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Many organizations--including parks and recreation agencies--will soon face a major shift in staffing due to the “Baby Boomer effect” and the “Generation X and Generation Y effect.” The baby boomers have retirement in their sights, and will be leaving organizations in record numbers. While it has been common for boomers and older-generation employees to stay in agencies long-term, the Generation X and Generation Y effect will make this a thing of the past. These employees are looking to build skills and move on to better jobs rather than work their way up through the same system. These changes will have a major impact on immediate and long-term operations of agencies. The plan for the future for many organizations, not just parks and recreation, is succession planning.
Succession planning is a systematic process to identify and prepare high-performing employees to assume key positions within the organization. It is designed to ensure continued effective performance by building competencies needed to be successful.
Currently, succession planning is under-utilized by parks and recreation agencies, because many people rightfully assume it is time-consuming. Other reasons for not doing a succession plan include:
