Building the bench before you need it
A succession plan is a document. A pipeline is a set of people who are genuinely ready on the day you need them. Most organisations have the first and quietly know they do not have the second.
We facilitate the talent conversations, assess readiness with evidence rather than reputation, and build it deliberately - with real stretch, real feedback and real accountability.
A succession plan
- Names against roles
- Reviewed once a year
- Potential spotted by visibility
- Development left to chance
- One name against three roles
A leadership pipeline
- People ready for them
- Reviewed every quarter
- Potential assessed with evidence
- Stretch, feedback, accountability
- A bench two deep
What is succession planning?
Succession planning is the deliberate work of making sure every critical role has people ready to step into it: identifying potential across the organisation, assessing readiness objectively, developing it through real stretch and exposure, and reviewing the pipeline often enough that it stays live. A talent review is the facilitated conversation where leaders do that together, with evidence on the table.
Tick the ones you recognise
Six things we hear when the pipeline is a spreadsheet. The test is whether you would be comfortable if it were triggered next month.
Nothing is stored or sent. It is just for you.What stays with you when we go
A pipeline is measured by what happens at the next senior exit. This is what holds.
- A talent review your leaders run themselves, with evidence rather than impressions.
- A readiness picture for every critical role, in writing, agreed by the top team.
- Individual development plans with real stretch attached - projects, exposure, accountability.
- Successors supported through the transition, which is where most promotions succeed or fail.
- A quarterly review rhythm, so the pipeline never goes back to being annual.
Five movements, in order
Identifying potential is the easy part. Developing it deliberately is where nearly every pipeline breaks - so most of the work sits in the middle three steps.
- 1
Identify
Facilitated talent reviews that surface potential across the organisation, not just the people leadership happens to see.
Talent reviewsWhole organisation - 2
Assess
Development centres, psychometrics and 360° feedback to establish readiness objectively rather than by reputation.
Development centresPsychometrics360° feedback - 3
Develop
Individual development plans with genuine stretch - real projects, real exposure, real accountability.
Stretch projectsExposure - 4
Deploy
Coaching and structured support through the transition into the role.
CoachingThe transition - 5
Review
Regular, honest talent review rhythms that keep the pipeline live rather than annual.
QuarterlyLive, not annual
The work that usually follows, or runs alongside
Leadership assessment & 360° feedback
The evidence a talent review needs: where each successor actually stands.
See the solutionExecutive coaching
Support through the transition, for the people the review has just moved.
See the solutionSuccession and leadership pipeline
The challenge as clients describe it, and the signs it is yours.
See the challengeThe questions we hear first
How is this different from the succession plan we already have?
A plan names people. This work makes them ready - and tells you honestly, with evidence, who is not yet. Most clients keep their plan and change what sits behind it.
Who takes part in a talent review?
The leadership team, facilitated by us so the conversation stays on evidence rather than on who is most visible. Nothing is decided about a person by someone who has never worked with them.
How do you assess readiness?
Development centres, psychometrics and 360° feedback, read against what the next role actually requires. Reputation is a data point, not the verdict.
How long does it take?
A first review and readiness picture within a quarter. Building readiness runs over the following twelve to eighteen months, reviewed quarterly.
What if the honest answer is that nobody is ready?
Then you know it before a resignation tells you, and the plan changes: external search for that role, and a development plan so the next one is different.
Let’s stress-test your leadership pipeline
Bring us your top three critical roles. In 45 minutes we will walk through how ready you actually are, and what would close the gap.