The Essential Guide to Succession Planning
Seven steps to building a succession plan that gives your organisation certainty when leadership changes come, before they arrive, not after.
The Numbers Don't Lieare in a critical role with no documented succession plan in place
before an unmaintained succession plan begins to degrade materially
average cost of a senior leadership mis-hire when no pipeline exists
a maintained succession plan means a day-one longlist the moment a transition is confirmed
Recognise succession planning for what it is.
Many organisations discuss succession planning in risk management terms, fearing the loss of a critical executive in the medium term. Many others engage in it without any clear understanding of why they need to. The very best succession planners recognise the process for what it is: proactive preparation for inevitable personnel changes.
Your top executives won't be in post forever. Succession planning prepares you for the moment they leave.
"It's the HR equivalent of getting your bag and clothes ready for tomorrow. You're not 'mitigating the risk' of being naked. You're just getting ready for tomorrow."
Common mistakes that undermine even well-intentioned succession plans.
Wilbury Stratton has built hundreds of succession plans for Talent and HR teams across a wide array of industries and geographies. These are the failure modes we encounter most often.
Treating it as a risk exercise, not a readiness exercise.
Succession planning framed as "mitigating the risk of losing someone" tends to produce plans that sit in a drawer. Framed as operational readiness, it becomes a living tool.
Skipping the internal process.
Jumping straight to external candidates misses the organisation's greatest asset: colleagues who already understand the culture, the stakeholders, and the strategy.
Building to a brief that hasn't been tested.
A succession plan built on a vague or untested role definition produces a wide, unusable longlist. Precise scoping against the IMPACTS framework takes time, but it saves far more.
Never refreshing it.
In a 15-person plan, 1–2 people will have had a material change in situation after six months. 3–5 after twelve. A plan that isn't maintained becomes a liability, not an asset.
The standard a great succession plan is built to.
These are the benchmarks Wilbury Stratton works to on every engagement. The seven steps below show you exactly how to get there. This guide is complimentary, developed over 16 years of succession planning and talent intelligence work. Even if you are not ready to engage right now, we welcome the conversation.
A workable plan identifies 5–8 internal and 5–8 external options per critical role
Every candidate scored across 5 competency areas, out of 5 each, for consistent and objective assessment
The external market scan benchmarks across approximately 20 organisations most aligned to your profile
All Wilbury Stratton succession plans are actively refreshed for a minimum of one year as standard
Know Who You Are
The 8-Point INSIGHTS Framework- IndustrySelf-explanatory, but be as precise as possible about sector and sub-sector
- NarrativeWhat is the story behind the organisation and its current direction of travel?
- SpecialismWhere does this organisation specialise within its industry?
- IdentityWhat defines the culture and behaviours of the organisation?
- GeographySure, the company is global. But where are decisions actually made?
- Hiring DynamicsWhere does the organisation hire its people from? Where does it lose them to?
- Target MarketWho are the customers, and who are the material stakeholders?
- StakeholdersWhich external stakeholders have a material impact on the organisation?
Before you can identify the right successor, you need to be honest about what your organisation actually is. Not the version in the annual report. The operational reality.
"We are a leading investment manager. We're long-only, active in most public and private markets, and private markets growth is front and centre of our five-year strategy. We're the biggest in the UK by AuM, third in employee count, and fourth in revenues. We're collaborative but serious, our people get things done with minimal fuss, and most decisions originate in London."
"We're a global tier one investment manager. Everyone knows who we are and what we do."
Advising Talent and HR on how to apply the INSIGHTS framework and benchmark the organisation honestly in the wider market.
Know What You're Looking For
The 7-Point IMPACTS Framework- InfluenceWhat is the scale and nature of the people leadership remit?
- Management ContextWhere is this role positioned in the organisation? Which roles report directly to it?
- Performance DriversWhat does good performance look like, and how is it measured?
- AccountabilitiesWhat is this role actually accountable for, stated clearly and concretely?
- ChallengesWhat are the key risks, obstacles, and roadblocks this role regularly encounters?
- TouchpointsWhich groups inside and outside the organisation are affected by this role?
- Style & BehavioursWhat professional characteristics are genuinely required to succeed in this role?
The most common reason a succession plan fails is that the role was never properly defined. A precise brief is the foundation everything else is built on.
"We don't have a succession plan for our COO. She oversees procurement, real estate, sustainability, technology and transformation. There are 1,000 people in her group across five countries. She is tasked with driving down cost. The COO is measured on total procurement cost, technology uptime, sustainability index performance, and speed of change execution."
"We think our COO is a flight risk. It's one of those big, strategic roles. We need to cast the net wide, just in case."
Advising Talent and HR on how to apply the IMPACTS framework and understand how talent presents in the wider market.
Define What Good Looks Like
Formalising a Scoring Framework- Five Critical AreasIdentify the five most important factors for assessing a candidate's suitability for this specific role
- Specific and MeasurableEach factor should cut to the essence of the role and be objectively observable from the outside
- A Scoring GridScore every prospect out of 5 per factor, for a maximum score of 25. Define what each score requires in advance.
- Resist Over-AssessmentThis is not an executive recruitment process. Use a lean, focused scorecard, not a 20-page competency framework.
- Consistency is EverythingEvery prospect, internal and external, is assessed by the same model. Consistency drives business acceptance.
Without a consistent scoring framework, assessment becomes subjective and the plan becomes impossible to defend to stakeholders. This step removes opinion from the equation.
"We need to score candidates against their Transformation, Sustainability, Procurement, and Technology credentials, as well as the level of their stakeholder impact. We know exactly what a candidate needs to demonstrate in order to achieve each score from 1 to 5 in each of the five competency areas."
"It's such a varied and strategic role that we're looking for a unicorn who can do it all. We'll know what good looks like when we see it."
Advising Talent and HR on how to define and score competency areas. Check-and-challenge role as a critical friend to the business.
Find and Assess Your Internals
Building the Internal Longlist- Start Internally, AlwaysA good succession planning process begins with colleagues. The internal review offers the most scope for creativity and development risk.
- Be InclusiveResist the temptation to shortlist informally. Consult COOs, HRBPs, and leadership peers for their perspective on internal candidates.
- Ready NowColleagues who could step into the role immediately if required
- Ready in 1–2 YearsColleagues who are close but need one further step, experience, or development milestone
- Ready in 3+ YearsHigh-potential colleagues who may come into contention on a longer horizon
- Apply the ScorecardIn all cases, use the scoring system and align notes to the IMPACTS framework. Consistency is scalable; informal judgement is not.
Your internal talent is your greatest asset, and it is almost always underestimated. A structured internal review often surfaces candidates that informal processes miss entirely.
"We will speak with the COOs and HRBPs of related areas internally for their views on short-term, medium-term, and long-term internal talent options. We will directly lead on evaluating them against the scorecard."
"I have a few internal ideas in mind who I'll add in to give the internal perspective."
Necessarily minimal at this stage, although we can help ensure consistency between internal and external evaluations.
Find and Assess Externals
Mapping the External Market- Reflect on Steps 1–3Who you are, what you need, and what good looks like, all in the context of the specific role in scope
- Target ~20 OrganisationsIdentify organisations that most closely align to your INSIGHTS profile, including non-obvious adjacent sectors
- Research by CapabilitySearch by skills, accountabilities, and seniority, not by job title. Titles are unreliable across organisations.
- Ready Now OnlyExternal candidates should be assessed only for readiness to move now. Development milestones in external candidates rarely translate.
- Public Data vs Active OutreachPublic data alone creates insight asymmetry between internal and external candidates. Direct or third-party outreach delivers consistency.
- Apply the Same ScorecardExternal candidates must be assessed by the same model as internals. Objectivity is what makes a plan defensible to stakeholders.
The external market exists to benchmark and challenge your internal options, not replace them. Done properly, it gives you a complete picture rather than a partial one.
"We have spoken with three recent joiners from our competitors who recommended eight names. We have instructed Wilbury Stratton to engage the external market, ensuring consistency of insight across internal and external professionals and keeping our organisation completely off the record."
"Give me a scan of the market with people who do the same role in our four biggest competitors."
Serving as the confidential voice of the client in the external market, without fear of generating unnecessary noise.
Facilitate Business Acceptance
Getting the Plan Agreed and Ready- Manage Stakeholders ThroughoutTalent functions should engage business stakeholders across the whole process, not only at the end
- 5–8 Internals, 5–8 ExternalsA workable succession plan identifies this range of benchmarked options per critical role
- Act on FeedbackIf the plan is not accepted, action stakeholder feedback before finalising. The plan must be owned by the business, not just HR.
- An External Voice HelpsWilbury Stratton regularly co-presents findings to required stakeholders, adding external credibility to the recommendations
- Mark it CompleteA succession plan with no formal sign-off is rarely activated with confidence. Agreement should be documented.
A succession plan that only lives in HR is not a succession plan. This step ensures the right people own it, believe in it, and are ready to act on it.
"The business and HR have been key partners throughout this process. Our final recommendations will be discussed with them, their feedback incorporated, and the succession plan formally marked as complete."
"When this is all done, I'll take it to the HR leadership team to get it locked in."
Providing an external voice to co-present and recommend findings to the required stakeholders.
Refresh and Activate
Keeping the Plan Alive- A Little and OftenSchedule one hour per quarter to review and update each succession plan. It is far cheaper to maintain than to rebuild.
- 6-Month Reality CheckIn a 15-person plan, 1–2 people will have a material change in situation within 6 months. Review accordingly.
- 12-Month Review3–5 will have moved, changed role, or become unavailable. A more substantial review is required at this stage.
- 2-Year RebuildAfter two years, a more fundamental review may be required to account for shifting industry dynamics and changes in leadership positions at scale.
- Activate When ReadyWhen the incumbent signals their intention to move on, a maintained plan means a day-one longlist. No scramble. No reactive search.
A plan built today reflects today's market. Six months from now, the landscape will have shifted. This step is what separates a living tool from an archived document.
"Wilbury Stratton will cultivate this over the next year. When the role next becomes available, we will have a day-one longlist. All Wilbury Stratton succession plans are refreshed for a minimum one-year period as standard."
"The succession plan is not refreshed and is never used again, even when it could have been activated."
Handling refreshes and adjustments in real time. All WS succession plans are actively maintained for a minimum one-year period as standard.
One fixed fee.
The full process,
or the parts you need.
No retainers. No day rates. No "it depends." Wilbury Stratton agrees a fee before work begins. Every engagement is fixed-fee, agreed upfront, with no escalations and no surprises.
Talk to usWe apply the INSIGHTS and IMPACTS frameworks, build your scoring model, and support your internal assessment process from end to end.
We research, identify, and assess the external talent market on your behalf, confidentially, benchmarked against your scorecard.
We maintain and refresh your plan for a minimum of one year, so when a transition is confirmed, your longlist is ready on day one.
If you've got this far, let's put this into practice.
We would welcome the opportunity to demonstrate what we can do for your organisation's succession planning programme.