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Ceo's Sucession Planning

Succession Planning
A change in executive leadership is inevitable for all organizations and can be a very challenging time. A succession plan policy is a tool to help an organization be prepared for planned or unplanned absences of the director, clarifying authority and decision-making and thereby maintaining accountability and ensuring stability.
The following sections outline the key components of succession plan policy and provide a brief sample policy.  For practical advice on how to develop a policy, see the July 2003 issue of Transition Leader, which includes a case study on emergency succession planning.
Elements of a Succession Plan Policy
• Statement of commitment to prepare for inevitable leadership change.
• Statement of commitment to assess leadership needs before beginning a search.
• Plan to appoint interim leadership to ensure smooth operations and compliance with contractual obligations.
• Outline of succession procedures including:
o internal management succession to the interim position,
o time frame for making the interim appointment,
o time frame for appointing a board transition committee, and
o roles of the transition committee, e.g., communication with stakeholders, identifying a transition management consultant, conducting an organizational assessment and designing the search plan.
Sample Executive Succession Plan Policy
Policy Statement:
A change in executive leadership is inevitable for all organizations and can be a very challenging time.  Therefore, it is the policy of the [ORGANIZATION] to be prepared for an eventual permanent change in leadership – either planned or unplanned – to insure the stability and accountability of the organization until such time as new permanent leadership is identified.  The board of directors shall be responsible for implementing this policy and its related procedures.
It is also the policy of the board to assess the permanent leadership...