Succession Planning | Essential Steps & Best Practices

Appointing an advisory committee is a vital first step in the succession planning process. While typically considered a full board responsibility, the succession planning committee may also include HR professionals, executives, and external consultants. These committees benefit significantly from the inclusion of a professional succession planning consultant who can provide objectivity, mitigate emotionally charged decisions, and reduce biases. The integration of both internal and external perspectives creates a well-informed and balanced approach to succession planning that sets the stage for a smooth transition. 

Begin by identifying which roles are critical to your organization’s success and sustainability. Prompts to consider when determining critical roles include:  

• • • Impact on business operations: Consider to what extent a sudden and unexpected vacancy would create disruptions to core functions of your business, such as revenue generation. 

• • • Knowledge base: Would an unanticipated vacancy leave a significant gap in knowledge or experience that would be difficult to replace? 

By carefully evaluating these aspects, you can pinpoint which positions are essential to maintain your organization’s ongoing stability and success.

After identifying critical roles, consider how the organization’s strategic direction will likely impact these critical roles and what will be needed to adapt effectively. This forward-thinking approach ensures your succession plan remains relevant and dynamic, thereby preparing successors for both current and future challenges. 

Based on the role’s previously identified needs, what skills, experience, competencies, and characteristics will statistically correlate with high performance and allow a successor to thrive in the position? By clearly defining your critical role success profiles, you ensure that only the most capable and compatible candidates are selected. 

Success Profile Criteria Examples:  

• • • Learning Agility: Absorbs and implements new knowledge in diverse situations; adapts the business to market shifts and drives change. 

• • • Emotional Intelligence: Exhibits the ability to recognize, understand, and regulate one’s own emotions; applies this understanding to navigate interpersonal interactions constructively and enhance communication. 
       
    • Cultural Alignment: Values, behavior, and work style align to the core values and culture of the organization. 

• • • Self-Awareness: Demonstrates understanding of one’s own strengths, weaknesses, and impact on others; applies this awareness to adjust to situations and to develop and grow.  

• • • Forward-Thinking: Anticipates future trends and challenges; plans strategically to keep the organization competitive.

A structured talent assessment process is key to identifying individuals who not only fit the current requirements but also have the potential to evolve with the role. This process should begin with a preliminary interview to gauge a contender’s interest in the role, followed by customized assessment tools, which are selected based on the role’s success profile. The incorporation of specialized talent assessment tools can enrich your protocol by revealing data-driven insights into each contender’s unique competencies and potential. Depending on what aspects you’re aiming to assess, possible tools could include:  

• • • Leadership Potential: Structured Interview and Leadership Self-Assessment 

• • • Personality Characteristics: Hogan Personality Assessment 

• • • Critical Thinking Skills: Watson-Glaser 

A comprehensive talent assessment process ensures that candidates will be vetted thoroughly and systematically, providing the succession planning committee with a holistic and multi-faceted understanding of each contender. 

Should the in-house assessment indicate a lack of suitable candidates, external recruitment may be necessary. Nevertheless, it’s imperative to maintain consistency in the evaluation process, ensuring a fair and comprehensive vetting process. 

Your high potentials will be identified through your assessment process. Ideally, you’ll want to select 1-2 candidates for each critical position, based on which individuals demonstrated the highest potential combined with the fewest gaps based on your organization’s previously defined competencies and criteria. 

The development plan, tailored to the role, timing, and individual, should address deficiencies and cultivate potential by aligning the role’s needs with the candidate’s assessment results. A succession planning coach or consultant can be especially helpful at this stage of the process. Their expertise in leadership development and facilitating growth greatly enhances the process and the efficacy of the development plan. The development plan should also delineate specific transition goals designed to facilitate knowledge transfer, thereby maximizing the incumbent leader’s time and influence.  

The essence of preparing a successor lies in effectively implementing the development plan. Ideally, a period of at least 10 months should be allotted for candidate development, however, shorter timelines may be necessary for imminent transitions. During this critical phase, candidates should be immersed in skill-expanding and challenging projects that bear the risk of failure, offering them a chance to demonstrate resilience and capability under pressure. 

360° Assessments, such as the Leadership Circle Profile™, can be extremely valuable as a talent development tool for upcoming successors to refine their leadership skills. The LCP is a comprehensive leadership assessment that incorporates both peer and personal feedback, increasing the leaders’ awareness of their impact on others, thus enabling them to make targeted adjustments that strengthen specific leadership competencies needed to be even more effective. 

A pivotal part of a successor’s development involves mentorship under the incumbent leader, ensuring a seamless transfer of institutional knowledge essential for the role. Candidates should be given the opportunity to assume the incumbent’s duties, either in their absence or as part of a provisional leadership exercise, allowing them to experience the role’s responsibilities firsthand. Emphasizing hands-on involvement and decision-making opportunities with candidates not only enriches the learning process but also provides invaluable insights into how the candidate might handle the demands of the role if selected permanently, thereby informing the board’s eventual decision. 

Throughout the developmental journey, the succession planning committee should regularly meet to discuss each candidate’s progress, providing feedback and adjusting development strategies as needed. Only after a thorough review period, where candidates have had ample opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities and grow in their roles, does the committee move to the next step – appointing a successor. 

This step involves synthesizing all the data, insights, and evaluations collected while monitoring the candidates’ development to make the most informed and strategic decision for the well-being of the organization. The committee conducts a comprehensive review of each candidate’s performance, evaluating how effectively they have realized their potential, performed under pressure, enhanced their leadership capability, bridged competency gaps, and evolved into a leader who embodies the role’s success profile. A data-driven selection will position your organization for sustained growth and longevity.