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5 Succession Planning Examples + Sample Succession Plan
Published on:
September 13, 2024
Updated on:
November 13, 2024
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Succession planning is not simply a strategy. It’s a critical action plan for any successful organization that plans to thrive long-term. Exactly for that reason, we’ve gathered these 5 succession planning examples, case studies, and even a sample plan for you!
Effective succession planning will make or break the future of your company which is why it is not simply a strategy. Not only do they allow for smooth transitions but they also ensure that your organization survives changes, however they may come about.
So without further ado, let’s get planning!
Before we get to our examples, it may be a good idea to understand the best practices surrounding succession planning.
Now that we have some best practices out of the way if you choose to create your own succession planning, let’s take a look at some different types of succession planning case studies that you can also pick out.
Executive succession planning is specifically designed for executive-level changes that may arise due to a variety of reasons. For example, a tech company may be planning for a retiring CEO.
In this case, the company would start by identifying critical positions within the organization, focusing on matching the CEO’s role. Next would be to identify high-potential individuals, done so by evaluating internal candidates.
Once this stage is through, the company will invest in talent development likely at the COO level, with training on leadership, strategic project involvement, and more. This type of preparation will help build a robust leadership pipeline.
Once the current CEO retires, the transition will be smooth due to the comprehensive preparation and development of the upcoming leader, ensuring long-term success for the organization. This is a way to approach succession that exemplifies effective planning as it maintains continuity and minimizes any disruptions.
A real-world executive succession planning example is when Satya Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer as CEO at Microsoft back in 2014. This was a well-thought-out transition and Nadella was an internal candidate for the position who had a thorough understanding of the company and operations already.
Critical role backups are a common corporate succession planning type. For example, a firm relies heavily on a certain role, let’s say the head of risk management.
Similar to the previous scenario, in this case, the company must identify high-potential individuals within the team who can potentially step into this role. This way they can make way for internal promotions without the cost of outside hiring. A senior risk analyst perhaps, may be chosen for succession and they will need additional training before they get acquainted with their new responsibilities.
With this logic, if an unexpected departure happens in such a critical role, the company will have already trained and developed another individual internally, ready to take responsibility. This way, the company has made use of its existing talent pool and successfully initiated a succession plan.
A real-world example could be Apple’s Tim Cook. Before Steve Jobs resigned as CEO due to health issues, Apple had already been preparing Cook to succeed Jobs as his role was arguably the most critical.
Apple gave significant operational responsibilities to Cook and ensured that he would seamlessly transition into his new role when the time arrived.
Succession planning can also apply to smaller team settings, as in team lead succession. Let’s take a sales team for example.
This team is on the lookout for a new leader to replace their team lead once they leave. In this case, a succession plan is in order. Once the organization is aware the team lead is leaving, the first thing is to identify which of the team members shows the most promise to replace them.
Next, in order to prepare them for future leadership roles, the company should plan to provide, mentorship, training, and opportunities to lead projects until they are ready to take on the role indefinitely.
A new leadership pipeline has been created that guarantees a smooth transition once the team lead leaves. Once the handover is complete and organizational processes prove to be undisturbed, it is safe to assume a successful leadership succession for this sales team.
As a real-world example, we can take Google as a sample. Marissa Mayer was one of the original engineers in the company and a key team lead before leaving to be Yahoo’s CEO. To prepare for her leave, Google already had several candidates to replace her getting ready.
Just because succession planning may sound very corporate, does not mean it doesn’t apply to more tight-knit communities. In family establishments as well, you could plan for the future.
Let’s say a family-owned restaurant is planning for retirement at the end of the year and the owner’s daughter shows the most promise and interest to take over the business. That is the identification of a high-potential individual in this case.
Before the end of the year is reached, the owner and daughter should spend extra time making sure all necessary information is transferred appropriately, preparing the daughter to lead the business. You could even call this a talent pipeline.
When the owner retires at the end of the year, the daughter is well prepared to take over and all parties involved know that’s the case which ensures the elimination of all disruptions to operations in and out of the establishment.
A very well-known example of this would be Ford Motor Company. A family-owned business founded by Bill Ford was taken over by Henry Ford in 1999. The family had been preparing for this transition for a long time and a smooth handover in the Ford family was ensured, demonstrating how effective planning ensures success across generations.
You could also approach succession planning from a skills and qualifications point of view. A broader sense of preparation for this sort of succession planning will start by identifying what critical roles may require this type of readiness.
Once this step is clear, the talent pool will need a series of actions to develop and improve on their pre-existing qualifications. The focus here is to build on these skills as well as possible in order to make sure no disturbances are created within the organization due to a job-related change.
If any of the specialists in a department that was deemed critical decides to depart unexpectedly, the company now has a ready talent pool that they can choose a new employee from for that particular role. This approach clearly illustrates the main idea behind succession planning and how it ensures seamless transitions.
A real-life example of skill-based succession planning is IBM’s leadership transition when Ginny Rometti succeeded Sam Palmisano as CEO. IBM emphasized the need for a leader who had deep technical expertise in order to fulfill the needs of the role fully, hence ensuring long-term organizational success.
If these succession planning examples just don’t cut it for you and you need a sample template to get you started on your own planning, then we’ve got you covered!
The implementation of a robust succession plan is a crucial aspect of a successful organization, especially in the long term. Leveraging different types of succession planning examples, and methods like the 9-box talent review, you can help align potential employees with future leadership roles.
Tools like Teamflect will make things even easier for you to streamline your succession planning and various other performance management needs. With such strategies implemented in your operations regularly, your organization will set itself up for a sustainable and successful future.
An all-in-one performance management tool for Microsoft Teams
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