Succession Planning
For boards, CEOs, and CHROs preparing the next generation.
Multi-level succession work for organizations that take the next decade seriously. We identify, develop, and validate the leaders who will run the next chapter of the business.
The challenge
A real succession plan answers the harder questions.
Most succession plans are lists in a spreadsheet. They name names but rarely answer the harder questions: Is this person actually ready? What is missing? What will move them faster? How would we know? Succession that holds up under boardroom pressure starts with the right diagnosis.
How we work
Four methods, sequenced around the decision in front of you.
Cross-functional talent reviews
Structured working sessions with senior leadership to validate the bench, debate readiness, and surface the candidates who are quietly stronger than the org chart suggests.
Leadership Versatility Index (LVI)
The patented 360-feedback assessment, used by leading companies worldwide. Measures whether leaders are doing too little, too much, or the right amount of a specific behavior, across both interpersonal and organizational dimensions.
High Potential Leadership Development Center
A three-day assessment center for the strongest succession candidates. Generates the named-leader intelligence that boards and CEOs need to commit to a successor decision with confidence.
Multi-level succession architecture
For organizations preparing several levels of leadership change simultaneously. Coordinates CEO succession, C-suite succession, and the development of the leader pipeline below.
Assessment
The Leadership Versatility Index
The LVI is the only patented 360-feedback assessment of its kind. It uses a dynamic framework to measure both the interpersonal (“how”) and organizational (“what”) dimensions of leadership, and a patented feedback scale that shows whether a leader is doing too little, too much, or the right amount of a behavior. Used by leading companies, organizations, and executive education programs worldwide. The Advisory Alliance is a senior certified administrator.
- Detailed feedback on 48 leadership behaviors
- Six questions on team effectiveness
- Five open-ended questions, customizable to your organization
- Available in numerous languages
- Used by leading companies and executive education programs worldwide
Frequently asked
What clients ask before they engage.
- What is succession planning?
- A structured process for identifying, developing, and validating the leaders who will run the next chapter of a business. Done well, it is a multi-year, multi-level program — not a single conversation at year-end.
- Why is succession planning important?
- Because the cost of getting it wrong — at the CEO, division, or senior functional level — is paid by the entire business for years. Boards that skip the work end up making the most consequential talent decisions of the decade under emergency conditions.
- How do you create a succession plan?
- You start with the operating plan and the seats that matter to it. You assess the candidates against the role, not against each other. You document development plans the candidates can act on. You write the result up for the board and you refresh it every year.
- What is executive succession planning?
- Succession planning focused on the top one to three layers of the business — typically the CEO and direct reports. It is the variant where the consequences of getting it wrong are highest and the data on candidates is hardest to come by.
- What are the benefits of succession planning?
- A defensible bench. Faster, less-disruptive leadership transitions. Development investments aligned with the next-decade operating plan. A common reference point between the CEO, the CHRO, and the board on the seats that actually matter.