1.6 Developing People Capability: Training, Coaching and Succession Planning

Explore how organisations can build people management capability through three connected development levers: structured training, coaching and mentoring, and succession planning. The lesson explains how training develops foundational, technical and strategic knowledge across areas such as workforce planning, employee relations and reward management. It then examines how coaching and mentoring provide personalised support, encourage reflective practice, strengthen decision-making and help transfer organisational knowledge. Finally, it introduces succession planning as a way to identify high-potential employees, create tailored development plans and prepare a pipeline of future leaders. Using the example of a newly promoted manager, the lesson shows how these approaches can work together in practice. It also outlines three implementation priorities: creating a culture of continuous learning, aligning development with business objectives, and using performance, engagement and retention data to review progress. Together, these approaches can support organisational agility, engagement and capability when they are applied thoughtfully and reviewed regularly. Read the related CMS Vocational Training guide: https://cmsvoc.co.uk/blog/empowering-... Chapters 00:00 Why people management capability matters 00:37 Training programmes and core people management knowledge 01:56 Coaching, mentoring and reflective practice 02:59 Succession planning and future leadership pipelines 04:00 Implementing and evaluating development initiatives 04:47 Bringing training, support and succession together