About this session
Succession planning connects the work a business needs to sustain with the people and capabilities that could carry it forward.
A useful plan explains which roles need attention, what successful performance will require, which options are supported by evidence, and what preparation or alternative coverage is still needed.
Choose this session for HR business partners, talent and learning specialists, and business leaders who design or contribute to succession reviews. Participants work with a defined role family or small group of critical positions.
The scope can include technical experts, operational specialists, and customer-facing roles as well as management positions.
Participants learn to keep current performance, future potential, role-specific readiness, career interest, and practical availability distinct.
They practice comparing evidence consistently, challenging unsupported assumptions, and turning identified gaps into supported development opportunities. They also examine whether the same person is being counted as the solution to several simultaneous vacancies.
The longer formats add interim coverage, knowledge handover, transition support, scenario testing, and governance. Participants leave with a scoped Strategic Succession Plan and an implementation roadmap.
The course develops the capability of the people planning succession; preparing prospective successors for their future work can require a separate, longer development pathway.
What your people take away
- Prioritize critical roles using future business needs and continuity requirements
- Define role-specific expectations and the evidence needed to assess readiness
- Compare succession options while respecting career interests and practical availability
- Build supported development experiences with observable milestones
- Plan interim coverage, knowledge handover, and realistic role transitions
- Establish fair review, accountable decisions, and measures of genuine coverage
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What each length covers
30 minutes
30 Minutes — Key Points: Identify Critical Roles & Define Future RequirementsA focused 30-minute session on three key points from Identify Critical Roles & Define Future Requirements: connect succession with business direction, prioritize roles by continuity impact and separate immediate cover from longer-term succession.
- Connect succession with business direction
- Prioritize roles by continuity impact
- Separate immediate cover from longer-term succession
60 minutes
Strategic Succession Planning EssentialsA focused introduction to Module 1. Participants identify one critical role, clarify its future requirements, and distinguish immediate cover from longer-term preparation. They leave with a Succession Planning Brief and the evidence questions needed before discussing candidates.
- Strategic purpose and planning horizon
- Role criticality and continuity impact
- Future requirements rather than incumbent replication
- Immediate cover and longer-term succession
- Guided output: Succession Planning Brief
- Live Q&A
90 minutes
Build a Role-Based Succession AssessmentAn extended workshop covering Modules 1 and 2. Participants define a target role, review supplied candidate profiles, separate performance from readiness, and practice a structured evidence discussion. They produce an initial coverage map with assumptions and gaps clearly stated; development and transition planning are expanded in the longer formats.
- Module 1 — Identify Critical Roles & Define Future Requirements
- Module 2 — Evaluate Succession Options With Evidence & Fair Judgment
- Future Role Profile and evidence criteria
- Performance, potential, readiness, interest, and availability
- Guided talent review and coverage check
- Guided output: Initial Succession Coverage Map
- Live Q&A
3 hours
Full day
Strategic Succession Planning LabA four-hour workshop, including breaks, covering all four modules. Participants work through a bounded role group, compare evidence, draft a development pathway, and test a continuity scenario. They leave with a draft succession plan, ownership decisions, and a prioritized implementation roadmap for further review and approval.
- Module 1 — Identify Critical Roles & Define Future Requirements
- Module 2 — Evaluate Succession Options With Evidence & Fair Judgment
- Module 3 — Build Development Pathways & Transition Readiness
- Module 4 — Govern, Test & Review the Succession Plan
- Critical Role and Future Requirements Map
- Candidate Evidence and Calibration Exercise
- Development Assignment and Transition Planning
- Succession Coverage Scenario Test
- Guided output: Draft Strategic Succession Plan
- Live Q&A
Also available as a 4-week or 8-week program, for change that lasts. Ask us about it.
What’s covered
Identify Critical Roles & Define Future Requirements
- Connect succession with business directionParticipants identify the strategic priorities, operating changes, and specialist capabilities that succession planning needs to support.
- Prioritize roles by continuity impactParticipants compare the consequences of a vacancy, the scarcity of relevant capability, the time needed to prepare someone, and the concentration of essential knowledge or relationships.
- Separate immediate cover from longer-term successionParticipants distinguish temporary continuity arrangements from the development of candidates for a future substantive appointment.
- Define what readiness would look likeParticipants describe the target role's outcomes, essential expertise, judgment, stakeholder responsibilities, and any required authorization.
Evaluate Succession Options With Evidence & Fair Judgment
- Build a broader view of possible talentParticipants examine who could develop toward the target work across teams, sites, career routes, and relevant specialist pathways.
- Distinguish performance, potential & readinessParticipants separate demonstrated performance in the current role from a reasoned view of future growth and readiness for a specified target role.
- Calibrate through structured evidence reviewParticipants rehearse a talent review in which managers compare evidence against the same role criteria.
- Test whether the coverage is realisticParticipants distinguish an evidence-backed option from an untested nomination, a longer-term development prospect, or an unresolved gap.
Build Development Pathways & Transition Readiness
- Turn readiness gaps into development experiencesParticipants connect each priority gap with a suitable assignment, supported practice, mentoring relationship, specialist learning, or cross-functional experience.
- Make opportunities practical to accessParticipants plan the manager support, release time, backfill, sponsorship, and feedback required for a development opportunity to happen.
- Prepare a useful knowledge handoverParticipants identify the decisions, exceptions, relationships, and specialist know-how needed for continuity in the selected role.
- Design coverage & transition optionsParticipants build an interim arrangement and a longer-term transition route for a priority role.
Govern, Test & Review the Succession Plan
- Clarify ownership & decision authorityParticipants distinguish sponsorship of the overall plan, ownership of critical-role coverage, responsibility for development actions, and authority over appointments.
- Communicate the process & protect personal informationParticipants define what employees should understand about consideration criteria, development opportunities, feedback, and future review.
- Stress-test changing roles & multiple vacanciesParticipants test the plan against a scenario such as a critical vacancy occurring sooner than expected, a prospective successor declining a move, two roles requiring cover together, or a strategy change altering the target requirements.
- Measure coverage, development & transition qualityParticipants define measures for current evidence-backed coverage, unresolved gaps, development milestones, access to opportunities, and transition support.
Tools and materials
- Succession Planning Brief
- Critical Role Prioritization Map
- Future Role Profile
- Readiness Evidence Record
- Talent Review Calibration Guide
- Succession Coverage Map
- Readiness Development Planner
- Critical Role Transition Planner
- Succession Governance & Communication Plan
- 90-Day Succession Implementation Plan
How booking works
- Book online. Create a free Workbliss profile, then pay with session credits, by card or by invoice.
- Pick a date. Choose a date at least 14 days ahead, or book now and set the date later.
- Choose your expert. Within 3 working days, we send you profiles of the experts available for your date.
- We deliver it. Your expert is briefed on your people and goals, then runs the session live online or at your site.
Questions about Strategic Succession Planning
How long is Strategic Succession Planning?
Strategic Succession Planning runs as 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, 3 hours or full day. You choose the length when you book. A 30-minute session covers three key points from Identify Critical Roles & Define Future Requirements: connect succession with business direction, prioritize roles by continuity impact and separate immediate cover from longer-term succession. A 60-minute session covers Identify Critical Roles & Define Future Requirements in full, with a live Q&A. A 90-minute session adds Evaluate Succession Options With Evidence & Fair Judgment. A 3-hour session adds Build Development Pathways & Transition Readiness. A full-day session adds Govern, Test & Review the Succession Plan. It is also available as a 4-week or 8-week program.
Can Strategic Succession Planning be delivered online or in person?
Yes, both. It runs live online, so every office can join at the same time, or in person at your site, in any country.
How do we book Strategic Succession Planning?
Create a free Workbliss profile with your work email, then open Strategic Succession Planning to see the price for each length and book it. You can pay with session credits, by card or by invoice, and choose a date at least 14 days ahead, or set it later.
Who leads the session?
A vetted Workbliss expert, briefed on your people, culture and goals before the session. After you book, we send you profiles of the experts available for your date within 3 working days, so you can choose who leads it.
Can it be tailored to our company?
Yes. Every session is shaped around your goals, your people and the benefits you already offer, and delivered by experts in your people’s languages.