CEO Succession Planning

A large public company in the UK wanted to develop its top executive group in order to ensure the right leadership capability to achieve the growth strategy and to work out what type of development should be implemented to enable potential CEO candidates to succeed the current CEO in several years’ time.

Approach
Individual development review sessions, with an appraisal of key business and leadership competencies, motivation and leadership style, and follow-up coaching sessions were conducted. Each executive was provided with an individual development action plan to help them progress in the next phase of their current role and to increase their chances of getting their ideal next role. Strong buy-in to the approach was created through complete transparency of the process, its objectives, how the results were used and with the individual executive having first ownership of their reports.

A summary of all the findings was discussed with the board in relation to the strategy of the company and its further growth ambitions on the international stage. In collaboration with the HR director and the CEO, development programmes were set up for each executive.

Outcomes
Several executives were promoted to new roles. In the next CEO selection, the internal candidate who participated in the original development programme was benchmarked against external candidates and succeeded in becoming the next CEO of the company.