Arnold Dahlke

An organization develops a succession plan to ensure that it has qualified candidates to replace people in key positions who leave for any reason, such as retirement, illness, or taking another job. In short, a succession plan is a plan developed to help protect an organization’s future. Organizations of any size or type can develop a succession plan in six steps.

In today’s rapidly changing world — with its new technologies, new markets, and new global mobility — succession planning matters more than ever before. The success of your organization depends on the continuing productivity of people in key positions. For example, the CEO has a fund of knowledge, influences your people, and steers your organization in numerous ways.

It’s not enough to simply develop a succession plan and set it into motion. In addition to monitoring, evaluating, and adjusting it as necessary, there is one very important element that must be carefully thought out: ensuring a smooth transition process for the successor. You can have the best, most qualified candidate in the world to succeed a key position, but the transition still may be rocky because you haven’t set up a process for transitioning that person.

Whether you’re developing a succession plan for a small family business, a large nonprofit organization, an educational institution, a major corporation, or a government organization, the process boils down to six steps: Determine the type of plan. What concerns are stimulating you to develop your succession plan?