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Management & Leadership vocabulary · Corporate Governance

Succession planning

Meaning in management & leadership, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In management & leadership, succession planning means: The process of identifying and preparing people who can take over key roles, especially senior leadership roles, when the current holders leave or retire.

In Turkish: yedekleme planlaması, halef planlaması, ardıl planlaması

How it is used

A board and HR responsibility, especially for the CEO role. It involves naming possible successors, developing high-potential employees and reducing dependence on one key person. In family businesses it often means planning the next generation's role.

Example sentences

  1. Thanks to good succession planning, the new CFO was ready from day one.

  2. The board asked HR to review succession planning for all director roles.

Common collocations

  • succession planning process
  • CEO succession planning
  • succession plan
  • identify successors
  • talent managementThe way an organisation attracts, develops, keeps and moves its most capable people, so that it has the right skills in the right roles now and in the future.
  • board of directorsThe group of people elected by a company's shareholders to oversee its management, approve major decisions and appoint or replace the chief executive.
  • mentorAn experienced person who gives advice, shares knowledge and supports the career development of a less experienced colleague over a longer period.
  • handoverThe process of passing work, responsibilities and information to another person, for example when someone changes role, goes on leave or ends a shift.
  • step upTo take on more responsibility or a leadership role when it is needed, for example when a manager is away or the team faces a difficult situation.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Corporate Governance

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