Succession Planning Policy Template (PDF)

What's inside

• Scope and purpose: which roles the policy covers and the threshold for adding one
• Roles and responsibilities: who owns each plan, who approves, who is consulted
• Assessment standards: criteria set before candidates, evidence required per rating
• Review cadence: the quarterly touch, the twice-yearly full review, and the event triggers
• Confidentiality and disclosure: what candidates are told and what stays closed
• Record-keeping: what must be logged for a decision to be defensible later

Most succession programs fail on cadence rather than on method, and a policy is the cheapest fix available. Writing down which roles are in scope, who owns each plan, what evidence a rating needs, and how often the whole thing gets reviewed converts a good intention into something an organization can be held to.

This template is deliberately short and unlegalistic. It is an internal operating document meant to be adopted and followed, not a compliance artifact written to sit in a drawer. Adapt the thresholds and the cadence to your size; keep the parts about evidence and named owners, because those are the two clauses that do the actual work.

One clause worth keeping as written: the disclosure section. Deciding in advance what a named successor is told is the difference between a development conversation and someone hearing about their own future from a recruiter.