Succession Planning is a Change Management Initiative
Most organizations know they need succession planning.
Few approach it as a change initiative.
Instead, they focus on identifying future leaders and making promotion decisions. But succession planning is really about ensuring the entire organization transitions smoothly and embraces the shift—whether that’s a CEO stepping down, a new department leader taking over, or key employees moving into more strategic roles.
People, in general, resist uncertainty. And ignoring the human side of change is why so many succession plans fail. If your employees don’t understand the process (or even know that you have a process!) or feel like they are in the dark regarding when and why transitions happen, productivity drops, morale takes a hit, and suddenly, what should have been a seamless leadership handoff turns into an organizational crisis.
Why Proactive Change Management Makes Succession Planning Work
Change is inevitable. How you manage it determines whether it’s an opportunity or a disruption. In succession planning, proactively managing change ensures that employees at all levels feel informed, prepared, and engaged in the process. Here’s how:
Start Communicating Early and Often Organizations make a huge mistake when they keep succession planning discussions behind closed doors. A lack of transparency breeds fear, gossip, and uncertainty. If employees don’t understand the company’s plan for the future, they’ll assume the worst—sometimes even leaving because that gives them a sense of control over their own career. Clear, consistent communication about succession planning eliminates speculation and builds confidence in the process.
Create Development Pathways Before You Need Them One of the biggest challenges in leadership transitions is employees feeling like changes are happening to them rather than for the good of the organization. Instead of waiting until a leadership vacancy appears, organizations should establish career pathways that develop employees into future leaders. This way, when transitions occur, they aren’t a shock—they’re the natural next step. Career paths also ensure that anyone can be a leader because they’ve been “primed” to know what they need to do, and what the timeline is, to achieve a leadership role.
Involve Employees in the Process Change isn’t something you impose—it’s something you guide. Employees should be active participants in succession planning. This means mentorship programs, cross-training, and leadership development opportunities should be woven into the company culture. My favorite maxim is: Succession planning should be standard operating procedure.
Address Emotional Resistance Change is just as much emotional as it is operational. Employees may worry about job security, new leadership styles, or how a new direction will affect them personally. Organizations that proactively acknowledge these concerns and provide support—through coaching, town hall meetings, and feedback channels—make transitions smoother.
Real Life Story
Here is an example of a company that did everything wrong; don’t be like them.
The numbers correspond to the numbers/best practices, above.
1. I started working with them at the beginning of July of 2024. I had three meetings in the course of a month, and, from the get-go, I said, “You need to tell people who I am and why I'm here. There's nothing nefarious happening in this conference room, but if you don't tell them, they're going to become nervous and think worst-case scenario. Maybe I’m from the IRS and you’re in big trouble. Maybe I’m a business broker and you’re getting ready to sell the company. They don’t know. The client refused to tell their employees who I was or why we were behind closed doors for hours at a time.
2. The current company executives “hand-picked” three new C-suite executives BUT when I asked who would replace these three when they moved up, I got blank stares. They could have planned a career path progression to mid-level manager roles and then into senior roles, but they had no plan for how they would replace the middle managers. That meant no one in the company was prepared to move up into the vacancies.
A vacancy at the senior-leader level or a middle-manager level is still an opportunity for chaos and a single point of failure.
3. The hand-picked future CEO had no preparation for the CEO role, in fact, during one of our early meetings he stood up, forcefully put his hands on the conference table, and said “I don’t know what a CEO does!” He had been with the company 20+ years, but they had done nothing to teach him how the business itself ran.
4. Before our third meeting a very key person had left the company to do the same job he was doing for the client, but for the state. I don’t know why he left, for sure, because I never spoke to him, but I DO know that:
a. He too was a 20+ year employee and perhaps he felt the hand-picked future CEO was a snub to him
b. Perhaps he saw the behind-closed-doors meetings we were having and it made him nervous about his job security – and he wanted to proactively control his options.
Additionally, I DO know that the company’s senior leaders were shocked and wounded that he had left. A large part of company revenue came from the division that he ran.
Do any of these situations sound like something that is going on in your company?
If so, please see my contact information at the bottom of this article!
Succession Planning Done Right = Change Management Done Right
At its core, succession planning is an exercise in change management. The best-laid plans will fail if the people affected by leadership transitions aren’t engaged, informed, and prepared. Organizations that treat succession as a structured, transparent, and people-centered process will set themselves up for long-term success—turning inevitable change into a strategic advantage.
This article was originally posted on LinkedIn.