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Succession planning is necessary for every organization for smooth transition of the leadership in case of departure of the key personnel of the organization. This succession planning needs to be done way ahead of time because it can actually take more time than expected which can stall the progress of the organization and cause damage to the overall goal of the organization. For for-profit organizations, this will mean loss of profit and reduced morale of the employees and for non-profit organizations this will mean loss of funding and cutting down of programs. Improper succession planning always rebounds with more consequences than thought. Thus, succession planning needs to be included in the list of best practices for an organization.

Types of Succession Planning

Succession planning can be of two types. They are: Planned Succession Plan and Emergency Succession Plan. Let us take a look at each of the variants separately.

Planned Succession Plan: In this type of plan, the steps to be taken by the organization are detailed in the event of the departure of the key person with notice. The components which need to be there in this type of succession plan will include the following:

- How much notice needs to be given by the CEO or the key person.

- In case the CEO or the key person is or needs to be in search of the right person, what are the knowledge that needs to be transferred and how the knowledge needs to be transferred.

- Finally, whether there will be a need of overlapping of the incoming and outgoing CEO or the key person.

Emergency Succession Plan: This type of succession plan comes in when the key person of the organization departs unexpectedly (this can happen due to an accident or illness). In this type of succession plan, all the components outlined in the planned succession plan will be included along with a strategy for communication. The communication strategy will essentially include the following components:

- Who will be responsible for notifying the stakeholders, employees and media.

- How exactly will the message be delivered.

In this type of plan, the tone of the delivered message will play a very crucial role. This is because of the fact that in case of any emergency departure, there will be human feelings and rational concerns as in people will be sad about the departure and at the same time, they will also be concerned about the future of the organization. It is because of this reason, the tone must be sensible to help people grieve and at the same time remove their fears. Who will be responsible for what needs to be outlined in the plan so that chaos is pent up to the minimal levels. However, in this type of plan, the planners must define "emergency" and they must also name the person responsible for "calling the emergency". Apart from this, the sequential events need to be outlined to ensure that everything remains controlled and the company continues to exist against all odds.