Solutions / Succession planning
Could you name your leaders’ replacements today?
A rigorous bench-strength assessment that closes succession gaps before they become crises.
If your top three leaders left tomorrow, could you name their replacements today? We run a rigorous bench-strength assessment across your leadership pipeline and build a succession plan that closes the gaps before they become crises. Continuity you can prove to your board, not just promise.
Signals you have this problem
- The board has asked about succession and the answer was uncomfortable.
- Several senior leaders are within five years of retirement.
- Succession planning consists of one name per role, written by one person.
- No successor has been told they are a successor.
What the engagement looks like
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Identify critical roles
Not the top of the org chart — the roles where a departure would genuinely disrupt the business.
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Assess the bench
Readiness for each potential successor, assessed objectively rather than from reputation.
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Map the gaps
Roles with no ready successor, and roles where the only successor is also a flight risk.
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Build the plan
Development actions with owners and dates, reviewed on a cycle rather than produced once.
Common questions
How often should succession plans be refreshed?
At least annually, and immediately after any senior departure. A plan more than a year old describes an organization that no longer exists.
Should successors be told?
Usually yes, carefully framed as development rather than a promise. Unnamed successors leave. Over-promised successors leave angrier.
What if there is no internal successor?
That is a finding, not a failure. Knowing a role will require an external hire two years out is exactly what makes the eventual search calm instead of frantic.
Related work
This engagement frequently runs alongside our assessment work.
Assess your bench strength.
A short conversation is usually enough to tell whether coaching, training, or assessment is the right starting point.