To implement an effective succession plan for replacing employees who age out of the workplace, companies must identify and prepare suitable employees for future leadership and other roles through mentoring, training, and job rotation.  Succession planning requires that companies develop a process for recruiting and retaining employees while developing their skills and abilities and preparing them for advancement.Successful succession planning prepares employees for new leadership positions so that an employee who has been trained effectively can immediately take the place of an employee who leaves.  Workplace diversity can also be increased through succession planning when HR and department decision makers plan for the future composition of the company as a whole.The US Office of Personnel Management has developed a five-step succession planning model which can be used to help companies understand the components of effective succession planning.  These components include setting strategic direction, conducting workforce analyses to identify skill gaps, developing and implementing an action plan, and monitoring and evaluating progress to determine revisions to the succession plan.