Succession planning template

A talent assessment exercise can help you identify your organization's high performers for effective succession planning, discover what development needs exist in your organization, and future-proof your org. With a 9-box grid and a formal talent review, you can evaluate an individual's performance and high potential to identify and develop your organization's future leaders.

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Use this template to facilitate and capture a conversation about your talent pool in your next talent management or succession planning meeting with your leadership team or board members. Simply move high potential or low potential candidates across the 9-box grid in your leadership potential conversations. Capture career development actions or current performance with multiple select fields. Visualize future senior leaders and your leadership team's talent pipeline with an org chart.

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Try the template

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What is a succession planning template?

A succession planning template is a structured document, worksheet, or framework that organizations use to identify and develop employees who have the potential to fill key leadership and critical positions in the future. It's essentially a strategic tool or action plan for ensuring business continuity when important roles become vacant due to retirement, promotion, resignation, or other initiatives and leadership changes.

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Why use a succession planning template?

• Provides structure and consistency: Without a template, succession planning often happens informally or inconsistently across departments. Ensure everyone uses the same criteria and process, making it easier to compare candidates and track progress organization-wide.
• Prevents knowledge loss: When key employees leave unexpectedly, organizations can scramble. A template helps you identify critical roles in advance and ensures you're actively preparing people to step in, so institutional knowledge and expertise don't walk out the door.
• Saves time and reduces costs: Recruiting externally for senior positions is expensive and time-consuming. Having internal candidates ready to promote reduces hiring costs, shortens transition periods, and minimizes disruption to operations.
• Increases employee engagement and retention: When employees see a clear path for advancement and know the organization is investing in development opportunities, they're more likely to stay. The template makes career progression visible and intentional rather than vague or political.
• Inspires proactive thinking: Prompt leaders to think ahead about who might fill critical roles rather than reacting when someone gives notice, turning succession planning from a crisis response into an ongoing strategic process.
• Facilitates better decisions: Having all the information in one standardized format makes it easier for leadership teams to spot business needs and skills gaps, assess organizational risk, and allocate development resources where they're needed most.

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What to include in a succession planning template

• Position information: Document the job title, department, reporting structure, and why this role is business-critical. Include salary range and whether it's a single position or multiple similar roles.
• Vacancy risk level: Rate the urgency—is the current person retiring soon, or is this just planning for the unexpected? Note how difficult it would be to fill this role externally.
• Key responsibilities and required competencies: List the essential functions of the role and the specific skill sets, knowledge, and attributes needed to succeed. This goes beyond a job description to capture what truly makes someone effective in this position.
• Succession candidates with readiness ratings: Name 2-3 potential successors and categorize each as "ready now," "ready in 1-2 years," or "ready in 3+ years." Include their current role and a brief rationale for why they're candidates.
• Individual development needs: For each candidate, specify what they need to work on: technical skills, leadership capabilities, industry knowledge, or exposure to other parts of the business.
• Development activities and owners: Outline concrete actions like cross-functional projects, executive coaching, external courses, or acting assignments. Assign who's responsible for making each happen.
• Interim coverage plan: Identify who could temporarily fill the role if it becomes vacant suddenly, even if they're not the long-term successor.
• Review dates and progress tracking: Set checkpoints to revisit the plan, update candidate readiness, and note completed development programs.
• Diversity considerations: Track whether your successor pool reflects organizational DEI goals and identify any barriers to building a more inclusive pipeline.

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Steps to create a succession planning template

1. Identify key positions across the organization

Start by determining which roles are essential to business operations and strategy. Focus on positions where vacancy would significantly impact performance, those requiring specialized expertise, and senior leadership roles at various levels, not just the C-suite.

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2. Define success criteria for each position

Establish what "good" looks like by documenting the key competencies, technical skills, leadership skills, and experience required. Talk to current role holders and their managers to capture both formal requirements and unwritten knowledge about what makes someone truly effective.

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3. Assess your current talent pool

Review your existing employees to identify high-potential individuals who could grow into critical roles. Use performance reviews, manager input, and objective assessments to evaluate readiness levels and future potential across the organization.

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4. Design the template structure

Create a format that captures all necessary information—position details, risk factors, candidate names with readiness timelines, competency gaps, and development plans. Keep it simple enough that managers will actually use it, but comprehensive enough to drive real action.

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5. Build in development planning components

Include sections that force specific thinking about how to prepare successors—mentoring relationships, stretch assignments, formal training, job shadowing, or lateral moves. Make sure there's space to assign accountability and deadlines for these activities.

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6. Add tracking and review mechanisms

Incorporate fields for documentation dates, progress updates, and scheduled review cycles (typically quarterly or biannually). Build in a way to flag when plans become outdated or when circumstances change significantly.

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7. Test and refine with a pilot group

Roll out your template with one department or a handful of critical positions first. Gather feedback on what's working, what's confusing, and what's missing, then iterate before implementing organization-wide.

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How to use the succession planning template

1. Input critical positions and employee data

Start by populating the template with your organization's key roles that need succession planning. The template typically includes fields for job title, department, current incumbent, and why the position is critical. Enter information about potential successors, including their current role, performance ratings, and readiness level. Airtable's interface lets you link employees to multiple positions they could potentially fill.

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2. Track talent assessments

Use the built-in fields to record performance evaluations and potential ratings. This helps you identify high performers who are ready for advancement, essentially conducting your talent assessment within the platform.

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3. Create employee development plans

Document what each successor candidate needs to develop before they're ready. Airtable allows you to attach files, add detailed notes, and set deadlines for development milestones.

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4. Use multiple views

Airtable templates come with different pre-configured views (grid, calendar, kanban, gallery). Switch between views to see your succession plan from different angles—for example, a calendar view for development timeline tracking or a kanban view to track readiness stages.

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5. Collaborate with stakeholders

Share the base with HR leaders and department managers. They can update candidate information, add comments, and track progress in real-time without emailing spreadsheets back and forth.

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6. Set up automations

Streamline the succession planning process by using Airtable's automation features to send reminders when development plans need review, or when it's time to reassess candidate readiness.

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7. Generate reports

Use Airtable's filtering and grouping features to create custom reports showing succession gaps, high-potential employees, positions at risk, and key metrics.

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How often should a succession plan template be updated?

Most organizations should review their business succession plan quarterly for light updates on candidate readiness and development progress, plus conduct a comprehensive annual review to reassess critical future roles and overall strategy. You should also update immediately after major organizational changes like restructures, leadership position updates, or strategic pivots that alter your talent needs. The goal is treating succession planning as an ongoing process rather than a once-a-year task that gets filed away.