Although many organizations understand the importance of succession planning, they often fail to prioritize it. This is because succession planning might seem time-consuming, with no immediate pay-off. The amount of perceived work required to develop a succession plan can derail even the most proactive of organizations.

However, when facing an unexpected vacancy, such as a sudden departure or retirement, a lack of proper planning for an adequate replacement can make a significant negative impact on your business. Understanding the critical roles within your organization and preparing potential successors who could step in when needed is well worth the time investment. 

Getting a succession plan in place requires some heavy lifting on the front end. That’s why many HR professionals rely on tools, such as an easily replicable succession plan template, that can make the work far less arduous and a lot more manageable.

Let’s walk through the steps of developing a succession plan (or enhancing an existing one) and discuss how you can create a custom template to simplify and refine the planning process.   

It can be tempting to dive right into a succession planning strategy – especially if you have an existing one in place – but the effectiveness of your strategy hinges on the amount of forethought and organization you put into its conception.

Here’s where to start.

The exact details of your succession plan will depend on the unique positions within your business and how these roles might evolve based on the future needs of your company. Some questions to consider:

Succession planning is a company-wide need and a strategy that works for one department might not work for all. An effective approach requires leaders across all relevant business units within your organization to contribute. 

For example, people managers that directly work with employees on goal-setting and professional development can be a huge asset during this process. They’re the ones that have insight into the individual’s skills and career goals. They can also help you to confirm a candidate’s interest in a role and outline the steps required for that individual to be potentially considered for the position.

Additionally, if learning and development (L&D) is outside of your wheelhouse, be sure to loop in those team members with knowledge about particular job competencies, career paths and related workforce development programs. Ultimately, a succession plan can’t be successful unless you have the resources in place to actually upskill and reskill workers in preparation for taking on a future position.

Your succession plan should not be seen as separate from your organizational goals, but as a tool for reaching them. For instance, if your company is prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), succession plans can help to identify and place underrepresented talent in a direct pipeline for leadership positions.

Once you’ve completed the prep work, the next step is to focus on execution. Although succession planning looks different at every organization, it’s possible to create a template that’s custom to your business and easy to replicate each time you go through this exercise.

Your template should include the following fields:

Here’s an example of a constructed succession planning template:

Developing a succession plan is great, but you need a skilled talent pool of prospective candidates in order for it to truly have an impact. To do so, it’s important to have an idea of what channels are available to source candidates from. You may plan to nurture internal successors over the long run, but you should also be aware of which roles may necessitate looking externally.

You’ll also want to get a sense of what employee development opportunities are available for your workforce and ascertain if they’re aware of these programs and actually taking advantage of them. 

It’s likely that many succession roles require specific training and education for a candidate to perform at a high level quickly. This is where it becomes critically important to collaborate with your L&D counterparts to understand the efficacy of your current programs.  

Once you’ve recorded your potential replacements, you can begin the process of cultivating these high-potential employees for the next step in their careers. Not only will they benefit from L&D for these specific roles, but your entire workforce can also up their performance and capabilities with long-term education opportunities, continuing to fill your talent pipeline in the process.

Scheduling regular time to review your succession plan will strengthen it perhaps more than any other exercise. Ask key questions such as:

People leave organizations. This is a given — not if, but when — and without exception. By taking the time now to kick-start or refresh your succession plan, you are addressing these departures before they happen, avoiding the upheavals and inefficiencies that come with the vacancy of a critical role. 

It’s important to reiterate the importance of reviewing your succession plan on an ongoing basis – a static succession plan fails to account for the ever-changing nature of your business. 

Take a moment to evaluate whether any positions need to be added or removed from the template. Assess whether the candidates in your succession pool are taking sufficient initiative for their advancement — and if you’re giving them the appropriate support and learning opportunities to do so. Take a close look outside of the plan for other rising or capable employees. Keep your finger on the pulse of exceptional talent, be they internal or external and even those at junior levels. 

With these best practices in mind, you can create a custom template for tracking high-potential candidates and filling your succession pipeline with skilled talent that’s primed and ready to step up.

It’s clear that skill-building is integral to the success of your succession planning efforts. Read our step-by-step guide to learn efficient, scalable ways to upskill and reskill your workforce for rapid results.