Succession Planning: Steps, 9-Box Grid and Free Template

Succession planning is the process of identifying the roles your organisation can't afford to leave empty and preparing people who could step into them, either at short notice or over the longer term. The CIPD defines it as identifying and growing talent to fill business-critical positions in the future. Done well, it reduces the disruption when someone leaves, and it gives ambitious employees a visible path to grow.

This guide covers the steps, how to use the 9-box grid without fooling yourself, a copy-ready succession plan template and the mistakes to avoid.

What is succession planning?

Succession planning is a planned, repeatable way to make sure you have ready or nearly ready people for your most important roles. It answers three questions: which roles matter most, who could do them next, and what those people need to be ready.

The CIPD describes two broad approaches:

Many organisations use both: named successors for a handful of top roles and pools for everything below.

Why does succession planning matter?

Succession planning protects the business from the sudden loss of a key person and helps you keep the people you want to promote. SHRM's coverage stresses including anyone whose sudden departure could disrupt the business, not just senior executives, and telling employees they are being developed for bigger roles, because people who see no development may leave.

It also links to your wider talent work: retention (see our guide on how to decrease employee turnover), learning and development, and workforce planning.

How to create a succession plan: step by step

Step 1: Identify critical roles

List the roles where a sudden vacancy would cause real damage. Score each on two questions:

• Impact: how badly would the business suffer if this role were empty for three months?
• Difficulty to replace: how rare are the skills, knowledge or relationships?

Look beyond the leadership team. The CIPD notes that older schemes often overlooked non-managerial specialists whose expertise is critical, such as the one engineer who understands a legacy system or the account manager who holds your biggest client relationship.

Step 2: Write a success profile for each role

A success profile describes what it takes to succeed in the role in future, not just what the current job description says. SHRM recommends a one-page outline of the competencies and skills each role needs, built from interviews with leaders, and notes that this reduces bias when choosing successors. Include:

• The outcomes the role must deliver over the next two to three years.
• Technical skills and knowledge.
• Behaviours and leadership capabilities.
• Experiences that matter, for example managing a budget or leading through a restructure.

Step 3: Identify potential successors

Look for people who could fill each role now, in one to two years, or with more development. The CIPD describes selection through routes such as performance reviews and competency assessment, with processes to assess candidates objectively and to challenge decisions. Good practice:

• Ask more than one person for nominations, not just the role holder.
• Consider people in other teams and sideways moves. The CIPD notes that flatter structures make upward promotion less available, so lateral moves matter more.
• Include internal and, where none is suitable, an external option.

Step 4: Assess readiness and potential

Assess each potential successor against the success profile. Separate two things:

• Performance: how well they do their current job, based on evidence.
• Potential: how likely they are to succeed in a bigger or different role.

The CIPD warns that "potential" needs a clear, consistent definition. Write yours down, for example: "Learns quickly in unfamiliar situations, takes on broader responsibility, and has shown they can lead others through change", then ask for evidence against each part.

Step 5: Use the 9-box grid with care

The 9-box grid plots people on two axes, current performance and future potential, each rated low, medium or high, which gives nine boxes. SHRM notes the tool was introduced in the 1970s and remains a staple of talent assessment and succession planning.

How to use it well:

• Treat it as a conversation aid, not a verdict. The value is in calibrating views across managers.
• Define potential before rating anyone. SHRM's contributor asks how anyone objectively measures potential, and warns that unclear measurement frequently leads to subjectivity and bias.
• Don't confuse performance with potential. A great individual contributor may not want, or suit, a management role.
• Challenge every placement. Ask "what evidence?" and watch for favouritism, recency and similarity bias. Our guide to unconscious bias in recruitment covers the same biases in hiring decisions.
• Consider a simpler grid. An adviser quoted by SHRM prefers a 4-box grid because busy executives disengage from complicated processes.

Step 6: Create development plans

Every named successor needs a development plan tied to the gaps in their success profile. The CIPD lists development routes including lateral moves, properly planned and supported secondments, learning and development, and management experience. SHRM mentions rotational programmes and senior mentors. A good plan has:

• Two or three priority gaps, not ten.
• A mix of stretch assignments, coaching or mentoring, and formal learning.
• A named sponsor and dates.
• Evidence you'll look for to judge progress.

If you need a structured format for the gaps, our skills gap analysis template works for individual successors as well as teams.

Step 7: Set a review cadence

Plans go stale quickly. SHRM's guidance suggests refreshing formal data at least yearly and sharing progress with leaders at least quarterly. A workable rhythm:

• Quarterly: check development plans and any changes in critical roles or people.
• Yearly: full talent review, re-score critical roles and refresh the 9-box.
• Immediately: when a critical role holder resigns, a successor leaves, or the business changes direction.

Also keep an emergency cover plan: for each critical role, who would act up for the first few weeks if the role holder left tomorrow.

Succession plan template

Copy this table into a spreadsheet or document, one row per critical role. The readiness bands are an example; use whatever definitions your organisation agrees.

And a summary view for your leadership team (illustrative names and roles):

A role with nobody in the "ready now" or "ready in 1 to 2 years" columns is your top priority for development or external hiring. When you do need to hire externally for a critical role, a structured interview against the same success profile keeps the comparison fair.

Common succession planning mistakes

• Only covering the top team. Specialists and key client roles are often the bigger risk.
• Naming successors without developing them. A name in a spreadsheet isn't a plan.
• Confusing performance with potential. Top performers are not automatically future leaders.
• Keeping it secret. The CIPD notes that a lack of transparency can lead employees to opt out. Decide what you will share, and tell people they are being developed.
• Making it complicated. If the process takes leaders too long, they stop engaging.
• Looking backwards. The CIPD warns that competencies can look backward. Build success profiles around where the business is going.
• Never updating it. An out-of-date plan is worse than none, because it gives false comfort.

Sources

Checked 30 October 2026.

• CIPD: Succession planning factsheet
• SHRM: Build a succession plan to ensure business continuity
• SHRM: Outside the 9-box, a holistic approach to talent evaluation