Succession Planning Template and Guide Download Page

Succession planning is not a “nice to have”. It is a necessary part of any organisation's ability to reduce risk, create a proven leadership model, preserve organisational memories, smooth business continuity and improve staff morale. The only readily identifiable reason for an organisation to fail to plan for succession is a lack of appreciation of the risks that not planning brings.

An indication of how many organisations fail to plan for succession comes from the simple measurement of the level of outside recruitment in senior positions. Human resource firms report that sixty percent of the Fortune 250 firms in the United States go outside to hire people at the executive management team level. It is probable that organisations below the Fortune 250 have even higher levels of outside recruitment.

Development of a succession planning system is not difficult but does require executive leadership and commitment. Despite the low level of difficulty, errors in developing succession planning systems are common. For example, many organisations often concentrate on a succession plan for their leadership team only. This is insufficient. A succession plan should, at a minimum, determine which positions in an organisation, if not successfully filled, increase the risk to the organisation to an unacceptable level. Many technical roles where an incumbent tends to have a long tenure should be included in a succession plan.

Succession Planning Template and Guide

Change Factory has developed a tool to help you plan for succession. Included in this package is an excel template that allows you to:

• Define twenty competencies at up to five levels of capability.
• Enter general details and competencies required for twenty five jobs.
• Create a record of competences held by the incumbent and up to four potential candidates.
• Document the succession strategy including required tarining for preferred candidates.
• Record the succession risk level for each job
• Read the summary status and strategy for up to twenty-five jobs on a single worksheet.

Included with the template is a short guide on what to do to be a successful succession planner.

The price of the template and guide is AU$29.95,You may purchase using Visa or MasterCard using PayPal.

See the instruction page below.

See the individual job input page below. The pertinent data from these pages are displayed on a summary page for ease of discussion at succession planning meetings.

We welcome your comments: you can contact Kevin by email at