Succession Planning: How to Give Your CEO Real Options
Pick one critical role in your organization. If that person left tomorrow, do you have a ready now option, a ready soon option, or nothing at all?
Now the harder question. Do you actually believe your own answer?
At one company, the answer looked excellent on paper. They'd picked the successor for a critical senior role a decade before the seat opened. Years of assessment, board engaged the whole way, ten years of investment behind one person. The handoff was smooth and everyone called it a win.
Three other leaders ended up quietly carrying that part of the business for six years.
That story came out of the second panel at our 11th annual Big CHRO Event on September 11 in the Dallas, TX area. The panel was called "Build a real leadership bench so the CEO has options," and our moderator framed the whole hour in one sentence:
"Our goal is simple. How do we give our CEO and senior leaders credible board options?"
Options. Not a plan. Not a grid. Options.
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