MMHA 5500 Week 11 Succession Planning Memo Example

Memorandum

To: Clinical Director, Lakeside Surgery Center

From: Perioperative Nurse Manager

Date: Week 11

Re: Candidates to succeed the recovery charge nurse, and what each still needs

The Vacancy and the Requirements

The recovery charge nurse at the composite network's surgery center plans to retire at the end of the third quarter, about nine months from now. The center's charge nurse policy requires a registered nurse license; current adult and pediatric advanced life support certification; at least two years of phase I recovery experience; and demonstrated competence in the center's emergency protocols, including malignant hyperthermia. Perianesthesia standards emphasize that the nurse directing phase I recovery must be competent in airway management and advanced life support (American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses, 2022). This memo names three internal candidates, shows how each meets the requirements and places them by performance and potential.

License and Certification Screen

Table 1 screens the candidates against the requirements before any judgment of performance.

Table 1

Candidates Against the Charge Nurse Requirements

Reading the Screen

Candidate C meets every requirement. Candidate D is short only the pediatric advanced life support certification, which she can complete within about three months. Candidate E does not yet have two years of phase I experience and cannot hold the role by policy until about six months after the vacancy date. Candidate E may be a strong future candidate, but the screen means she cannot be the immediate successor, whatever her performance.

Performance and Potential

The nine-box grid places each candidate by current performance, from the last two annual reviews, and assessed potential for the charge role, from the clinical educator's and manager's observation. Succession planning texts describe the grid as a way to make these judgments explicit and comparable rather than relying on general impressions (Rothwell, 2010).

Candidate C: high performance, moderate potential. Her clinical work is consistently strong, and she is the nurse colleagues ask during difficult recoveries. But she has said she prefers patient care to coordination, and when she has covered as acting charge, she has struggled to delegate.

Candidate D: high performance, high potential. Her clinical reviews are strong, and in two acting charge shifts she organized the unit calmly during a late case and a transfer. She has asked about leadership development.

Candidate E: moderate performance, high potential. She is still building clinical depth, as expected at her experience level, but the educator has noted her composure and her questions about how the unit runs.

Development

Candidate D should complete pediatric advanced life support within three months and take at least six acting charge shifts before the vacancy, with the retiring charge nurse debriefing each. She should also attend the network's new leader course. Candidate C should be offered acting charge shifts and coaching in delegation, without pressure, and asked directly whether she wants the role. Candidate E should continue building phase I experience, take two acting charge shifts paired with the retiring charge nurse and be considered for the role at the next opening.

Recommendation

I recommend that Candidate D be named the preferred successor, conditional on completing her certification and the acting charge shifts, and that Candidate C be named the backup if Candidate D's certification is delayed or she decides against the role. Candidate E should be identified as a developing candidate for future charge roles. The decision should be shared with each candidate privately, in a conversation rather than a letter, with the reasons, so that Candidate C and Candidate E understand where they stand and what would change it.

Risks and Retention

Succession decisions carry a retention risk: a strong nurse passed over may leave. Turnover research finds that perceived opportunities and relationships with supervisors both affect whether people stay (Hom et al., 2017). Candidate C, in particular, should hear that her clinical leadership is valued and that the decision reflects her stated preference, not her performance. The center's thin bench, with only three internal candidates for a critical role, also suggests that the network should begin identifying and developing charge nurse candidates earlier, so that the next retirement does not require a nine-month race. A simple step would be to review the charge role's bench each year at the same time as annual reviews, noting for each critical role how many internal candidates meet the requirements and what development each needs. For roles with fewer than two ready candidates, the center could plan acting assignments and certification courses a year or more ahead, rather than in the months before a vacancy. Rothwell describes this kind of regular review of talent against critical positions as the core of a sustainable succession program (Rothwell, 2010).

References

American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses. (2022). 2023-2024 perianesthesia nursing standards, practice recommendations and interpretive statements. American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses.

Hom, P. W., Lee, T. W., Shaw, J. D., & Hausknecht, J. P. (2017). One hundred years of employee turnover theory and research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 530-545. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000103

Rothwell, W. J. (2010). Effective succession planning: Ensuring leadership continuity and building talent from within (4th ed.). AMACOM.