Involving human resources in talent acquisition and development can be a simple and effective first step toward succession planning, says John Salveson of Salveson Stetson Group, which helps companies search for talent inside or outside their ranks, in Succession Planning: Positioning for the Future.

Talent acquisition is integral to succession planning, with many distributors seeking highly qualified employees to fill job openings and groom them for top-level positions.

The HR department is well-suited to help with this task and can be a valuable tool for succession planning. HR professionals are "really good at developing executives and organizational plans," says Salveson who suggests that distributors transition the HR role "from the traditional transactional position to the much more strategic transformational role."

Human resources should be empowered to take on the task of recruiting and developing talent and should be "the CEO’s right-hand person on these issues," according to Salveson.

Read more about taking the first steps toward developing a succession plan in Succession Planning: Positioning for the Future.