If succession planning is part of your job duties – and it should be – thank your lucky stars that you’re not in the utility sector.

Many utilities face what TowersWatson’s Ilene Gochman describes as a “triple whammy” succession planning challenge: rapidly graying leadership ranks; unique, industry-specific requirements for technical skills; and an imposing set of looming changes that will reshape the industry (carbon legislation, a nuclear power renaissance, surging demand for alternative energy, and more).

For this reason, the utility sector also serves as a rich source of succession planning approaches, practices, and thinking.

I’m researching these practices for an upcoming article (if you are in the utility industry, you may like to to read the piece here in a month or so).

Here are a few succession planning pitfalls I’ve uncovered that all executives (and, increasingly, managers), including finance executives, would do well to avoid:

• Putting Automation Before Process: It sounds like a no-brainer, yet the arrival of nifty succession-planning applications have given some succession-planning laggards an enticing crutch: “We haven’t made much progress with our succession program … if only we had someplace to store all this information …” The applications are powerful, yet they offer little value if the automation is not supporting a strong process.

• Too Much Assessment Detail: The science of leadership talent assessment has made major strides in the past decade. However, too much information does not necessarily increase the effectiveness of the process of identifying future leaders. “You don’t want to evaluate future leaders through a zillion competencies,” says Gochman. “You really have to keep it simple or it will die of its own weight.” For example, “learning agility,” which RHR International describes very nicely here, represents a valuable broad competency to use in the evaluation process.

• Neglecting Strategy: Effective succession planning starts with strategy: Where is the company going next year? In 5 years? In 10 and 20 years? Address those questions first, and then craft pivotal leadership roles that are required to help achieve the strategic objectives. ###