Public Safety Insights Newsletter Aug 6, 2014: What Major League Baseball Can Teach First Responders about Succession Planning

What Major League Baseball Can Teach First Responders about Succession Planning
Public Safety Insight:	Major League Baseball’s farm club system offers important lessons for first responder agencies about what makes it an effective succession process.

Public safety agencies can improve the safety, health, and economic viability of the communities they serve when they implement an effective succession planning process. So why is it that few of them have done so?

My definition of succession planning is an on-going, long-term process to systematically develop talent so there is a readily available, qualified pool of candidates to fill critical positions throughout the agency as they become vacant.

Whatever the reason for its absence – e.g., perceived lack of time or resources, lack of knowledge about how to develop a plan, failure to implement a plan, mistaken belief that small agencies don’t need such a process – a solid succession process is not a high priority for many public safety leaders despite the real benefits that would accrue to their communities.

Major League Baseball’s (MLB) farm club system is, in effect, a succession process. Teams hire promising athletes, train them, provide opportunities for honing their skills, and if/when they are ready, move them up to the major leagues. Here are ten reasons this system works well for MLB:

1. There is a process – i.e., teams implement their staffing plans.
2. Teams search for good talent, candidates whose skills fit their immediate and future needs.
3. Teams train their players and give them lots of opportunities to practice their skills.
4. Players get specific, timely feedback about their performance.
5. If a team mistakenly calls a player up to the majors before he’s ready, causing the athlete to struggle or fail, he’s sent back quickly for more training and/or experience.
6. Players on the major league roster may be sent back down to the farm team for remediation.
7. Teams staff their positions with the best person for the job, even when it means a long-time player, or one who is solid but not quite as good, gets moved out or down.
8. Teams hold players and coaches accountable for meeting stated performance criteria.
9. Coaches make staffing decisions based on what’s best for the team, not for individual players.
10. Teams let players go when it becomes evident they cannot or will not meet the job requirements.

How many of the above elements exist in your agency? Where can you make improvements?

To learn more about important elements of succession planning, take a look at my article Succession Planning Myths and Realities.

---

To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.PublicSafetyInsights.net.

---

Public Safety Insights is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help first responders maximize their performance. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

©2014 Pat Lynch | Public Safety Insights