| | DECEMBER 2023MANAGEHRMAGAZINE.COM9in terms of performance, understanding opportunities may not necessarily fall in the hands of the most qualified people for the task, but in those with a clear potential to continue growing. It also means these alternatives would require strong collaboration across the enterprise, which is usually hard in companies with strong departmental cultures and silos. Lastly, mapping diverse opportunities with people's desires and expectations also demands data, business intelligence and good technology applications in order to be sustainable. Companies with precarious data strategies will struggle to go beyond a "box ticking" exercise.So, how could this be done successfully, and where should it evolve? The companies that manage succession planning and career development successfully invest into data management and talent management technology, while they also have strong commitment and follow up though decision making and budgeting. The only way this could work if by having consistency and continuity, making sure career opportunities decisions such promotions or recognition correlate with those assessments and plans, and are not cut short by any short-term financial struggle. This means, companies with a clear talent strategy tied to a mission and a vision.The future: Succession planning and individual development plans could easily profit from the AI evolution we are experiencing at the moment. Although the technology is still rough, there are clear gains companies could achieve if they manage some basics:1) Collect and Organize the Right Data: AI could eliminate the hard task of combining the data from multiple internal and external sources to produce development alternatives for people, where anyone in the organization could ask a virtual assistant (bot) to model potential development plans that consider their preferences, all learning content and opportunities available inside and outside, all job details in the entire company, all open vacancies advertised internally, and more. Logically, it will not be perfect at the beginning, mistakes will happen but that is where the current power of this technology lies: learning from experience.2) Experts in Learning & Development could assist AI in evolving, sophisticating their outputs by incorporating career success data, promotions, exits, exit interviews, and feedback from participants.3) Embracing AI as an enterprise tool that will change the way people work whether we like it or not. Everyone should understand its purpose and capabilities, as well as the best ways to prompt it and improve it. This is not a technology that learns from the IT department and programmers alone, it needs massive learning that can only be achieved by massive use from users.Of course, all this will be in vain if companies are still worried about ticking boxes. Success will still rely on solid talent strategies sponsored by true leaders, who believe in the long-term edge talent differentiation gives when compared to short-term P&L results. Companies with precarious data strategies will struggle to go beyond a `box ticking' exercise
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