A SUCCESSION PLANNING DIAGNOSTIC QUESTIONNAIRE

 

1. Do your board and your Chief Executive Officer have a current plan for succession with specific goals and objectives?

2. Who is responsible for succession planning on the board?  Is it a committee responsibility or a whole-board responsibility along with the current CEO?

3. Are goals and objectives for the succession plan part of the CEO’s performance goals and thereby part of the CEO’s evaluation and incentive-based compensation?

4. Does the board periodically review the succession plan along with retention provisions, considerations and performance?

5. Does the succession program include an interim, emergency candidate plan?

6. Does your board utilize Executive Session oversight and is the succession plan including status of and the emergency plan for succession an agenda item for Executive Session?

7. Does the board get exposure to the company’s top management candidates? Does this exposure include board presentation exposure and informal periodic meetings?

8. Does the board have a rigorous evaluation and development plan for succession candidates?  Have these candidates been able to prove their leadership competency in a competitive setting outside the walls of the company?  For example, by service on public company boards?

9. Are members of your current board qualified to step in as an interim CEO? 

10. Does your board periodically review succession development several layers deep within the company with an eye on succession-readiness five to ten years in the future?