People can become frozen solid when they think of risk assessments, and so our recommendation is to keep the process as simple and non-threatening as possible. Succession planning is rife with risks. People come and go from organizations. Whether we create ironclad non-competition agreements or confidentiality agreements, or we don’t, we can still have our viability threatened.

The Risk Analysis here is a leader’s very honest attempt to address the risks of continuing with a particular plan. The leader’s role is to complete the analysis honestly and with feedback from the individual as well as the leader’s observations. In our experience, managers need training and mentoring to complete these tools properly, and so that they become a tool that is meaningfully used. When managers and their direct reports complete tools such as this, they must concentrate on being honest and objective.