ADD TO TRANSITIONING PLANNING: ALUMNI NETWORKS

Long before the day comes to retire from your current organization, the transitioning planning should begin - ideally 5 to 10 years in advance. An important ingredient, whether one is planning to "retire" in the traditional sense or go on to another career, job or personal pursuit, is joining and increasingly active involvement in alumni networks

These networks may be comprised of alumni from an employer organization or from an educational institution. Many business now have alumni groups for personnel of all ages who have left for various reasons: other opportunities, to join a client, career change, relocation move, retirement, etc. These alumni groups may have periodic meetings or social events, a directory , an online social network and other means to facilitate connections and stay in touch with each other and the organization. Some companies employ (sometimes for a stipend) their alumni for mentoring, training and coaching for young employees. There may be opportunities for consulting or part-time assignments.

College and graduate school alumni networks also are valuable for maintaining connections, not only to give back to an alma mater, but also for business connections. They can also facilitate business connections with younger alums who may be starting businesses and need the maturity, judgment and expertise of seasoned professionals and executives. Or they may be willing to reverse mentor and keep older workers current with new technologies and practices.

Remember - The best way to get value when you need it from networks is to build relationships before you need them. So plan ahead for later transitions through earlier involvement and relationship-building.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot     www.pdcounsel.com

Comments

[Anne Holmes]

Interesting recommendations and observations, Phyllis,

I really like the concept of developing a network of people of all ages who have left the organization for whatever reason.

Certainly it is best to start succession and retirement planning at least 10 years out, but who could have predicted the economic events of the past year. Certainly they have made huge changes in the retirement landscape for many – both those whose plans changed because their nest eggs are suddenly gone – and those who like the proverbial grasshopper, just totally failed to plan.

I’d like to suggest that a great way to inexpensively develop a network today can be the social networks, such as FaceBook., MySpace and even LinkedIn.

You can easily create a special interest group with these social networks, and use email to develop a viral program to reach out to those who current addresses are not in your files. I’ve seen this work very effectively.

Anne Holmes