Expertise · Succession Planning
What makes a succession plan real?
Succession planning is the discipline of ensuring critical roles can be filled, at need, with evidence-backed internal candidates. A real succession position is one a Board could act on tomorrow and defend the day after — names on a grid are documentation, not succession.
Why it matters
Unplanned senior departures are share-price events, governance events and continuity risks. Boards and NRCs are increasingly expected to show defensible succession evidence — and paper plans built for compliance collapse at first contact with a real vacancy.
What good practice looks like
- Assess successors against the role's future demands under the strategy, not the incumbent's profile.
- Separate performance today from readiness tomorrow — the Talent Readiness Grid exists for exactly this.
- Fund the gap: "ready with investment" is only real when the investment has an owner and a date.
- Review movement between cycles, not documents at them.
Every transformation begins with understanding
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