The April Breakfast Club Discuss ‘Succession Planning’

We had a wonderful morning today at our Breakfast Club! This month’s theme was succession planning – the process of passing leadership roles on to employees in an organisation. We explored questions related to effective succession planning, including: 

• Why is it so important?   
• Who are the main stakeholders responsible?  
• What are some of the concerns? 

We had two guest speakers. Sharon O’Halloran is a Biodynamic Psychotherapist providing role consultancy and mentoring for those wishing to reinvent themselves in their work. Dermot Mc Laughlin is a consultant in the nonprofit sector in the areas of strategy, organisational planning and change. The panel discussion provided much insight and inspiration! Here are just a few of the points made: 

• Having appropriate time and space to engage in effective succession planning is crucial 
• Know that you are not looking for a ‘carbon copy’ of the old employee 
• Be willing to talk openly about the process with staff, to reduce their concerns 
• Know that stability and continuity are pivotal to the process 
• Boards should get into the habit of regularly discussing succession planning.  

Following the panel discussion, we had breakout room conversations with the attendees. Each of the groups had an interesting perspective. You can read the summary notes here.

Join us for the May Breakfast Club: Upskilling for Leaders 

Next month’s Breakfast Club is our first regional event and we are pleased to be bringing The Leadership Academy to the beautiful Limerick City Gallery of Art. Please note tickets are limited so book early.  

We are looking at the issue of upskilling leaders – providing ourselves and our team with the right training to help us excel. We know staff training is valuable, but there are important questions to ask. For example, how do we:  

• Encourage people to upskill and develop their leadership skills?  
• Prioritise which training courses to take?   
• Create a culture of upskilling in our organisations?   

We have two wonderful guest speakers who will share their experience of upskilling in their own careers. One is a provider of some of the most popular courses in Ireland. The other is a CEO of a nonprofit with an extensive background in learning and development in the nonprofit sector. We look forward to hearing their unique perspectives and taking some inspiration from their stories. 

Speaker Bios 

Aaron McKenna is CEO of the UCD Professional Academy, a unit of UCD delivering short courses for workforce upskilling. Aaron founded the academy in late 2019, and it has gone on to enrol more than 22,000 students and build relationships with over 1,000 organisations. Prior to working with UCD Aaron was the Managing Director of the Digital Marketing Institute. 

Una Deasy is the Chief Executive Officer of NOVAS, a voluntary organisation and approved housing body based in Limerick. Prior to Novas Una was part of the SVP’s Homeless Services Senior Management team supporting and developing residential and outreach services across the country. Una has a range of experience in private sector and nonprofit organisations in a variety of areas. 

We hope you join us for this exciting morning, share your own perspective on upskilling, and hopefully leave feeling energised and inspired! Learn more and register now.