Is your CEO succession plan prepared for a pandemic?

The Covid crisis has revealed the importance of having a well-thought out succession plan for executives

Amultinational client CEO has been planning to resign for three years in a row, but every time the topic came up, the board persuaded him to continue for another period, saying a succession plan would be finalised before he could hang up his boots. This year was finally meant to be his year of freedom from the company, but the pandemic hit. And now the board just doesn’t feel a new person can succeed him during this turmoil.

C-level succession planning has long been inconsistent among corporations worldwide and even in large local companies, it is often vague and reactive. In some cases, the talent planning and development for top roles are well in place, but what is missing might be the chief executive succession plan. In your organisation, how current and actionable are your emergency succession plans? The coronavirus crisis has shaken up a lot of certainties about how effective executive succession planning really is. Are your plans in jeopardy because of the pandemic?

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to find out:

We find that many of our corporate clients realise the harsh reality of dud succession plans at this time. A survey of over 50 per cent of S&P 500 companies found that only about 20 of them had a real, written and formal plan. This is defined as who does what, and precisely how the plan will be implemented. (Note: writing a name and tucking it into an “Open in Emergency” envelope is a plan).

Is your plan really a plan?

Best practice today is to demand that the current CEO, top team, and the board craft a crisis plan that can be implemented immediately, smoothly and with flexibility. Organisations should have at least two or three names in the list and not just one. This will ensure leadership

Is the plan both deep and flexible?

Your inbox is full

The number of emails sent every day is showing no signs of slowing down