succession planning process presentation

Succession planning

Learn what succession planning is. Discover how to create or improve your succession planning process with the best practices and downloadable template.

Ivan Andreev

Demand Generation & Capture Strategist, Valamis

February 23, 2022 · updated July 31, 2024

16 minute read

This article is going to explain what succession planning is and how it can be applied to your business.

After reading this guide, you will have a strong idea of creating or improving your succession planning process and the best practices involved.

What is succession planning?

Business succession planning, benefits of succession planning, succession planning process, succession planning best practices, faq about succession planning, succession planning template.

Succession planning is the process whereby you identify new leaders and develop them to take over the role of the incumbent.

For businesses to thrive, it needs to avoid moments of crisis and lack of leadership.

At some point, succession planning will help with such a situation by preparing a candidate for a planned or emergency replacement. This could be because of retirement, a new opportunity, or in the event of death.

Succession planning is your safety net to ensure that business operations can remain smooth. A robust process will help you identify key individuals who could fill leadership positions.

In the best-case scenario, you will be given advance notice when someone is going to leave. A succession plan prepares you for the worst-case scenario and no notice.

At the same time, an effective succession planning strategy will avoid any questions of succession where leadership positions are concerned.

In the monarchy, this is often resolved through the order of succession. A well-understood model that passes the office to the nearest descendant. This model is also common with family-run businesses that intend to leave the business to their children or next of kin.

It can help you navigate crises and leadership transitions with ease.

In business, succession planning plays a vital role in identifying candidates to take on more challenging roles. When an important postholder departs they leave behind a void that can disrupt the company.

No matter the size of your business, a succession plan is a key to having a smooth transition.

Large companies such as Pepsi , Microsoft , and General Electric have well-known succession plans for executive talent.

For large corporations, it will typically fall to the CEO and the board of directors to oversee the succession plans. They will evaluate employees to identify leadership qualities and provide training for those in consideration.

Often the succession plan will look internally for candidates to take over positions. However, some companies may look to external candidates and may even employ the use of headhunters.

Smaller-scale companies may not need a comprehensive succession plan compared to large businesses. However, there will still be a need to identify someone to take over in the event of an emergency.

Therefore it is wise to train potential successors so they are prepared to step up if the need arises.

Types of succession plans

There are two types of succession plans that should be considered. This will give your business something to fall back on in the case of an emergency.

1. Long-term succession plan

The first type of succession plan you should consider is your long-term succession plan. This is the plan that you will more or less stick to as a standard for key positions.

A succession plan of this nature can be reevaluated and changed as the company grows. For large companies, this would be the plan that outlines the details of succession for all key positions.

2. Emergency succession plan

A secondary emergency succession plan can also be created, where appropriate, to be deployed in the event of an emergency.

This type of plan may involve more temporary measures but is intended to keep operations running smoothly.

This could see other senior members of staff take on extra responsibilities while a replacement is sought.

Many small and medium businesses do not have a succession plan. Of those that do, some of them have only informal plans.

This can be a risk for your business as there could be unforeseen incidents that could occur such as death. It is worth creating a formal, written succession plan that is developed and easily accessible.

Here are some of the benefits for businesses of any size to create a succession plan:

1. Candidates ready to start

When an upcoming promotion, retirement, or departure is approaching you will have the next generation of leaders ready to go.

Thanks to your succession plan the replacement will already have the skills required to take over the role.

2. Encourages managers to develop junior employees

Your succession plan can help your managers to start developing lower-level employees.

The plan helps to define clear progression routes through the company so managers can share appropriate training and information with junior staff.

Managers will also be able to start training their replacement when promotions are approaching.

3. It leads to higher job satisfaction

Employees report higher job satisfaction when there is a succession plan at their company. This is because it helps to define routes to progressions and lowers job insecurity.

A succession plan can help employees understand what they need to do to achieve a promotion. It can help with goal-setting and giving employees a sense of direction at work.

4. Helps to track progress

Succession planning can help your managers to track employee progress through performance reviews.

Internal opportunities can also be quickly filled with knowledgeable employees who have been upskilled and crossed trained.

5. Keeps shareholders confident

Whenever a high-ranking postholder leaves the organization it can leave shareholders feeling uneasy.

In some cases, they may look to sell their shares. A good succession plan can help keep investors on board.

For positions like CEO or CFO, the board may have had some input into the choice of successor. This will give the shareholders confidence in the company and the new postholder.

6. Cultivate and maintain company loyalty

Having a strong culture of promoting from within can lead to increased company loyalty.

You can attract talented employees who will stay with you for a long time. This helps them to have a strong understanding of the businesses, morals, and expectations.

Employees are more likely to stick around for the long term if there are defined advancement opportunities.

Instead of an informal plan, it’s a good idea to make a comprehensive document that outlines how succession should work.

Small and family businesses may only need a limited plan that outlines succession for a single person.

Larger corporations may need a comprehensive document that starts with the hiring process and works its way through the ranks and details different leadership positions.

The fundamentals of your succession plan will remain the same which is what we’re going to look at now.

It’s also worth pointing out that this document can be revised and amended whenever it is necessary.

1. Determine the scope

You will need to figure out how comprehensive you want your succession planning to be.

A small business might only need to find a replacement for ownership. Medium and large businesses may only want to consider the succession plan for their C-suite of employees.

It may also be the case you want a succession plan that covers every eventuality from store manager to distribution to CEO.

Ask yourself the following questions to decide what is best for your business:

• Do you only need a plan that covers senior management?
• Do you want a succession plan that covers the entire organization?
• Are there any vulnerabilities in your business? Such as having a division with a higher amount of employees nearing retirement. Are you prepared for that?
• Should performance reviews be used to help identify potential candidates?
• Should the talent acquisition process be a part of your succession plan?

It’s important to understand what your specific needs are as well as the needs of the business.

The size and type of your business can help to inform some of your decisions but ultimately every business will be different.

2. Identify key positions and skills

First, you have to identify the key roles in your organization that will be good to secure.

It could be the CEO, CFO, CCO, CHRO, and different heads of departments.

Second, you might have some specific specialists that are unique to the industry or your business, e.g. it might be some highly skilled engineer, programmer, scientist, etc.

Consider the following questions to identify key positions and the skills needed for that post:

• How does this position impact the company?
• If this position became vacant, how would that affect the company?
• Are there some big risks if this position became vacant?
• What skills (both hard and soft) are needed for this specific role?

The objective is to figure out how crucial the position is. If the company would be severely affected by a vacated position then this is one that should be considered within your succession plan.

You will also need to understand what specific attributes are needed for the role. That way you can build your training and development around nurturing those key skills.

3. Identify potential candidates

Perhaps the most crucial stage is finding the employees that might be suited to a tougher challenge .

You could ask the current postholder for help determining who could step up in their absence.

It’s also worth considering that the right person for the job isn’t necessarily the next in line. Candidates could be sidestepped in the role or there could be other promising candidates in the business.

You may wish to make hiring a part of the plan and therefore can use interviews to vet potential recruits for career prospects.

Try to answer the next questions:

• Who are the strongest candidates to step into this role?
• What skills do they possess that could benefit their new office?
• What skills are the candidates lacking?
• Does this person have the appetite for more responsibility?
• What training will they need to succeed?

It’s important to identify people who want more responsibility. Your top choice maybe someone who is happy in their current role and not looking to change.

This is something that can be gauged during annual reviews or in meetings about their professional goals.

4. Speak to the candidates

It would be wise to speak with the people you are considering.

This will give you a clear answer if they would be interested in the role.

Don’t make any promises but explain that they are being considered for leadership.

Explain that nothing is guaranteed as there are plenty of moving factors to consider. This includes the current postholder, the company, and the candidates.

However, you can gauge their interest and it may help to encourage high-performing individuals to remain loyal to the company.

5. Work on professional development

Leadership development is worth investing in particularly for employees you have identified for succession into key roles.

There are a variety of ways to develop potential successors and help them to develop leadership skills.

You can create a leadership development plan to ensure candidates have the right skills and are a good fit for leading positions. Employees being groomed for leadership roles can be developed in several ways .

You need to test your employees to make sure they can meet the demands of the increased responsibilities.

Some of the ways this can be achieved are through:

Connect the candidates with business leaders in your company. They can help to develop the skills of succession candidates and even share knowledge that might not be immediately obvious.

You can send prospects on courses to help develop their skills. These could be in-house courses or ones run through independent third parties.

Task forces

Task forces and project management is a great way to test your candidates. This will give them the opportunity to lead a team and test how well they cope under pressure.

When you think about development consider the following questions:

• What is the best way to upskill?
• What resources are required and available?
• Are there some additional skills needed?

The focus should be on improving a candidate’s interpersonal abilities and communication skills that are important in a leading position.

You will also want to give them the opportunity to learn and develop the necessary skills required to do the specific job.

6. Trial and error

There should be ample opportunity to give your succession plan a trial run with the candidates you are considering. For example, if the postholder is away on holiday or off sick for an extended period you can use this as an opportunity to try someone in the role.

The benefit here is twofold, the candidate will get a feel for the position and appreciate the opportunity. While you can assess whether they are the right candidate for the position.

Note: Such tests can affect the team so pay close attention to this . This is especially true for external candidates and people from different teams. Not everybody will like it, unless the candidate is a strong leader from the inside of the team.

This is what you need to consider:

• How does the employee interact with others?
• Have they kept the department running smoothly?
• How do they handle issues that arise?
• How do they react to stressful situations and conflicts?
• How much help do they need in the role?

You want to see them step up and take control of the position. This will help identify if there is any specific training they need to take the role full-time.

You can gauge whether someone is wrong for the position. This may come down to their interpersonal skills or ability to deal with new challenges.

7. Refine and redefine

Your succession plan is something that can be developed over time.

It may be that what was working years ago isn’t quite the same now.

You may need to adjust the succession plan to adapt to a changing business landscape. As the business grows you may need to redefine what is included in your succession plan.

It would be prudent to start with the most important roles in the business. After all, you can’t totally predict when a key position will become vacant.

Once you have those key positions locked down you can start to expand the scope of your succession plan.

1. Start from key roles

You should start with the most important roles first.

Which of the positions will have the greatest effect on your business if the postholder doesn’t turn up tomorrow?

Roles at an executive level are going to be the most disruptive ones. From there work out the specific skills and knowledge required for the role. This will help you to create your plan and identify potential successors.

Once the most pressing roles are covered you can look at what other roles are important to include.

2. Talk to your employees

Your succession plan will affect people and may make some people feel nervous.

It’s important to explain the scope of the succession plan and why certain roles are included in it.

You may only look to include executive positions or your plan may include managers and supervisory staff as well.

By giving a clearly defined scope you can avoid members of staff second-guessing their position.

3. Collaboration between management and HR

This is a process that should be driven by the business leaders with support from HR where necessary.

It is not strictly an HR process and therefore senior leadership should be communicated with regarding the succession plan.

Gain insights, input, and information from across the senior positions to help the succession plan run smoothly. Interviewing the post holders about the wants and needs of their job can provide crucial information.

4. Forecast your business needs

You should have an emergency succession plan in place that can deal with the untimely vacancy of a position.

Alongside this, you can create a detailed forecast and a longer-term plan. This is necessary to address things like upcoming retirement and promotions.

You will also need to consider how quickly the business can mobilize to fill this position.

A strong succession plan will understand how it will impact the business in 6 months, 1 year, and 5 years.

5. Create a pipeline of talent

Create a pipeline of talent so you have individuals ready to take up new challenges as they arrive.

A pipeline of this kind is essential for finding a talented successor but it’s also a good idea to help fill newly created positions. New recruits can be included in your pipeline of talent.

You can learn about this in our talent acquisition guide.

Even if you don’t have any open positions currently, you can still start cultivating a pool of talented individuals.

6. Annual talent reviews

Your succession plan is something that should be continually developed.

This includes reviewing the candidates on an annual basis or more. People may have moved on or into new positions within your company. Promising candidates may no longer be performing at the standard you would like.

Take a look at your succession plan every year and adapt and change things where it is necessary.

7. Build the learning culture inside your organization

It will help you nurture and grow potential candidates as well as new talents.

When you have identified the individuals that are being considered for senior positions you will need to develop their skills.

You can work with the candidates and they can lead their own individual development plan.

This ensures that their progress is actively monitored and they can take ownership of the process.

Managers should be on hand to provide guidance, resources, and provide timely reviews.

Why is succession planning important?

Succession plans make your business disaster-proof. They provide a concrete plan for filling key roles and help to avoid times of uncertainty. It can be reassuring for investors to know that there is a carefully considered plan in place.

How to do succession planning?

Succession planning should be conducted by business leaders with support from the HR teams. All affected individuals need to be involved in the process. Start with the end goal to identify what you need to achieve. Each business will have different needs so consider which positions will have the biggest effect on operations.

What is business succession planning?

Business succession planning is the process whereby you identify candidates to be groomed for senior positions. Specifically, when the incumbent leaves the role, this could be for a promotion, retirement, or an untimely death. Your business succession plan is in place to facilitate a transfer of power and keep your business sailing smoothly.

What is the correct order of the succession planning process?

• Identify which positions need to be included
• What specific skills are required for those roles?
• Identify people who could be a good fit
• Start grooming them for succession
• Review your succession plan and candidates annually

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A manager’s ultimate guide to effective succession planning

You recently promoted one of your best employees. You’re thrilled that you were able to recognize and reward their hard work with a well-deserved step up the ladder.

But you’ll be honest: There’s a tiny sliver of you that’s left thinking, “Ugh, now I’ve got a real mess to sort out.” 

After all, they were one of your best employees for a reason—they contributed a lot. Now you’re left to figure out how to cover their responsibilities, fill that gaping hole in your team, and ensure a smooth transition of their tasks without the whole row of dominoes toppling over.

It’s a struggle, there’s no doubt about it. But, succession planning can make it at least a little bit easier. 

What Exactly Is Succession Planning?

It’s a fancy and somewhat academic-sounding term, but here’s the gist: Succession planning is the process of identifying the key roles on your team and figuring out how you’ll fill them when they’re left vacant (whether that’s because of turnover, promotions, restructuring, or something else).

Think of it as future-proofing your team. Rather than staring slack-jawed at your org chart when one of your team’s managers moves to a director position, you’ll have at least a loose plan in place for how to move forward. 

It’s important to note that succession planning isn’t only about identifying replacements—it also involves adequately preparing people to assume those roles or fulfill those responsibilities when the time comes, so nobody is left in a panic-inducing bind. 

4 Tips For Succession Planning (Without Last-Minute Panic)

You barely know what’s going to happen tomorrow or next week, let alone in the next couple of years. That can make succession planning feel like you’re throwing a dart at a board with a blindfold on. 

It’s true that there’s no way for you to know with certainty what the future holds. However, that’s all part of this planning process—identifying the options that are available to you, so that you’re prepared to roll with what comes your way. Here’s a simple step-by-step for how you can approach this (without a crystal ball). 

1. Understand What The Future Could Look Like

Wait…we just said you weren’t a future-teller. That’s true. There will be unexpected vacancies on your team, whether that’s unanticipated medical leave or people moving into different roles with different companies.

But, there are aspects of the future that you can plan for—and career development is arguably the biggest one. What roles are currently on your team? What do you anticipate your team looking like a few years in the future? How do you think people will move through those roles?

Grab your current org chart if you have one or sketch it out on a sheet of paper if you need to. Then, map out how you think that will grow and evolve down the line—using your company’s overarching goals and conversations you’ve had with leadership as a guide.

It might seem like an oversimplified first step, but this visual is undeniably helpful for understanding how the individual pieces of your team fit together and feed each other. That’s something you’ll need a good grasp on as you move through the rest of the planning process. 

2. Dive Into The Details Of Each Position

It’s hard to identify successors if you don’t have a solid handle on the ins and outs of each position on your team. While you might think you already understand what employees are up to each day, you’ll probably be surprised by how many tasks and responsibilities are flying under the radar.

For that reason, make sure that you’re using a portion of your one-on-one conversations with employees to touch base on what’s on their plate. That will give you a realistic understanding of what they’re actually tasked with—beyond what was listed in the initial job description. 

You could even formalize this process a bit by making this a collaborative exercise with your team members. Provide them with a brief questionnaire or document that asks them to share: 

• Major tasks they’re responsible for
• Skills they think are most essential in their role
• Roles and teams they frequently collaborate with
• Tools and software they frequently use

Make it clear that this isn’t focused on replacing them right now (there’s no need to cause panic about job security), but that these reference guides will be a huge help as your team grows, you plan advancement paths, and you figure out how to keep things running smoothly.

3. Identify Your Options

When you’re left with an open position and uncovered responsibilities, there are a number of different ways you could fill that role gap. You could:

• Hire a new employee
• Move an internal employee
• Divide responsibilities among team members
• Outsource work to external vendors
• Eliminate the position 

See? You aren’t at a total loss here—you have options. And, the previous step equipped you with the details of each role that you’d need to fill or cover, so you have a mold to figure out which routes are most feasible and the least disruptive. 

4. Make Your Tentative Plan

You’ve determined where your team is headed, who currently does what, and what choices you have to fill role gaps. Now, all that’s left to do is figure out what your ideal plan looks like.

Let’s sketch this out with an example. You and your company leadership have already discussed the potential of adding the Head of Content role to your marketing team within the next year or so. Your current Content Marketing Manager has expressed interest in that promotion—and you know they’d be a great fit. 

But, that upward movement leaves a key management role on your team (the Content Manager position) empty. What does that mean for the future and that opening? You might decide that you’ll:

• Promote your existing Content Marketing Manager to Head of Content
• Promote your existing SEO Specialist to Content Marketing Manager
• Hire a new employee to fill the vacant SEO Specialist role, but outsource that work to an SEO agency until you find a suitable replacement

Keep in mind that this plan might not be bulletproof when the time comes—things change. However, having this rough plan in place at least gives you a starting point when you need to address role gaps.

3 More Tips For Smooth Successions

Hopefully you’re realizing that succession planning doesn’t need to be quite as daunting and complex as you originally thought. It’s a bit of a puzzle, but it’s nothing that you can’t figure out with a little time and scribbling.

Curious for how you can ensure even smoother transitions? Here are a few more best practices to have in your back pocket. 

1. Plan For Key Roles First

To make succession planning even more manageable—especially if you’re doing it for the very first time—avoid pressuring yourself into having firm next steps for every single role on your team.

Instead, start with roles that have oversight, such as leads, managers, and directors. Traditionally, succession planning is about identifying and developing replacements for leadership roles specifically.

Even if you do want to eventually have an idea of how you’d cover any position on your team, focusing on leaders is the best place to get the process started—especially since vacancies in those positions can cause the biggest disruptions on your team.

2. Have Career Development Conversations Early And Often

Sure, your ideal plan might be to eventually move your existing Content Marketing Manager into the Head of Content role. But, if they aren’t actually interested in taking that step up, that plan doesn’t do you any good.

That’s one of the many reasons it’s important to have regular and honest career development conversations with all of your employees—even with team members that don’t yet have a clear next step or path to advancement.

In your one-on-one meetings , make sure you’re asking questions like:

• What career goals are top of mind for you right now?
• What’s your ideal next step in your career?
• Do you have access to the learning and development resources you need?
• What skills are you hoping to build upon in the next year?
• What do you value most in your career?
• Are there other areas of the company you’d be interested in exploring?

These prompts and candid conversations make employees feel heard, valued, and supported. They also give you useful information you can use to not only iron out succession plans, but ensure you have the right talent to stick with those plans. When 45% of managers say they lack confidence to help employees develop the skills they need, this direct insight is beneficial. 

3. Shine The Spotlight On Documentation

Regardless of what role gap you need to plug on your team, making documentation a staple of your culture and processes will make everybody’s life so much easier.

81% of employees say that knowledge gained from hands-on experience is the hardest to replace when it’s lost. Plus, the same research found that inefficient knowledge sharing costs large businesses $47 million per year. 

Documenting common processes does away with siloed information and creates a resource that people can turn to when responsibilities need to be either temporarily covered or permanently reallocated. 

Similarly, using a collaborative work management platform (like Trello !) gives everybody the visibility and transparency they need to step in on projects and tasks—without a ton of digging and confusion.

Ride The Waves And Fill the Gaps

Effective succession planning gives you a roadmap that you can follow as your team grows and people move into different positions (whether that’s with your company or elsewhere). Going through the process allows you to feel far more prepared to address role gaps without a frantic scramble.

However, even if you plan everything as carefully as possible, that doesn’t mean it’ll always be smooth sailing. 

Somebody who’s a crucial part of the plan might unexpectedly exit your company. Or your department might go through a reorganization. There will still be times when things slip through the cracks or you need to identify some less-than-perfect solutions just to make it through. 

For that very reason, succession planning isn’t a one-and-done activity. You need to ride the waves and make adjustments as things change. Remember, as counterintuitive as it seems, the best plans are flexible plans. 

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Company Succession Planning: A Complete Guide with Templates

Written by: Unenabasi Ekeruke

Employees exit companies for various reasons—they retire, resign and move to another company, or face a series of unexpected events.

Without a succession plan in place, your company will struggle. These unexpected shifts can catch you off guard and hamper business operations.

Effective succession planning helps you groom top talents to fill vacated roles, preserve institutional knowledge and future-proof your company’s workforce.

In a study by Deloitte , 86% of leaders agree that succession planning is an urgent and top priority, but only 14% get it right. So we’ve created this article to equip your company for the future.

This article will run through how to plan and execute your company’s succession planning with ease. We’ve included ready-made templates to make the process a breeze.

Let’s get started.

Here’s a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit succession planning templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:

Table of Contents

What is succession planning, why is succession planning important, three phases of succession planning, 11 succession plan templates you can use, 10 best practices for success planning & execution, succession planning faqs.

• Succession planning is a solid framework that enables your HR team to retain top talents in the pipeline and ensure there are no gaps in leadership when people exit the company.
• Grooming successors protect your business from uncertainty, provide stability and accelerate business growth.
• Three phases of succession planning: assessment, evaluation and development phases. The assessment phase involves setting goals and identifying critical positions and skills for business continuity.
• During the evaluation phase, single out employees with high potential and assess their current skill level and what they need to succeed in future roles. Then, in the development phase, establish a blueprint for training and knowledge transfer from experienced employees to chosen successors.
• Streamline your company’s succession plan with these tips: set SMART goals, get stakeholders to buy in and establish a solid recruitment process.
• Be transparent about the entire process, step up employee training and professional effort, continuously review and iterate and improve your succession planning process.
• Create your succession plan with these steps: Browse through Visme’s collection of pre-designed templates or create your own from scratch. Customize fonts, text, colors and other elements to fit your needs, download in multiple formats and share with stakeholders.

Succession planning is a strategy for passing on leadership or finding replacements for high-ranking organizational roles.

It is a common practice in human resource management that involves:

• Pinpointing the pivotal positions and potential vacancies within your organization
• Specifying core competencies and skills vital for business growth and continuity
• Identifying and grooming future leaders to take over these positions when they become available

A succession planning strategy aims to ensure your company’s future is in good hands. Being a streamlined process, it strengthens the company and guarantees business continuity in the long term.

Here’s an excellent example of a succession plan template.

The common myth is that succession is a business process reserved for big organizations with structured HR or employee development departments. Well, it’s time to dispel that myth.

Let’s show you why company succession planning is a staple for your businesses of all sizes.

Solidifies Your Company’s Long-term Plan

Uncertainties or changes are inevitable. Without a long-term plan, you’d be reactive in your business approach.

Planning for succession makes your company fail-proof. This is because your company becomes proactive in its growth as it journeys into the future.

The succession planning process creates a path where you can:

• Effectively forecast and address future human resource requirements.
• Proactively set realistic goals and plan for future talent needs.
• Identify vulnerabilities and streamline areas that require improvement.
• Prepare for changes in the talent pool and stay on top of succession management activities.

Prevents Talent Shortage

The global talent and skills shortage is a big deal. More than 75% of companies worldwide reported a talent shortage in 2022. By 2030 over 85 million jobs could go unfilled because there aren’t skilled workers

What does this mean? Competition for top talents will intensify and companies will struggle to recruit or retain them. The worst part is that replacing highly specialized workers is not only expensive but time-consuming.

Succession planning enables you to harvest vital skills and pass them down to a new generation of workers in your ranks. You can effectively fill the upcoming shortages in talent and mitigate the impact of a sudden or unanticipated vacancy in a critical position.

Transfer and Preserve Institutional Knowledge

Every organization has institutional knowledge . This refers to the policies, strategies, expertise, values, experiences, information and data that make up the company or are possessed by their employees.

Succession planning helps you harness, preserve and transmit this knowledge across the board. This process reduces the gap between experienced staff and new employees and quickly brings everyone up to speed.

For example, your company’s sales or customer service processes could be a part of your institutional knowledge. By passing down this knowledge, your company can maintain service quality–regardless of the employees involved.

Future-Proofs Your Business

Most businesses invest a ton of money buying insurance and security systems for their organizations. Unfortunately, they ignore succession planning, leaving their business vulnerable.

Think of succession planning as insurance that requires grooming talents. Succession planning sets your company up for success as it journeys into the future. In addition, it shores up your business against unexpected events like illness, death, or the voluntary exit of top-ranked employees.

Identify, Retain and Groom Top Talent

Succession planning requires your company or HR team to determine which positions are most crucial to the company's future success.

Armed with this information, you can find internal employees with the values, abilities and motivation to take on those crucial positions.

And if no internal candidates are fit for these positions, you’ll need to start searching externally.

Spot Skill Gaps and Training Needs

It’s not enough to spot top talents. Business succession planning requires identifying the skills and competencies they need to thrive in their senior roles. Then you can begin to invest in their growth and groom them for eventual succession.

Boosting Morale and Retention

When employees are groomed for succession, they recognize their efforts and skills are valued enough to be considered for higher positions.

More importantly, it becomes a pointer that there’s an opportunity for juniors to climb the corporate ladder or advance into leadership positions. This visible investment in human capital can increase employee retention and boost engagement . It also enhances employees' morale and well-being as they feel wanted at the workplace.

Maintains and Promotes Brand Identity

The last thing you want to do is put people who have different visions or values with your company at the helm of affairs.

By grooming a successor, you can be sure your brand identity and values will remain intact or uncompromised.

Having gone through your ranks, your successors would imbibe your brand culture. They'll understand and strive to preserve your brand promise, philosophy and what the company stands for.

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Succession planning is split into three critical phases. Each phase includes clear and actionable steps you can start implementing in your organization and tools to move you through the process.

Assessment Phase

Step 1: Determine your succession planning goals and align them with your workforce plan and company-wide goals.

Step 2: Identify significant business gaps and challenges in the next 1–5 years.

Step 3: Identify crucial roles and positions that will be required to drive sustainability or maintain business continuity . These are roles that, if left vacant, would make it almost impossible to achieve current and future business goals or carry out operational activities.

Create a survey to determine which roles are crucial for succession planning. You can tweak the template below to fit that purpose.

Step 4: Pinpoint skills, competencies, capabilities and institutional knowledge that are key success factors. These are skills required to achieve the company’s strategic objectives.

Step 5: Analyze how well the current talent pool will be able to fill these crucial positions

Evaluation Phase

Step 4: Select high-potential employees and successors for these crucial roles.

To pick suitable candidates, discuss career plans and interests with employees. Then evaluate their performance and leadership skills in their previous role and their ability to thrive in higher positions.

Don’t forget to inform each protege that they’re being considered for top positions.

Step 5: Select the skills, knowledge and competencies employees will need to succeed in their positions and tackle identified business challenges. Next, align each protege’s learning and professional development journey with the knowledge, skills and abilities required for future roles.

Development Phase

Step 6: Harvest the knowledge that individuals possess before leaving the organization. Establish a blueprint for knowledge transfer from experienced employees to the ones understudying them, like mentoring programs, coaching and on-the-job training.

Step 7: Develop a pool of talent to step into critical positions through targeted career development strategies.

Consider creating corporate training programs to help employees harness or develop top skills. This ongoing process of training and development is part of a succession management strategy, during which employees are trained to fill higher positions in the future.

Employees' professional development may happen in different ways, like mentoring, coaching, task or job rotation, job shadowing, or handling advanced responsibilities.

The staff may be required to enroll in formal degree programs, courses, workshops or professional certifications.

With Visme, creating corporate training programs is a breeze. You’ll find everything you need to create stunning and engaging training materials .

Step 8: Assess and monitor the progress of your succession planning efforts . The goal is to ensure the following:

• Succession plans for all critical areas and positions are prepared
• Essential positions are filled
• New employees in crucial positions perform satisfactorily

Set a reminder to review, compare and communicate the progress of your plan every 6–12 months. Track the effectiveness of your succession plan using metrics like bench strength, time to fill, career path ratio, diversity metric, retention, risk of loss and more.

You can use the template below to help you evaluate and report your progress.

With the right tools, business succession planning shouldn’t be a hassle. We’ve put together these easy-to-use templates to help you create disaster-proof succession plans for your organization.

1. Employee Succession Plan Template

This template is an excellent pick for creating a company-wide succession plan for employees. It captures detailed information about the objectives, critical positions, notable candidates, risk factors and short- and long-term career development plans for success.

Easily customize the document to add more sections or update the design elements to match your corporate branding . When done, download and share with stakeholders. Or print a hard copy and share it, so everyone is in the loop.

2. Manager Succession Plan Template

Develop an action plan to groom successors for managerial positions using this template. It offers a step-by-step guide and requirements for making your succession plan work, including:

• The ideal candidate profile (team, years of experience and skills)
• Training action plan

What’s more? You’ll find a disclaimer that lets employees know the document is subject to change. In addition, you can quickly update personal and company information using dynamic fields when dealing with multi-paged projects.

3. Executive Succession Plan Template

The thing is, employees don’t always retire; they leave for various reasons. With this template, you can create a solid plan that ensures you aren’t caught off guard.

This template has a rich blend of bright and energetic colors that can help with engagement. Also, notice how the template uses a flow diagram to visualize the promotional process.

Visme has tons of features for creating the most incredible designs. Feel free to tweak the colors, text, fonts and other design elements. Tap into Visme’s library of high-resolution images , icons and videos to make your document easily digestible.

4. Director Succession Plan Template

Solidify your company’s succession with this editable template that catches the eye. The template adopts a minimalistic design with stunning images to strengthen the narrative.

Customize this to align with your company’s strategy and goals. Highlight the criteria for choosing a director in your company and the skill balance for that role.

Incorporate your company’s training plan to close skills gaps and address training needs. Then share with higher-ups for review and implementation.

5. Business Ownership Succession Plan Template

This succession plan example is your best shot if you’re looking to set your business up for long-term success. It provides a roadmap for grooming successors that will take your business to the next level.

Add interactive elements like hover effects or clickable pop-ups to make the document navigable and engaging. Also, take advantage of animated icons, GIFs , illustrations and special effects to make your document shine.

6. Leadership Succession Plan Template

With a succession plan template like this one, you can boldly say your company is prepared for the future. The layout, typography and aesthetics have a professional feel, making it the ideal pick for companies of all sizes. Easily swap out the text, font and colors with ones that fit your needs.

Visme offers a number of charts, graphs and data widgets to enable you to visualize critical metrics and data points. Plus, it’s effortless to connect tables to live data or even connect an Excel file or Google Sheets to create live charts and infographics.

7. CEO Succession Plan Template

Business succession planning should be in silos; rather, it should be a collaborative activity involving all stakeholders. That’s where Visme templates shine.

Visme lets you add as many people on your team to your workspace. While working on the employee development plan, the HR team can tag each other, leave comments, react and resolve them. Assign user roles and view, edit and comment permissions to team members.

Drive effective collaboration across key stakeholders with the help of this template that captures all the important details about your company's succession. Invite everyone involved in the process to share their ideas.

8. Ownership Succession Planning Template

This ownership succession template has an agro theme, making it the perfect pick for nature-inspired companies and social enterprises. The jazzy blend of vibrant colors can draw your audience's attention and get your message across easily.

It allows room for an executive summary , cases where ownership transfer can happen and the processes involved. To develop a more robust plan, include a list of potential successors, their share value, age, status and skills profile.

9. Leadership Succession Planning Template

Here’s another stunning succession planning template to help you retain top talent in the pipeline. The template layout and design are sleek and slightly different from the usual. It has a dark background and white fonts with a mix of bright blue shapes, creating a strong visual contrast.

The beautiful part is that you can adapt it to any type of business or department. All you need to do is duplicate the plan and share it to enable each department to create its own succession plan for key roles. Simply add your logo, image, fonts and text to make it yours.

Don’t have a logo or image? Visme’s logo generator can help you craft the perfect logo. You’ll also find tons of premium and royalty-free images you can use right away.

10. Execs Succession Planning Template

Every business wants to avert moments of crisis and leadership gaps by preparing candidates for planned or emergency replacements. To do this successfully, you need a comprehensive succession plan example like this one.

It starts by outlining the main objectives of the succession plan and the critical tasks of an executive and the skills required. Furthermore, it details the strategies for choosing a successor, the profiles of the candidates being considered and the training and development programs lined up for them.

Switch things up by adding the flipbook effect , so your audience can interact with your document as if they were holding it in their hands.

11. Managers Succession Planning Template

No matter the size of your organization, make leadership transitions seamless and effective using this elegant template. The document describes the managerial persona and ideal profile of the next manager in your company.

Fill out this information and share it with the HR team to maintain consistency in your company’s recruitment process.

Then draw up a career development plan and training content tailored to each candidate, whether internal or external.

After sharing your document, tap Visme’s analytics tool to see who has viewed or taken action on your plans.

Without a successful succession plan, even the most successful companies can run off a cliff. They’ll resort to hiring leaders outside the firm who may struggle to fit in and become a huge gamble in terms of actual and intangible costs.

Here are ten best practices for ensuring your succession planning efforts hit the mark.

1. Begin With the End in Mind

Identify what you want to achieve with your succession planning efforts. Common goals for succession planning are to:

• Increase employee retention
• Lay a solid foundation for employee development and engagement
• Reduce risks and ensure business continuity when people exit the company

Make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T . as well, so you can evaluate your progress, successes and opportunities later. Brainstorm and develop SMART goals with the help of this easy-to-use worksheet below.

More importantly, align your succession planning goals with company-wide goals.

For example, the leadership and management team has outlined their goals for the next 5 to 10 years. Your succession plan should consider this and equip successors with the skills and experience required for the future.

2. Get Top Management and other Stakeholders to Buy In

Once you’re clear on your goals, the next step is to secure buy-in from the leadership team. Otherwise, your succession planning initiative will quickly hit a dead end.

It shouldn’t just end on the HR’s table. Instead, the leadership should drive it while the HR team facilitates the process and provides the required tools.

Since they are the decision-makers, you’ll receive ideas about improving the process and making it a fantastic experience for everyone.

For example, they may have great ideas about preserving and passing on the organization's values and institutional knowledge. They’ll also decide how to allocate budgets for corporate training and ensure the program is sustainable in the long term.

How do you secure management’s buy-in? First, conduct interviews with them, invite them to attend focus groups, take surveys and provide input.

Then draw up a detailed succession plan using this template. It covers every piece of information the board needs to make decisions.

3. Establish a Solid Recruitment Process

Having an excellent successor starts with recruiting the ideal candidates . With a solid recruitment strategy, you can attract, hire and retain top talents that will fit into your succession plan.

Evaluate the candidate's background, experience and career goals during the recruitment and onboarding process . Also, look for qualities like potential, enthusiasm, hard and soft skills and cultural fit. Ultimately, gauge how they fit into your long-term succession strategy.

Remember, you don’t have to search for these traits only when recruiting for high-level openings. When hiring for low-level roles, look for gems that can be groomed for future leadership roles.

4. Don’t Limit Succession Planning to Leadership Roles

One big mistake most companies make is limiting their succession plans to C-suite roles. The thing is, some technical-level employees are as vital as leaders. And losing them without a successor can hurt your company and hamper your objectives.

When it comes to planning succession, remember to consider all the pivotal roles, not just the top-level positions.

5. Pinpoint Top Candidates

Figure out which employees could be groomed as successors based on the future needs of your organization. Also, find out if those employees need training and what type.

It’s common practice to choose the next in line on the organization chart as potential successors. But we recommend looking beyond the obvious successors.

Who knows? The obvious choices may have different career plans or be uninterested in the position.

Look for proteges who have the skills to thrive in top-level positions and are buzzing to take over future roles.

If you haven’t already, speak to these employees about their professional and long-term goals before making your succession choices. You can easily find out how they feel and if they see a future with your organization. Of course, they are not a perfect fit if their plans don’t include climbing the corporate ladder.

Here's an excellent example of a succession plan.

Apple is one of many companies with a robust succession planning process . Before Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO in 2011, he spent years mentoring and grooming Tim Cook to succeed him.

Cook took on various operational responsibilities and worked closely with Jobs to acquire knowledge and skills relevant to the CEO role. In addition to gaining practical experience, he assumed responsibility for Apple's daily operations twice while Jobs was on sick leave.

6. Visualize your Organization Structure

An in-depth look at your organizational structure or org chart can help you uncover potential vulnerabilities such as skill gaps, training needs and a lack of candidates for critical roles. This can create a sense of urgency to hire or train employees for certain roles.

Visualize your organizational structure and identify potential successors using the template below.

7. Be Transparent about the Succession Planning Process

Succession planning shouldn’t be a hushed activity. Instead, be open about it and maintain a high level of transparency with everyone involved.

Identify and open lines of communication with the people involved in the process about the positions. Be it executive roles, senior leadership or supervisory roles. This might mean creating a communication plan to share with internal stakeholders.

Let the outgoing employees know their role in making the succession plan work. Also, explain to each protege that they are singled out for top-level positions and why.

Establish the fact that there are no assurances and things can change at any time due to issues faced by the candidates, mentors or the company.

8. Ramp Up Professional Development Efforts

Now you know who your potential successors are. The next step is to invest in their training and career development.

If you already have corporate training programs in place, now is the time to step them up.

Conduct a skill gap assessment for each employee. Then build an individual professional development and training plan to fill any knowledge, skill, or experience gaps. To accelerate their development, consider incorporating strategies like:

• Job rotation
• Seminars, workshops and conferences
• On-the-job training
• Formal development programs
• Professional certifications
• Higher education courses
• Stretch assignments
• Mobility assignments and more

This is an excellent time to do a trial run of your succession plan. For example, you can have a successor assume higher responsibility when a manager has gone on vacation.

These programs will help candidates gain additional knowledge and experience as well as boost their hard and soft skills.

9. Build Succession Plan on Continuous Performance

Business succession planning shouldn’t be set in stone. Rather, it should be a fluid process capable of evolving.

As you invest in employees' professional development, make sure to integrate performance reviews into your succession planning process.

Periodic evaluations of your talent’s performance can help identify their strengths and weaknesses. Not only that, it confirms their ability to meet defined expectations and helps pinpoint areas for further development.

Visme makes performance reviews and employee evaluations a breeze. We’ve got a wide range of templates to do the heavy lifting for your HR team.

Conduct organized employee evaluations and provide helpful feedback using Visme's fully customizable performance review template.

10. Evaluate Your Succession Plan

The final step is to evaluate your succession plan based on the goals you set at the beginning. Then, review the process and results to determine what (if any) adjustments need to be made.

It can be challenging to measure success if you're just starting out. But as you iterate and attain a maturity level in succession planning, metrics like turnover rate, performance and impact of loss can help you measure its success rate.

What is the succession planning process?

The succession planning framework has three phases:

• During the assessment phase, you determine goals, pinpoint gaps, identify crucial roles to be filled in the future, and document skills, competencies and institutional knowledge.
• During the evaluation phase, you select high-potential employees as successors and choose the skills, knowledge and competencies they will need for succession.
• During the development stage, harvest the knowledge individuals possess before they leave, develop a talent pool to step into critical positions and then assess and monitor progress.

What are the 4 models of succession planning?

The four types of succession planning and the roles they pertain to are:

• Leadership succession planning. C-Suite (CEO, CFO, CIO etc) and other high leadership roles.
• Board succession planning . Board chairs, officers and committee chairs.
• Critical staff succession planning. Non-leadership roles that are niche or critical to the company.
• Emergency succession planning. Both leadership and non-leadership roles plus board members.

What is the role of HR in succession planning?

HR’s role in succession planning is, first of all, to identify possible candidates for succession. HR is also responsible for succession management, which keeps an updated roster of candidates and their learning and development progress. 

What is a poor succession plan?

Poor succession planning is essentially the lack thereof. A close second are succession plans that don’t properly train or groom high-potential candidates, which create gaps that lead to hasty hiring decisions.

When should succession planning begin?

It’s never too early to start succession planning. Technically, you should start succession planning for a position as soon as a person is hired for it. This rings especially true for leadership and critical roles. 

Streamline Your Training & Succession Planning with Visme

There you go. Succession planning offers immense long-term stability for companies of all sizes. And we’ve equipped you with everything you need to kickstart yours now!

With Visme, the possibilities for strengthening your company’s training and succession planning processes are endless. Our comprehensive library is loaded with tons of templates for stunning training materials , succession plans , training manuals , performance reviews , reports , presentations and more.

Start empowering your HR team to attract, retain and groom top talents and maximize their full potential.

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Succession Planning

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Succession planning is a strategy for passing on leadership roles — often the ownership of a company — to an employee or group of employees. Also known as “replacement planning,” it ensures that businesses continue to run smoothly after a company’s most important people move on to new opportunities, retire, or pass away. Succession planning can also provide a liquidity event enabling the transfer of ownership in a going concern to rising employees. Succession planning evaluates each leader’s skills, identifying potential replacements both within and outside the company. In the case of internal replacements, training those employees so that they’re prepared to take over. Succession planning is not a one-time event. Succession plans should be reevaluated and potentially updated each year or as changes in the company dictate. In large corporations, the board of directors will typically oversee succession planning. For small businesses and family-owned companies, succession planning often means training the next generation to take over the business. A larger business might groom mid-level employees to one day take over higher-level positions. Succession planning starts with proper hiring practices with the goal of choosing candidates that are capable of rising through the ranks as time goes on. Training includes the development of skills, company knowledge, and certifications. The training might include having employees cross-train and shadow various positions or jobs in all the major departments. With succession planning, leadership and employees are better able to share company values ​​and vision. In a business partnership, one method of succession planning has each partner purchase a life insurance policy that names the other partner as the beneficiary. That way, if a partner dies at a time when the surviving partner would not otherwise have enough cash to buy the deceased partner’s ownership share, the life insurance proceeds will make that purchase possible.

The first slide of the template is presented as a career ladder. You can use this slide when preparing a Retirement Strategy Report. The slide will primarily be useful to the personnel department. The second slide can be used by business coaches when preparing employee development programs. The next slide gives you an opportunity to present the audience with the basic tips for developing Succession planning. The last slide is presented in the form of a graph that has coordinate axes – potential and performance. This slide gives you the opportunity to create a match map for your employees for each of the categories. Once mapped, you can identify weaknesses in your Succession planning and design measures to improve performance.

The Succession planning template follows the latest design trends and comes in vibrant colors. You can also change the color and font sizes so that this template can be used in your other presentations. All HR leaders should have this template. Also, this template will be useful for heads of companies and heads of various departments.

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Corporate Succession Planning PowerPoint Template

Number of slides: 10

Succession Planning is a talent management strategy that all big companies aiming to transcend should have. This systematic process consists in identifying and developing potential leaders from your business as successors for key role positions. In this scenario, open communication with your team throughout the entire process is of utmost importance for the support and validation on the leadership changes.

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Succession Planning Template

Succession planning overview slide.

Share your plans with the team. A quick presentation of your Talent Management area and its key tasks on the succession planning process will reinforce transparency in the workplace and motivate employees to build a career path on your company. It is also important for the potential candidates to be aware of the goals set and how their performance will be measured.

Succession Planning Matrix

Use this matrix as a visual tool to identify clearly the position of your company in terms of culture, core values and general approach to what you look for in your future leaders. The dimensions titled "process-centric" or "people-centric" and "subjective" or "objective" intersect to form four quadrants.

Process Diagrams

The Succession Planning Template offers two colorful five stage timelines and a vertical five-steps diagram to describe the status of each phase: identify, document, assess, transition and develop. Multiple arrows and business icons are added as support to illustrate the process in an engaging way. 

Engage your leaders

Involve current leaders on the training and development process of high-potential candidates. A mentoring session would also be a good opportunity to see how they work together.

Strategic Planning

Prepare your business for future contingencies and make sure that key positions will be filled in a short period of time by top professionals trained inhouse.

Make an official announcement

Time to celebrate! Gather the entire company, from top executives to trainees, for a special meeting to introduce the chosen successor.

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Succession Planning Training

This sample presentation on succession planning is intended for executives and other managers who are responsible for organizational planning. It is designed to be presented by an individual who is knowledgeable in leadership development and organizational objectives. This is a sample presentation that must be customized to include and match the employer’s own policies and practices.

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Succession planning process ppt model

The succession planning process PPT slide helps in defining the process for identifying as well as developing a new leader who can replace the old leader when he leaves, retire or die. A user can take help of the succession planning PowerPoint template to describe how succession planning increases availability of experienced as well as capable employees that prepared to assume these roles as they become available. The replacement planning presentation slide is suitable for different fields. The succession planning process step PPT template design is useful in dictatorships and explain that this planning aims for continuity of leadership, as well as preventing a chaotic power struggle by preventing a power vacuum. In monarchies, the succession planning PowerPoint slide is usually settled by order of succession. The business succession planning presentation template design entails developing internal people with the potential to fill key business leadership positions in an organization. The succession planning process diagram PPT slide helps to identify key roles for succession or replacement planning. The succession planning model template design is perfect for the professionals in a different field such as academics, consultants and corporate practitioners. Advise folks to be health conscious with our Succession Planning Process Ppt Model. Counsel them on avoiding infections.

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Presenting succession planning process PPT model PPT slide. SlideTeam has drafted this slide for discussing succession planning. The infographic slide design is 100% editable in PowerPoint as well as compatible with Google Slides. You can even modify size of the infographic icons as per the requirement. A user can edit the aspect ratio, font type & font size of this slide because this slide is completely editable template along with that slide is easily customizable i.e. text, colors, and icons get edited. You can save this template into other formats.

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Succession Planning

Mar 15, 2019

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Succession Planning. Presented by Bernadette Kinsella All contents attributed to Mike Cannell, Independent Consultant and formerly CIPD. What is succession planning?. Succession planning can be broadly defined as identifying future potential leaders to fill key positions. Succession Planning.

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Presentation Transcript

Succession Planning Presented by Bernadette Kinsella All contents attributed to Mike Cannell, Independent Consultant and formerly CIPD

What is succession planning? • Succession planning can be broadly defined as identifying future potential leaders to fill key positions.

Succession Planning • All organisations, whether in the private or public sectors, need to be able to find people with the right skills to fill key and top leadership jobs.

Process • This process needs to be managed, and traditionally, large blue-chip companies ran highly-structured, mechanistic, secretive and top-down schemes aimed at identifying internal successors for key posts and planning their career paths to provide the necessary range of experience.

Process • These schemes worked reasonably well in a stable environment where structures were fixed and careers were long-term.

Growing uncertainty…… • But with growing uncertainty, increasing speed of change in the business environment, and flatter structures, succession planning of this sort declined in the 1990s. How could one plan ahead, it was argued, for jobs that might not exist next year?

In a climate of growing skills shortages and lack of confidence in the leadership potential of the existing workforce, interest in succession planning has revived. • For example, a recent CIPD/DDI survey Global Leadership Forecast 2008-2009 shows that only 44% of leaders rate other leaders in their organisations as good or excellent. 

Definition • “A process by which one or more successors are identified for key posts (or groups of similar key posts), and career moves and/or development activities are planned for these successors. Successors may be fairly ready to do the job (short-term successors) or seen as having longer-term potential (long-term successors)” • Wendy Hirsh

How do organisations manage succession planning • The old succession planning was purely about organisational needs. • The modern version takes account of the growing recognition that people - men as well as women - increasingly need to make their own career decisions and to balance career and family responsibilities. • So the emphasis is about balancing the aspirations of individuals with those of their employing organisations, as far as possible customising moves to meet the needs of employees, their families and the changing skill requirements of the organisation.

Broadening experience by lateral moves • Traditionally, people would have gained experience by upward moves, with accompanying increases in status and salary. • A sideways move into a different job may be all that is available, without any extra cash. • Traditional fast-tracking created expectations of upward progression, and if status and money are thought to be motivators, different methods of generating commitment may have to be found. • Similarly, some organisations are taking advantage of secondment opportunities as a way of providing wider development opportunities to potential leaders.

Roles, not jobs • In the past, people would move up to specific, often specialist, jobs. • Now (although some jobs will always require specialists) the main focus is on identifying and developing groups of jobs to enable potential successors to be identified for a variety of roles. • So jobs might be clustered by role, function and level so that the generic skills responsible for particular roles can be developed. • The aim is to develop pools of talented people, each of whom is adaptable and capable of filling a number of roles. • Because succession planning is concerned with developing longer-term successors as well as short-term replacements, each pool will be considerably larger than the range of posts it covers.

Competencies • Many organisations have developed frameworks for technical and generic competencies, which relate to a broad range of desired skills and behaviours. The assessment process attached to generic frameworks (especially for management competencies) can provide a useful starting point for evaluating an individual's potential for a senior role. • Thus succession plans need to be integrated with existing competency frameworks. However, there should not be an over-reliance on competencies because they may be too limiting and mechanistic to assess skills such as leadership. Moreover, they relate to the past and present rather than to the future, which is where organisational leaders need to look.

Links to business plan • Those responsible for succession planning need to know as much as possible about the future of the business, how it is likely to change, and how such change might affect the numbers involved and the skills they need to possess.

Openness, fairness and diversity • Greater openness and transparency have come with the greater emphasis on the individual and the focus on roles rather than jobs • With openness should go fairness; objective assessments of all available candidates need to be seen to be made, and succession development committees exist in many large companies to review key talent and succession plans and to examine how to improve the process.

Insiders and outsiders • All organisations need a certain amount of new blood to bring in new ideas and approaches, and fill unanticipated roles. Many seem to rely either too much on outsiders or too much on insiders, suggesting that it is difficult to find the right balance. • Some academic commentators suggest that a ratio of around 80:20 between insiders and outsiders is about right

An evolving process • Organisations are not static. • They evolve. • Similarly, as those involved in succession planning gain experience of its operation, and as structures and requirements change, they will continually amend the system and how it operates. If they do not, the process will become less effective

Is succession planning worth it? • There is no one model for succession planning and there are no hard-and-fast rules. Every organisation is different and what has been described above has been drawn mainly from the experience of large organisations; however, smaller organisations may be able to take what they want from this factsheet and adapt provision to suit their own needs. • But what is indisputable is that all organisations need leaders with a range of experience. Management training programmes cannot provide that hands-on experience which is crucial in making future leaders

Conclusion • Although it is a complex and time-consuming process, succession planning is the only way of managing the delivery of that leadership experience and aligning it with business needs.

Is succession planning worth it? • But what is indisputable is that all organisations need leaders with a range of experience. Management training programmes cannot provide that hands-on experience which is crucial in making future leaders

Acknowledgement: • CIPD Chartered Institute Professional Development May 2008 • Contents attributed in full to Mike Cannell, independent consultant and formerly CIPD’s adviser – Learning, Training and Development • May 2008

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More From Forbes

Succession planning: 20 tips for a smooth transition of leadership.

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A change in leadership is never easy on anyone. For the new leader, it means taking an already established company with a set company culture and way of doing things and then adapting to it or evolving it to align with new ideals. For the current team, it means uncertainty and changes to the day-to-day tasks and experience at work.

The key to successful succession, therefore, is to ensure a smooth handoff while maintaining “business as usual.” If you’re working on a succession plan for your business, or are currently in the middle of a transition of leadership, consider the following advice from the experts of Forbes Business Council .

1. Consider Succession Planning Part Of Managing the Business

The sooner leaders evaluate an organization's bench strength and put in place succession plans, the better. If leaders keep succession in mind as an ongoing part of managing the business, the organization can withstand planned as well as unplanned leadership changes. - Kate Nelson , Change Guides

2. Stay Clear On Your Purpose And Goals

Maintaining clarity of purpose and goals is very important. Companies that do not have clear alignment are at high risk. Transitions often exacerbate instability and loss of focus. - John Burba , International Battery Metals Ltd.

3. Create More Leadership Opportunities For Employees At All Levels

You might consider opening up the opportunity for leadership development to employees at all levels, rather than focusing on just a couple of high potentials. Consider developing cohorts rather than individuals and creating an abundance of opportunity rather than scarcity. - Ron Zamir , AllenComm

4. Ensure You Have The Right Design, People And Information

There are three elements to ensure good succession planning: 1. The right organization design—have a design that supports engagement, cross-department exposure and information flow; 2. the right people—make sure that there is more than one person who could potentially take the mantle; 3. the right information—ensure information flow through org design, a documented operations manual, internal meeting recordings and minutes. - Arjun Pillai , Docket Inc.

5. Involve Future Leaders Early On

To ensure a smooth transition in succession planning, it's crucial to identify and develop future leaders early on. Provide mentorship, delegate tasks and involve them in decision-making processes. This approach ensures they are prepared and familiar with the organization's operations, promoting consistency and maintaining business continuity during leadership changes. - Chad Angle , ReputationDefender

6. Maintain Open Channels Of Communication

Transparency plays a vital role in succession planning and transitions. After you’ve decided on a transition, it's essential to maintain open channels of communication with stakeholders to ensure a seamless changeover. The process begins by clarifying the specifics and fostering an environment of inclusivity and positivity, which is key for business continuity during the transition. - Nachiketa Popat , EY

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7. Implement A 'Shadow' Or Hands-On Mentoring Program

Implement a "leadership shadow" program where potential successors work closely with current leaders. This hands-on mentoring ensures continuity of culture and vision, while gradually transitioning responsibilities. It creates a pipeline of well-prepared leaders, reducing disruption during transitions. - Michelle Gines , Purpose Publishing

8. Develop A Comprehensive Business Strategy

Having a comprehensive business strategy in place that steers the company forward is key in overcoming the bumps that come with leader transitions. Clear communication on the transition, as well as aligning and focusing the business teams on the strategy, keeps the ship steady while assuring staff of the steps being taken to ensure any gaps are remedied before and after the transition. - Harrison Muiru , Smart Applications International Limited

9. Consider The Full Effect Of A Leadership Change

Owners must consider the full implications of a leadership change. This can include successor development, effects on the current team, changes to compensation and, particularly, tax implications of related stock awards. - Dale Fickett , Open Trellis

10. Gradually Transition The Responsibilities

It may sound obvious, but for startups, ensuring a smooth leadership transition while maintaining momentum can be especially crucial. A business owner should gradually transition responsibilities. Collect all materials and documentation. Start by identifying and mentoring a potential successor, then slowly involve them in key decisions and responsibilities. - Nazar Gulyk , Empat

11. Cultivate A Customer-Centric Mindset

Beyond nurturing top performers and facilitating internal knowledge transfer, look to truly understand your customer relationships, both in terms of their breadth and depth across your organization. Using customer data ensures their needs guide succession decisions and allows you to proactively multithread your relationships before departures for longevity. - Lee Blakemore , Introhive

12. Be Sure To 'Test The Waters'

Succession planning is like testing the water before diving in. It allows business owners to gauge the depth of their team's readiness, identify potential leaders hidden beneath the surface and develop them to make a splash in their new roles. By testing the waters, business owners can uncover the right talent, align them with the company's vision and create a legacy that makes a lasting impact. - Mohaimina Haque , Law Office of Mohaimina Haque, PLLC

13. Ensure Every Employee Has A Backup

Instead of thinking about succession planning, we focus on a broader organizational principle: that every person within the firm should have a backup. No team, department or company should balance on the head of one person. This principle ensures strategy lives beyond the individual, enabling organizational flexibility and continuity while also supporting employee development and adaptability. - Vidya Plainfield , TechSpeed Inc.

14. Assemble A Committee To Help

Create a committee to help with planning and communication. Ensure you have a detailed plan, including a sequence of who to notify in a manner that develops buy-in from the team and key stakeholders. - Brett Hickey , Star Mountain Capital

15. Develop And Trust Your Junior Leaders

As a commander in the military, I mentored my junior officers to not only certify but also take my place in certain controlled training events. These leadership investments paid off in spades during combat. Faced with a decision to split my unit in combat, I did not hesitate. Small business owners can achieve the same result by cultivating, developing and trusting their junior leaders. - Francisco J. Leija , Modern Phalanx Solutions, LLC

16. Keep Stakeholders Informed At Every Stage

Transparent communication is essential in succession planning to maintain "business as usual." Keeping all stakeholders—including employees, clients and partners—informed about leadership transitions, fosters trust and stability. I've found that open dialogue about the transition process reduces uncertainty and ensures everyone remains focused on our goals, despite the changes in leadership. - Mark Williams , Brokers International

17. Remember The 'Trans-Relational' Part Of The Process

Transitioning leadership can feel very transactional. During a leadership transition, don't forget about the "trans-relational" part of the process. It is important to honor outgoing leaders by building upon legacies. This also models valuing every person for their accomplishments, which is important for building a strong company culture in perpetuity. - Dara Z. Klarfeld , DRG Talent

18. Bring In Outside Experts

Bringing in outside experts can provide you with unbiased insights into regulatory and legal matters, address concerns while keeping in mind all stakeholders, and offer creative solutions based on best practices. This approach helps manage the leadership transition smoothly while allowing current leaders to focus on their core responsibilities, ensuring business continuity and effective succession planning. - Jay Nagrecha , Rajsi Group

19. Choose A Successor With The Same Morals And Values

You want to identify someone who will take your place in your company early on. Choose someone you know who shares your values and morals, and then train them on the skills to take over your position smoothly. It all starts with them having your values and morals, though, to ensure they can grow the company you started and keep it on brand with what you established. - Joseph Kimbrough , Apex Real Estate Investments

20. Start Planning As Early As You Can

Succession planning is often a last-minute exercise that gets rushed. Things will get missed. Important decisions will be made hastily. Starting early allows you to explore all the options available. Each path to departing your company has pluses and minuses. You have to have time to prepare your team for the transition. - Joe Crandall , Greencastle Associates Consulting

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