We have said several times that succession planning is really a process. It involves a commitment to several different transitions rather than one significant shift. The succession program planners and those responsible for implementation must be able to “sell” the value of the plan to many individuals involved in the organization, not the least of which would include the CEO and perhaps a board.

In order to elicit buy-in for the plan (which is the more politically correct way to say “sell the plan”), you must know your plan intimately (the “set” part of our SUCCESS acronym). Once you have your plan established and can describe it in simple terms (i.e. to a board of volunteers that has no experience with succession planning just yet) and complex terms (i.e. to the actuaries, lawyers, and accountants who must back the program), you will have become intimate with the value of the program.