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Secure your IT future with succession planning
Succession planning is vital for IT resilience. Without it, leadership gaps risk disrupting operations, innovation and long-term business continuity.
In a volatile market, preparing for workforce disruption is more important than ever -- yet many organizations still overlook succession planning.
Many organizations have let succession planning fall by the wayside in favor of prioritizing innovation and growth. While 86% of leaders agree leadership succession planning is an urgent or important priority, only 14% say their organization is effective at it, according to a Deloitte report.
In an era where CEO turnover is higher than ever, an executive succession strategy and overall succession plan are an IT business imperative that organizations can't afford to ignore. In 2024, 22% of CEO departures were due to a planned succession process, which is 13% higher than in 2023 and the highest level ever recorded, according to a report by Russell Reynolds Associates.
IT succession planning is more than just a best practice -- it's a core part of an Agile workforce strategy and helps protect technology initiatives and the organization's future.
Why IT succession planning matters
Succession planning has many benefits. It keeps organizations competitive and prepared for disruptions -- such as market shifts or internal restructuring. It also ensures organizations are ready to handle workforce challenges.
In addition to fast-paced industry shifts, the workforce is facing generational shifts as experienced IT leaders retire and exit the job market, leaving a critical gap in both hard and soft skills. This gap is only widened by the ongoing skills shortage. A lack of experienced leaders in IT can create a ripple effect of issues and risks in security, compliance, operations and scalability.
"Succession planning in IT isn't just about naming a successor; it's about ensuring the continuity of the technology and capabilities that keep the business moving," said Vikram Bhandari, chief technology and innovation officer at Riveron. "When key people leave without a plan, the risk isn't theoretical; it's immediate. You see it in delayed initiatives, compliance gaps, and stalled transformations."
Succession planning also encourages employee growth, while a lack of succession planning and talent development can lead to turnover.
"Without clear career paths, high-performing employees may seek growth elsewhere, weakening the IT department even further if a key IT resource leaves the company and there isn't someone trained and ready to step into the role," said Michael Corrigan, chief information officer at World Insurance Associates.
On the other hand, effective succession planning enables an organization to remain stable, even in an unstable market. It ensures smooth continuity of strategy and essential IT knowledge transfer.
The risks of ignoring succession planning
Poorly executed succession planning has far-reaching effects that go beyond just affecting IT workforce planning. When workforce changes happen and an organization is unprepared, it can have a negative effect on the business and its employees.
When key leaders retire or exit the company, it leaves a gap in experienced leadership.
Without a solid succession plan in place, essential leadership roles can remain unfilled or be assumed by individuals who are unprepared to handle them.
"The absence of succession planning creates a vacuum where coverage for senior leadership or expert technical roles is left ambiguous," said Ian Bell, senior vice president of global talent management at Sedgwick. "The risk isn't just in relation to business continuity if the senior leader exits the business, but also the retention of talent in the next layer down, who are unaware of opportunities to progress."
A lack of leadership guidance can cause key projects and initiatives to fail, resulting in wasted time, money and resources for the organization. In fact, poorly managed CEO and C-suite transitions in S&P 1500 companies can cost nearly $1 trillion in market value annually, according to an article in Harvard Business Review.
A solid succession plan is crucial for mitigating IT leadership risk and avoid the waste of company resources. Without a focus on succession planning, essential knowledge may reside with only a few employees in fragmented areas of the organization, creating knowledge silos that hinder the organization's ability to properly identify and respond to emerging threats and implement new technology.
A succession plan is also a key part of IT risk management.
"IT team members are responsible for system uptime, enterprise-wide technology investments, cyber security, operational efficiencies, data governance and innovation initiatives -- such as AI strategy and automation," Corrigan said. "Without a transition plan for key IT resources in these areas, an organization risks significant impacts -- like business interruptions, security breaches and additional costs."
How CIOs should approach succession planning
Knowing the importance of succession planning is one thing, but putting together a succession strategy and a solid plan can be daunting. Here are five steps for CIOs to strategically approach succession planning.
1. Role identification
Critical roles should be identified and prioritized for an effective succession strategy. Critical roles typically encompass leadership and high-impact technical positions that are crucial to business continuity, such as infrastructure or cloud engineers and security architects.
"Enterprises should review roles in terms of specific accountability, authority, knowledge and skill to determine what level of risk would be introduced if those four attributes were absent," said Ola Chowning, partner at ISG. "Once roles have been identified, engage the individual currently in the role to participate in the succession planning. This ensures that the person most knowledgeable about the role and qualifications for the role has a key part in the decision-making, and that the relationship and engagement requirements for succession coaching are contemplated and understood from the start."
2. Talent pipeline assessment
Leaders can evaluate their current workforce and individual employees' current capabilities -- such as their technical and soft skills, and how they correlate to critical roles to build out an internal talent pipeline. This can help identify high-potential employees who may be a good fit for leadership roles down the line -- even if they are not leadership-ready yet.
IT leaders should think about what critical roles will look like in the future to develop a future-proof talent pipeline.
"It's very tempting for C-suite leaders to identify high-potential colleagues and key talent by determining who in the talent pool is most like them," Bell said. "Generational and societal shifts mean that the skills, traits and attributes of existing leaders that were in demand during their rise to the top are unlikely to be the same as those that are valued by today's and tomorrow's workforces. While 'most-like-me' thinking sounds sensible, it is unlikely to be compatible with future growth or the adaptation to a rapidly evolving landscape."
3. Mentorship and development
High-potential employees who have been identified should be nurtured through development opportunities that can help accelerate leadership growth.
"However, much effort is placed on creating a succession plan, if it is done without robust development plans, it serves no purpose or even worse, gives a false sense of security," Bell said.
Structured mentorship, coaching programs and rotational assignments can accelerate employees' readiness to move into leadership and high-impact roles.
4. Scenario planning
Scenario planning and contingency plans help the organization map out potential pathways in case key roles need to be filled. Scenario planning should account for all types of workforce changes – such as unplanned leaves of absence or a sudden increase in leadership roles due to rapid growth.
Unplanned departures can happen quickly. Organizations must be prepared to deal with these changes proactively -- rather than reactively -- to avoid any business delays or gaps in the workforce.
"Not only is there a risk of key knowledge walking out the door, but if organizational governance and decision making slow to a halt, there is increased risk to both IT and business continuity," Chowning said. "Without succession planning, critical skill retention may be impacted as top talent perceive a ceiling to their growth and opportunity."
5. Governance and communication
Leaders and any additional stakeholders should be involved in the succession planning process and aligned on priorities and pipeline development, including documentation of the process.
"Documentation of the IT environment, workflows, vendors, initiatives and processes should also be created and communicated by CIOs to support transitions," Corrigan said.
The plan requires periodic reassessment -- regardless of workforce shifts -- and stakeholders should be notified and involved in any succession plan changes.
A solid succession plan that promotes leadership continuity ensures the organization remains Agile and continues to work toward strategic outcomes, even as workforce changes occur.
"When C-suites treat it as a strategic imperative, it is continually reviewed, refreshed and aligned with evolving business needs," Bell said. "This means that companies not only consider roles that currently exist and who might fill them in the future, but also what roles might be needed in the years to come that no one has ever filled before and don't exist now."
An organization that is prepared for workforce changes can better achieve digital transformation and innovation initiatives, which can help move the business forward and maintain a competitive advantage.
Succession planning also demonstrates that the organization takes employee growth and leadership development seriously. It provides employees with a clear path for growth and advancement within the organization, which can help improve workforce engagement while encouraging employee development, creating future leaders for the organization.
Alison Roller is a freelance writer with experience in tech, HR and marketing.
