but it isn’t mowing my lawn yet, so perhaps not everything. 

Succession planning is likely a topic that people resist discussing in the office/agency, yet it can be very healthy with respect to maintaining a positive working culture. Realistically, agencies must acknowledge that people at all levels of the agency will move on at some point. Given that, an agency may want to understand the following (among other points):

1. How to retain their top talent.
2. How to ensure their institutional knowledge is retained. 

Can AI help on both fronts? Seems like quite a bit to ask. Addressing the first item above, current research indicates AI is already being used in the following aspects:

• Candidate Readiness Assessment: For new employees, use of predictive analysis forecasting likelihood of success.
• Key Personnel Risk Modeling: For existing personnel, use of predictive analysis based on factors such as employee performance, engagement with others, compensation, etc.
• Identification of Promising Employees: For existing personnel, use of predictive analysis based on project outcomes, promotion history, skills gap, etc.

Now, be mindful that the AI software should only be one of the tools used in those scenarios. Human knowledge should be your guide, but these tools can be helpful, especially as they mature. 

As for the second point listed above, employees may resist providing all their institutional knowledge, especially if they have any job security concerns. Yet, that collective knowledge reflects their insights and experiences, and is very valuable. Again, can AI help capture some of that collective knowledge?  Perhaps. Research indicates several approaches that one should consider:

• Knowledge Management Systems: These offer the potential of creating a centralized hub of information pulled from various sources including email.
• Intelligent Search and Retrieval: Natural language processing is available for employees to utilize as they search through large current and historical datasets, file systems, etc.
• Chatbots and Virtual Assistants: Once trained on historical organizational data (documents), these can be extremely helpful especially if there is access to knowledge from seasoned professionals.
• Dynamic Documentation: These are designed to auto-generate meeting summaries, keeping documentation current, etc.

For any of the suggestions mentioned above about succession planning in your organization, it is suggested to start small, refine, then expand as needed. Depending on your agency, it may be more beneficial to concentrate on the key leaders in the organization. These will vary and can easily extend beyond the traditional senior leadership team. 

Remember the overall goal is to ensure continuity of business services. This is especially important in a government agency as many citizens depend on those services. Two “bonus” outcomes of succession planning potentially realized are talent retention and leadership development.

From current research, the use of AI for succession planning focuses on keeping employees engaged as they gain a clearer understanding of career advancement opportunities, and how their contributions contribute to the organizational goals. Your HR department may want to investigate how AI can help.

Dan Kempton is the Sr. IT Advisor at North Carolina Department of Information Technology. An accomplished IT executive with over 35 years of experience, Dan has worked nearly equally in the private sector, including startups and mid-to-large scale companies, and the public sector. His Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science fuel his curiosity about adopting and incorporating technology to reach business goals. His experience spans various technical areas including system architecture and applications. He has served on multiple technology advisory boards, ANSI committees, and he is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Industrial & Systems Engineering school at NC State University. He reports directly to the CIO for North Carolina, providing technical insight and guidance on how emerging technologies could address the state’s challenges.

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