By Succession Management Program Unit staff
CDCR Office of Training and Professional Development
CDCR has been working on a number of initiatives to meet the strategic objective of workforce excellence. One of the areas of focus is maintaining leadership knowledge and continuity, which led to the creation of the Succession Management Program (SMP).
Succession management focuses on being able to maintain continuous levels of operations and service during leadership changes by building a ready and sustainable pipeline of talent and developing talent benches for key positions. CDCR is taking its succession efforts seriously to ensure an appropriate amount of time, training and resources are available to ease executive transitions and preserve knowledge transfer with minimal disruptions.
To officially roll out the first phase in what will eventually be a department-wide program, SMP analysts and management staff have been traveling to institutions all over the state giving presentations to the Division of Adult Institutions custody staff about the program. During these informational sessions, more than 300 attendees have had the opportunity to ask questions, provide feedback, and obtain materials that further define and explain the process from start to finish.
The presentations have also given SMP the opportunity to explain the 70/20/10 development model that has been adopted for use in the program. CDCR’s succession program acknowledges that adult learners benefit from a program of development comprising 70 percent of experiences consisting of on-the-job learning, 20 percent coaching, mentoring, job shadowing and job rotation, and 10 percent classroom/formal training. The SMP’s identified knowledge transfer strategies align with this model.
The site visits have also afforded the SMP an opportunity to recruit mentors, and explain the need for executives to share the critical knowledge they have gained to build a strong executive pool for future needs.
Future open enrollment information for the SMP will be sent out to targeted classifications via email.