Too Stable to Fail: Building Successful Succession Planning Before You Need It

Your organization is most vulnerable when you’re in transition. Founders exit, boards change leadership, Directors leave. When big changes happen, revenue tends to dip and employees grow anxious.

Yet board and executive teams often treat succession planning like some HR administrative task. Maybe they have a “backup folder” on their computer somewhere. It’s half completed at best, and collects cyber-dust until they need it.

Don’t wait until a crisis to plan for continuity

Succession planning is not a static “Plan B” folder. Thoughtful succession planning is a process, and one of the most important functions your board can provide.

Succession planning vs. Replacement hiring

Replacement hiring is what most people think of when talk of “succession” comes up. Someone quits, and someone else posts a job description.

Succession Planning is the process of decentralizing your operations. It’s daily cross-training and intentionally stress-testing your systems so that the organization runs exactly the same no matter who’s in charge.

Succession Planning is how you build institutional strength and stability.

Executive succession meets the board

Part of a healthy (and sometimes painful!) relationship between your executive staff and your board is radical transparency.

Your board of directors cannot successfully govern if they don’t know what vulnerable operations look like behind the scenes. Executives should be bringing succession plans to the table AND asking the board to help stress-test those plans with them.

Get a head start on Stability

You build successful succession planning into your organization one day at a time. Take a look at these three areas of vulnerability and ask how you can decentralize risk today:.

Passwords: Avoid single points of failure.

If all the “admin” logins to your department’s primary software programs and vendor accounts live on one person’s laptop, that person suddenly quitting will wreak havoc on your organization.

Protect yourself by auditing what software you’re paying for this week, and return those department licenses to the directors who actually lead them.

Know Your Vulnerabilities: Stress-test high-volume, high-stakes operations.

Big tickets items like your annual financial audit should never be maintained by one person. Involve both your current and incoming board treasurer in the review process with your audit team. That way your finance committee maintains institutional knowledge, even if your awesome finance staffer moves on.

Take a Vacation: Run your “What-if I disappear for 30 days?” drill.

Grab coffee with the people you lead and simply ask them:

“What will break if I disappear for 30 days and don’t check my phone?”

Whatever items they list—getting payroll signed-off, compiling monthly grant reports, reaching your donor renewal goals—are vulnerabilities.

Develop SOPs for those items first.