Succession Management: Building Leadership for the Future, Not the Past

Succession management is a critical part of driving the future of your business. It shapes how your organization will look in the years ahead, whether we’re talking about the owner, CEO, manager, or key direct-report roles that support your leadership team today.

One of the most common patterns I see when working with leadership teams is a natural tendency to select successors who closely resemble the person currently in the role. After all, we know that approach has worked. But when we slow down and really think about succession, we often realize something important:
the role itself may look very different in the future than it does today.

That shift requires us to step back and rethink not just who the successor is, but what the role will truly require moving forward.

Below are three key principles to help guide a stronger, future-focused succession management process.

1. Focus on Future Role Needs - Not Just Today’s Requirements

Effective succession planning looks beyond the present. When done properly, we’re thinking two to three years out, and often even five years into the future.

As we map succession categories, such as “ready now,” “one to two years,” and “three to five years”, the expectations for each group can change significantly. The skills and talents required today may still matter, but future roles often demand additional technical capabilities, broader leadership scope, or the ability to operate at greater scale.

The key question becomes:
What will this role truly require in the future, not just today?

2. Separate Readiness from Potential

A strong succession conversation clearly distinguishes between readiness and potential.

The “ready now” category is important, but the majority of succession planning focuses on individuals who are one to two years or three to five years away from stepping into a role. In those cases, the discussion is less about what they can do today and more about their potential to grow into what the role will require.

To assess potential, we need to consider:

• What they are capable of today
• How quickly and effectively they’ve learned new skills
• Their ability to grow when placed in challenging situations

Their learning agility and growth trajectory often tell us far more about future success than current performance alone.

3. Use Multiple Tools - Not Just Your Gut

Instinct matters. If every tool points in one direction but your gut says something else, that deserves attention. However, succession decisions should never rely on gut feel alone.

Instead, use a combination of tools to build a complete picture, including:

• Performance reviews (looking not just at results, but how the process is handled)
• Employee engagement in feedback processes
• Leadership 360 assessments
• Leadership capability and behavioral assessments

When these tools are used together, they provide a well-rounded, objective view of an individual’s readiness and potential, far stronger than any single data point.

Succession mapping is not about comfort, familiarity, or maintaining the status quo. It’s about future-proofing your leadership team.

The goal is to intentionally design and map the strongest possible leadership structure for where your business is headed, not where it’s been.

If you’d like to dig deeper into succession mapping and what this could look like inside your business, I’d be happy to talk through some ideas with you.

Get in touch.

Andrew Buchan

Your business accelerator