{"id":1941,"date":"2016-07-10T12:55:47","date_gmt":"2016-07-10T19:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/?page_id=1941"},"modified":"2026-06-29T07:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:30:10","slug":"succession-planning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/developing-staff-teams\/succession-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"Succession planning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Succession planning is the process of identifying the critical positions within your organization and developing action plans for individuals to assume those positions. Taking a holistic view of current and future goals, this type of preparation ensures that you have the right people in the right jobs today and in the years to come.<\/p>\n<p>In the long term, succession planning strengthens the overall capability of the organization by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Identifying critical positions and highlighting potential vacancies;<\/li>\n<li>Selecting key competencies and skills necessary for business continuity;<\/li>\n<li>Focusing development of individuals to meet future business needs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A succession plan identifies future staffing needs and the people with the skills and potential to perform in these future roles. Professional &amp; Organizational Development\u2019s Succession Planning Toolkit will help guide you, though we strongly suggest you involve your assigned HR consultant and\/or HR administrator in this process as well.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/developing-staff-teams\/succession-planning\/#Toolkit\" >Toolkit<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-5' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/developing-staff-teams\/succession-planning\/#Assessment_phase\" >Assessment phase<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/developing-staff-teams\/succession-planning\/#Evaluation_phase\" >Evaluation phase<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/developing-staff-teams\/succession-planning\/#Development_phase\" >Development phase<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Toolkit\"><\/span>Toolkit<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>We\u2019ve broken succession planning down into three phases with clear steps, and the <a class=\"uwhr-form  \" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/podscan\/succession-planning\/successionplanningbooklet-dec2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Succession Planning Toolkit (PDF)<\/a>\u00a0 comprises a series of worksheets that move you through the succession planning process. Within this document, you\u2019ll find templates and tips for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ensuring succession planning is closely tied to business strategy and goals;<\/li>\n<li>Understanding the importance of engaging executive and senior leaders in the process;<\/li>\n<li>Clearly defining the development of key talent; and<\/li>\n<li>Ensuring staff understand their role in the process and know what is expected of them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Assessment_phase\"><\/span>Assessment phase<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p><strong>Step 1:<\/strong> Identify significant business challenges in the next 1\u20135 years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 2:<\/strong> Identify critical positions that will be needed to support business continuity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 3:<\/strong> Identify competencies, skills, and institutional knowledge that are critical success factors.<\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Evaluation_phase\"><\/span>Evaluation phase<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p><strong>Step 4:<\/strong> Consider high potential employees.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 5:<\/strong> Select the competencies individuals will need to be successful in positions and to meet identified business challenges.<\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Development_phase\"><\/span>Development phase<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p><strong>Step 6:<\/strong> Capture the knowledge that individuals possess before departing the organization.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 7:<\/strong> Develop a pool of talent to step into critical positions through targeted career development strategies.<\/p>\n<p>Access and print the entire <a class=\"uwhr-form  \" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/podscan\/succession-planning\/successionplanningbooklet-dec2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Succession Planning Toolkit (PDF)<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Succession planning is the process of identifying the critical positions within your organization and developing action plans for individuals to assume those positions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":7504,"menu_order":30,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","slim_seo":{"title":"Succession planning - Professional &amp; Organizational Development","description":"Succession planning is the process of identifying the critical positions within your organization and developing action plans for individuals to assume those po"},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1941","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1941"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7877,"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1941\/revisions\/7877"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/pod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}