Identifying employees with potential — and helping them to build their skills  — puts healthcare facilities in a better position when current leaders retire, according to an article on the Health Facilities Management website.

Some keys to succession planning are:

• Looking at future health care trends

• Developing a formal succession planning program

• Attract, recruit and mentor the next generation

• Developing upward mobility for the best of the best

While some hospitals are making succession planning a priority, others face challenges.

A 2012 survey by Health Facilities Management and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) found that 40 percent of facility managers were older than 55 — an increase from 35 percent in the 2009 survey.

While at an architectural firm, there may be several potential executives who can slide into open positions, the article said. A hospital's facilities management department may not have a path for executives to advance, and there may only be one facility manager.

Read the article.