Business Succession Planning

At the end of this training, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the value of succession planning for successful businesses.
• Demonstrate expertise with the key elements of a succession plan.
• Create and discuss aspects of a succession plan.
• Discuss the elements of a succession plan in terms of roles, responsibility, function, scope, and evaluation.

Course Overview

A Need for Succession Planning

To begin, participants will explore the differences between succession planning and replacement hiring, including some of the advantages of succession planning.

Defining a Succession Plan

This session introduces the SUCCESS acronym, which defines the succession plan process that the remainder of the course will focus on.

Pre-Assignment Review

Next, participants will use information gathered in their pre-assignment to identify the critical people in their organization.

Identifying Resources and Analyzing Risks

This session will give participants some tools to identify internal and external successors. We will also look at a sample risk assessment.

Defining Roles, Responsibilities, and Functions

During this session, participants will start creating risk assessments, individualized engagement plans, and succession plan profiles.

Gathering Information

This session will help participants identify ways to look within their own organizations and determine what the critical positions are.

Forecasting Needs

There are six key ingredients to being able to forecast what people you will need when. Participants will explore each item in small groups. Participants will also learn about the role of coaching and mentoring.

Putting the Plan Together

Next, participants will learn about using Appreciative Inquiry and Leadership Quality Assessments to develop a succession plan.

Putting the Plan into Action

During this session, participants will explore the idea of phased implementation. We will also look at using technology to facilitate putting the plan into action.

Evaluating and Reviewing the Plan

This session will look at the importance of evaluation. Participants will also work on modifying an evaluation checklist to suit their organization’s needs.

Your Action Plan

To wrap up the day, participants will identify their next steps and participate in a review exercise.

Workshop Wrap-Up

At the end of the course, students will have an opportunity to ask questions and fill out an action plan.