Succession Planning Template
Which roles are exposed, who could step up, and what you are doing about the gaps.
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| As at | October 14, 2026 |
| Next review | [date] |
1. Roles and cover
| Role | Current holder | Successor readiness | Risk if vacant |
|---|---|---|---|
| [add one role per line] |
2. Where we are exposed
[add one exposure per line]
3. What we are doing about it
| Action | Owner | By when |
|---|---|---|
| [add one action per line] |
What is a Succession Plan?
A succession plan identifies the roles that would hurt most if the holder left, names who could cover or replace each one, and records what is being done to close the gap. Its value is in being written before the resignation, not after. Without it, a departure that was entirely foreseeable becomes an emergency, and the organisation discovers which knowledge lived in one person's head at the worst possible moment.
Boards and HR teams produce one annually for senior roles; department heads produce a lighter version for their own teams. Family businesses use it for the harder question of who takes over ownership as well as management. It gets used in board and remuneration committee meetings, in annual talent reviews, in due diligence when a business is sold, and by insurers underwriting key person cover. Small organisations need it as much as large ones, because a team of eight has less depth to absorb a loss, not more.
Where the plan touches employment decisions, local law applies. Selecting a successor on grounds related to age, sex, race, disability, religion or other protected characteristics is unlawful in most of the jurisdictions this site serves, under the Equality Act in the UK, federal and state law in the US, provincial human rights codes in Canada, the Fair Work and anti-discrimination framework in Australia, EU equal treatment directives, and Indian labour and equality legislation. Data protection rules also apply to the personal assessments held in the plan — under UK and EU GDPR, employees have rights over that data. Take advice on both before circulating one.
A succession plan is not a promise of promotion and should say so on its face. Naming someone as a potential successor creates expectation, and an expectation that is documented and then disappointed can become a grievance. It is also not a leaver's handover document — that is written when someone actually resigns and covers passwords, contacts and work in progress. And it does not, on its own, develop anybody: the plan records what development is needed, but the training, exposure and coaching have to be scheduled and paid for separately.
What to put in a Succession Plan
These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Issuing organisation | For example: Maple Grove Homeowners Association |
| Organisation address | For example: 1420 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212 |
| Next review | Free text |
| Roles covered | One per line: Role | Current holder | Successor readiness | Risk if vacant |
| Where we are exposed | One per line |
| What we are doing about it | One per line: Action | Owner | By when |
How to write a Succession Plan
Identify the roles, not the people
Start with positions rather than individuals. For each role ask what stops if it is empty tomorrow: revenue, a regulatory permission, a customer relationship, an accreditation held personally, a system only one person can administer. Rank by impact and by how long the vacancy would take to fill. A quiet operations role that holds the only relationship with your sole supplier can outrank a job title well above it.
Record what each role actually requires
Write down the qualifications, statutory registrations, systems access, relationships and undocumented knowledge the job depends on — not the job description, which is usually out of date. Note anything held personally rather than by the organisation: a licence in an individual's name, a certification, an account only they can authorise. This list is what a successor has to acquire, and it is normally longer than anyone expects.
Name successors at three time horizons
For each role, identify who could step in immediately as emergency cover, who would be ready within a year with development, and who is a longer-term candidate. Use a consistent scale and say what the assessment is based on. Where the honest answer in any column is nobody, write nobody — a blank cell is the most useful entry on the sheet, because it is the one that gets funded.
Attach a development action to every gap
Each gap needs a specific action, an owner and a date: shadowing the incumbent for a defined period, taking over a named client account, a professional qualification with an exam sitting, deputising during leave, sitting in on board meetings. Development for future readiness is not a training line in a budget; it is a set of concrete responsibilities transferred on dates somebody can check.
Review it annually and after every change
Set an annual review in the board or leadership calendar and update the plan whenever someone is promoted, leaves, or changes role. Record the date of each review and who attended. Keep the document access-controlled — assessments of individuals are personal data and, handled loosely, will damage trust the first time the wrong person reads them.
Common mistakes
- Planning only for the chief executive ignores the technical or relationship roles whose loss would actually stop the work, and those are usually two levels further down.
- Naming a successor without telling them anything creates a plan that fails on the day it is needed, because the person named has never done any part of the job.
- Telling someone they are the successor without qualifying it creates a promise the organisation may not be able to keep, and a grievance if circumstances change.
- Leaving the plan as a list of names with no development actions or dates means nothing changes between reviews and the same gaps reappear every year.
- Storing individual readiness assessments in an open shared folder breaches data protection expectations and destroys the candour that makes the assessments worth having.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between succession planning and workforce planning?
Succession planning is depth: for specific critical roles, who could do this job and how soon. Workforce planning is breadth: how many people with which skills the organisation will need over the next few years, and where they will come from. They inform each other — a succession plan with empty cells everywhere is telling you something about recruitment — but they answer different questions and are usually kept as separate documents.
How far down the organisation should a succession plan go?
As far as the roles whose absence would cause real disruption, which is a test of impact rather than seniority. In a small organisation that can mean most of the team. Ask which vacancies would stop revenue, breach a contract, lose a permission or halt a system. Anything on that list belongs in the plan, whatever the grade of the person doing it.
Should we tell people they are named as successors?
There is a genuine tension here. Telling people supports development and keeps them engaged, but an unqualified statement can be read as a promise. The usual approach is to be clear that the plan records readiness, not entitlement, and that appointments follow a fair process at the time. Because the wording carries employment law risk, have it reviewed by an HR or legal adviser before it goes out.
How often should the plan be reviewed?
At least annually, aligned with the talent or performance cycle so the assessments are current, and immediately after any significant change in the leadership team. A plan more than a year old typically names people who have moved on and omits people who have joined, which makes it unusable in the one situation it exists for. Record the review date on the document itself.
What should a small business include?
The same structure, shorter. List the handful of roles that matter, what each depends on, who could cover it and what would have to be learned. Add the practical items that catch small businesses out: who else can access the bank, who holds the domain and system administration rights, where the customer contracts are kept, and whether any licence or accreditation sits in one person's name.
This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.