Succession Planning Templates: Get Started with Your Company’s Succession Plan

Succession planning is one of the most important — and often most postponed — responsibilities for business leaders. Whether you’re leading a small business, a growing organization, or a family-owned company, planning for leadership continuity can feel overwhelming when time, budget, and day-to-day demands are already stretched thin. The good news is that getting started doesn’t have to be complicated or costly. With the right tools and guidance, you can take meaningful steps toward protecting your organization’s future and preparing the next generation of leaders.

If lack of time and budget are preventing you from reaching out for succession planning assistance, you’re in luck – our succession planning templates are designed to take you- step by step – through the process. In the end, you will have designated key positions and pinpointed successors to lead your company into the future!

So what should you do when the task of starting the planning process is too overwhelming or not feasible due to day-to-day responsibilities of running your business? First, don’t worry. To assist small, medium-sized, and family-owned businesses like yours tackle succession plans, we have created an easy-to-follow seven-step succession planning workbook. The workbook includes a set of templates which will guide you through a straight-forward process of tackling your succession plan.

The workbook includes editable templates which will help guide your team through the process of succession planning. To help guide you through using the templates in greater detail, we have created this comprehensive guide. The guide gives additional information on why and how to complete each section of the templates.

Included as one of the templates is our free, downloadable pre-succession planning checklist. You will be able to gather and document the organizational and role-specific information needed to build a foundation for a succession plan. Also included is the critical positions identification process, which includes our retirement risk factor chart. The other available templates are: success profile worksheet; success profile assessment matrix; development plan; knowledge loss risks and priorities identifier; at-risk knowledge questionnaire; and implementation timeline.

Click this link to download our succession planning workbook, including our interactive templates and you’ll be on your way to developing an effective succession plan for your company.