In competitive industries where innovation is everywhere and companies are competing to establish a foothold in the market, careful organizational and human capital planning is crucial. As a result, succession planning has become a hot trend in recent years.
In industries where IP is so important, a lot of knowledge is built up in the human capital aspect of a company. The life sciences, healthcare, pharma, biotech, and medical device sectors are areas where knowledge workers and IP are pivotal to the success of an organization. You cannot risk a gap in succession at key leadership position.
Regardless of sector, the succession planning process doesn’t vary very much, but the key ingredient is time. Companies will wait until a key professional or executive is leaving in 2-3 months and then decide to do a search for their replacement which is a major mistake.