Navigate Forward recently hosted a group of HR and talent leaders for a discussion on enabling succession planning. That conversation is the basis for this article, and the series focused on the topic. Check out the first article in the series here.
Most organizations say succession planning matters. Far fewer can say who is actually responsible for it.
When a critical role opens, the answer becomes clear very quickly. Either there is a prepared successor and a leadership team aligned behind them, or there is a scramble. The difference rarely comes down to the quality of the plan on paper. It comes down to who owned it before the vacancy.
Our recent conversation with HR and talent leaders surfaced four themes that separate organizations that are ready from those that hope to be.
Who Should Own Succession Planning?
The most direct message from the room: HR can’t be the primary owner of talent development. Every leader must be accountable for developing their people. So what does that look like?
Start with structure. A documented succession plan should spell out how to identify, develop, and prepare successors. It should also hold internal candidates to the same interview process as external ones. That protects the integrity of the process and gives internal talent a clear, credible path.
Then accountability. Managers should be held directly responsible for delivering the developmental experiences a successor needs and for assessing whether that person can scale into a bigger role.
Succession planning is a team sport. Leaders are often asked to name potential successors, but they aren’t always the ones who make the final call when a position opens. Without real alignment and open conversation across the leadership team, no one sees the same potential in a candidate, and no one is invested in developing it. That’s why an organization can end up starting from scratch the moment a role opens.
Why Do Success Profiles and Assessments Matter?
Participants in our succession planning conversation named success profiles as the key tool for identifying the right people and gauging their readiness. Those built in-house tended to work best, because they reflect what success looks like in your organization, not a generic model.
Just as important, the tool is only half the equation. Teams need to agree on what “great” looks like for a critical role before they begin hiring against a profile. A profile without alignment is just a document.
The group also questioned traditional measures. Instead of the familiar nine-box view of performance and potential, leaders want a sharper question to matter more going forward: can this person truly scale?
Third-party assessments can help answer it. They also send a message. Investing in an objective assessment shows a candidate they are valued, and the results support their development.
Do Newer and Long-Tenured Leaders Approach Succession Differently?
This observation sparked plenty of discussion: newer leaders tend to reach for outside hires, while long-tenured leaders lean toward promoting from within.
Neither instinct is wrong. But each reflects a comfort level shaped by experience, and each can quietly steer a decision before the evidence is weighed. A documented process and a shared definition of success give both perspectives something objective to work from.
Why Does On-the-Job Experience Beat Training?
You can’t get a successor ready through training alone. Experience is the biggest lever, and the group pointed to a few ways to use it well:
- Board experience. Serving on a board was called out as an especially strong way to prepare someone for a C-suite role.
- Mentoring relationships. Critical knowledge and skills transfer through relationships, not slide decks.
- Assessment opportunities and long-term incentives. For high potentials, both demonstrate investment and directly support development.
Each of these tells a rising leader the same thing: we see your potential, and we’re committing to it.
Turning Conversation into a Plan
Strong succession planning isn’t a document or a once-a-year exercise. It’s a shared commitment between the managers who own development, profiles the team truly believes in, and experiences that stretch people before the title changes.
If you’re rethinking how your organization identifies and prepares its next leaders, we can help.
Let’s talk about building a succession approach your leadership team can stand behind. Contact us to learn more, or explore our Legacy Planning practice and Executive Onboarding Accelerator.
