Succession Management

Effective succession management for long-range success.

We help clients define Succession Management parameters and identify business needs by gathering information from internal leadership, market analysis and other sources. Our work incorporates discussions with current leadership, including boards, to identify CEO candidate core competencies, followed by development of our findings.

Businesses undergoing a CEO transition face challenges – and opportunities. Ensuring smooth leadership transfer is a key need that requires extensive, detailed planning to maintain market and client stability, retain internal talent and prevent perceptions of “the unknown” negatively impact the business. In addition, a well-structured succession effort leverages the opportunity inherent in any CEO transition, creating a structure that supports the goals of incoming leaders and advances organizational growth.

Our Approach

Despite the importance of this transitional time, many businesses have neither an established succession plan nor a process through which to develop that plan. PSA understands that effective succession management is essential for an organization’s long-range success: Knowing how to navigate leadership transitions ensures ongoing financial stability, talent retention, continued growth and attainment of business goals advanced by the new executive suite leadership. Through extensive experience, we have developed a multi-phased succession management approach that addresses all aspects of leadership transitions on the enterprise, unit and sub-unit levels. Using this tiered approach, PSA partners with clients to develop and implement customized, practical succession that ensure a seamless transition for incoming and outgoing leadership.

We manage all aspects of the succession process, often accessing external support to bolster in-house resources that can be stretched during shifts in leadership.

What You Can Expect

Our succession management support begins well before the arrival of a new CEO. We help clients see leadership transition as an ongoing process. With our guidance organizations create deliberate, focused plans that incorporate multiple perspectives from the top three levels of leadership and board members. Building on our neutral external perspective, PSA develops constituent analyses based on discussions with leaders; assists with organizing and reviewing succession map; and oversees adjustments to plans based on changes in staff, business conditions or other key factors that arise pre and post transition. We manage all aspects of the succession process, often accessing external support to bolster in-house resources that can be stretched during shifts in leadership. Our services also include assessing bench strength of existing talent to determine if clients need to build additional capability to respond to future business needs. If appropriate, we also identify roles within the business for outgoing leaders. In addition, PSA advises on internal and external communications about the CEO transition to promote consistent messaging.