Succession Planning for the HRPP and IRB

1. Succession Planningfor the HRPP and IRB Kathy Ertell, MS, CIH

2. Why is Succession Planning Important? • What would happen to your HRPP if you: • Took an extended medical or personal leave • Died suddenly • Took another job • Won the lottery and quit work tomorrow • Accepted a buy-out retirement offer with a 60-day exit date • Decided to retire • Does your program have a plan? (most of us don’t) • Do you have a backup person? • Does anyone else even know what your job involves?

3. A Few Details on Succession Planning • Succession planning • Continuity for key positions • Identifying and preparing replacements • Temporary or emergency succession planning • What to do in the short-term • Leaves of absence, pending new hires, etc. • Long-term succession planning • Planning ahead for promotion or retirement • Transferring corporate knowledge • Primarily for senior executives, but encouraged for all levels of management and professional staff.

4. Succession Planning for the IRB Administrator • Do you have a detailed job description? • Can you: • recruit a suitable candidate from the outside? • identify people in your organization who would be a good fit? • train internally? • make time for a transition? • find a short-term substitute if needed? • There is no professional education program to pull from, so unless you find an experienced candidate, you will have to train someone.

5. Succession Planning for the IRB Chair • How long is the Chair’s term? • If you have a term limit of 2-3 years, you always need to have a candidate waiting in the wings. • How easy is it to recruit a Chair in your organization? • Are there financial or time pressures? • Can you have a formal succession program? • Chair-in-Training • Succession to Chair from Vice-Chair • Provision for emergency or interim Chair • What’s the learning curve? • A Chair new to your IRB may need more time. • Can the current Chair recommend a replacement?

6. Succession Planning for the IRB Member • Consider: • age of the membership • how likely are members to move • how long a term is reasonable • when to start recruiting • how many members you have already • the need to maintain a quorum • how easy it is to recruit in your organization or community • It may be easier to replace certain skill sets than others.

7. General Steps for Succession Planning • Define the skills and attributes needed for each position. • Identify the talent pool and any possible successors. • If you can easily recruit experienced people from outside the company, you may not need a long-term succession plan, but you may still need a short-term plan. • You might know just the right person already, especially if you have the luxury of training in-house. • Train people to develop the needed knowledge, skills, abilities. • Mentor the preferred candidates – job shadowing, shared assignments, part-time work. • Promote or hire when the time comes.

8. Tips for Succession Planning – Task Issues • Have a procedure or desk manual. • Define the tasks needed to keep the program running. • Keep good records and files. • Organize your electronic documents. • Share your network • Who to call for consultation on various issues: finance, contracts, legal, medical, research, corporate, human resources, etc. • The unwritten rules • Who else knows them, and can tell your successor? • Talk to your Human Resources Department • Do they have succession planning guidelines or other programs to help you?

9. Tips for Succession Planning – People Issues • For the short-term: • Do you have secretarial support who can help keep things running in your absence? • Can you train a back-up administrator now? • Can your IRB members help in the short-term? • Can your Human Resources Department arrange short-term assignments or appointments? • Finding long-term replacements: • Look in your community – what other institutions have research, IRBs ? • Spread the word in your network. • Advertise in the right places.

10. Succession Planning at PNNL • Vice-Chair fills in for Chair when needed, but does not currently ascend to Chair on a permanent basis. • Chair-in-Training appointed when Chair’s tenure ~1 year. • IRB Administrative Team: Chair, Vice-Chair, Chair-in-Training, and Administrator...spreading knowledge. • Secretary knows tasks to keep the HRPP running. • Try to predict IRB members/staff who will likely be leaving, and identify candidates in advance. • Keep a running list of people who have expressed interest in serving on IRB or learning about HRPP. • Conduct cross-training on administrative tasks. • Future plans…..