Board succession planning template
Roughly 70% of succession plans fail within two years due to a lack of buy-in from senior leaders. This is even though most nominating and governance committees’ calendars include a regular review of succession planning processes, particularly the board’s succession planning template and competency matrix.
Creating and maintaining these templates is essential. If the board hasn’t updated its succession planning templates or matrix in recent years, it may risk failure to recruit the right expertise, and it could fall behind ever-evolving governance practices. Either of these could represent organizational risk.
Board matrices increasingly reflect expanded expertise and experience deemed requisite or desirable. Across sectors, additional areas of desired expertise have emerged, and value is being attached to greater diversity around boardroom tables. Here, we will help you create templates that work by explaining:
- What a board of directors succession planning template is
- Steps to create your own template
- An example succession planning template
- Roles and responsibilities of senior leaders
What is a board succession planning template?
A board succession planning template is a document that guides organizations through the process of recruiting and onboarding future board members. It helps the nominating and governance committee assess board composition, identify gaps in skills or diversity, set transition timelines, and establish criteria for selecting new board members.
The importance of using a template to plan board succession
Board succession planning can be a pathway toward long-term stability for the board and the broader organization, but only if it is strategic. An effective board succession planning template offers a clear guide for every step. This helps ensure smooth leadership transitions and reduces the risks of disruptions, setbacks or unintended changes to the board’s strategic priorities.
Why organizations use board succession planning templates
Organizations use board succession planning templates to formalize the process and make it more transparent. Documenting key information and criteria helps engage stakeholders like the board chair and nominating and governance committee members, ensuring the candidates they recruit meet their board composition and diversity goals.
What to include in a board succession planning template
A well-structured template should equip the board with the information to think about succession planning strategically and proactively. The document should provide an at-a-glance look at current board competencies alongside those they may need soon. An effective board succession planning template should include the following:
- Board composition: Include the board’s current structure, including roles, expertise and tenure. This illustrates whether the board’s makeup aligns with the organization’s strategic and governance goals or if there are industry or skill gaps to fill.
- Term limits and retirement schedules: Documenting each board member’s length of service will help you anticipate and prepare for expected vacancies.
- Board member skills and expertise: This maps the necessary competencies for an effective board against the competencies of current board members, helping inform recruitment efforts.
- Leadership development and pipeline: Your template should identify potential future leaders for positions like board chair, vice chair or committee lead.
- Potential future board members: Include candidates you’ve already identified who could fit your next vacancy well. For example, if a board member with a financial background plans to retire, note their upcoming retirement and document any candidates with similar financial expertise.
7 steps to creating a board succession planning template
Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a comprehensive template for ensuring board members are effective and aligned with the organization’s objectives:
- Define the board’s needs and objectives: The board chair, nominating, and governance committee members can collaborate to identify the skills, experiences, and attributes the board needs. Ensure you determine any gaps in current board expertise.
- Assess board composition and terms: List all board members and detail their roles, skill sets and term end dates. This creates transparency around the board’s current strengths and upcoming vacancies the nominating and governance committee may need to plan for.
- Establish criteria for new board members: What skills or experiences will you need to replace, and what gaps will you need to fill? This should inform the criteria you will use to evaluate new board candidates. Common criteria include professional skills, lived experiences or other attributes that align with the organization’s mission. Add these criteria to the template.
- Outline template sections: Use the information you have collected to create sections for your template. This might include the current board composition, desired skills and attributes, a candidate pipeline, the recruitment process and more.
- Create a board composition grid: Design a grid or table including each member’s name, role, term end date and key skills. This grid or table will serve as a quick reference point for the board’s current makeup and areas for improvement.
- Add a criteria checklist: Include a checklist for the skills, experiences and attributes future board members should have. Nominating and governance committee members can use the checklist to evaluate candidates and meet the board’s needs.
- Detail the recruitment process: Outline the process from initial outreach to interviews and the final selection. Including these steps creates transparency around how the board will manage recruitment.
Board succession planning template
Your board succession planning template should reflect current and future organizational and board needs. While the template creates a guide for the succession planning process, it should evolve with the board.
After all, the skills you need today may differ from those you need next year. For example, the digital transformation and rise of AI have reshaped the boardroom in ways boards may not have predicted even a year ago. Similar cases may be made for succession planning that targets expertise in environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) or social media and communications qualifications.
Create your own template using the example below, then commit to maintaining it as more pressing needs arise.
How to use a board succession planning template
Succession templates are considered a planning tool, but they can also structure the many activities it takes to recruit, nominate, appoint, onboard and develop board members. Using a board succession planning template effectively involves:
- Evaluating current composition: Documenting the current board structure makes reviewing it easy. Use the template to identify gaps in skills, tenure and representation that you must address in future recruitment cycles.
- Review term limits and upcoming vacancies: Regularly check term limits and retirement schedules so upcoming transitions don’t catch you unawares. This enables you to start succession planning as a vacancy approaches, which is key to a frictionless transition.
- Identify key skills and leadership needs: Use the skills and expertise listed in the template to determine which competencies are missing — yet critical to the organization’s goals. Compare these needs with current board members’ abilities and leadership development opportunities to see where new talent would be ideal.
- Develop a leadership pipeline: Identify both new potential board members and current board members who could fill leadership roles, like board chair. Consider how you can provide additional professional development to promising future leaders.
- Define a recruitment strategy: Establish a clear process for identifying, vetting and engaging new board members. Utilize professional networks, community partnerships, and search firms to find candidates who align with the organization’s mission and governance needs.
- Conduct board member evaluations: Regularly assess the performance of current board members to ensure they remain engaged and effective. Use this feedback to make informed decisions about reappointments, leadership transitions and overall board effectiveness.
- Onboard and mentor new members: Provide a structured onboarding process introducing new board members to governance policies, organizational strategy and expectations. Use the template to identify mentors who could best help new candidates integrate smoothly.
- Prepare for emergency succession: Keeping your template up-to-date is essential to contingency planning. If an unexpected vacancy arises, you’ll have interim successors already identified, which can maintain stability during rapid transitions.
- Review and update the plan regularly: Schedule annual or biannual reviews of the succession plan to verify it still aligns with the organization’s needs — and update it if it doesn’t. Adjust strategies based on leadership changes, governance priorities and best practices.
Simplify board succession planning
Put nearly every aspect of board succession planning on autopilot — from templates to board assessments — with Diligent Boards, part of the Diligent One Platform.
Discover moreBoard succession planning trends
According to the 2024 United States Spencer Stuart Board Index, S&P 500 boards appointed 5% more independent directors in 2024 than in 2023, signaling a shift in board composition. Over half appointed at least one new independent director, while 20% appointed more than one new one.
At the same time, Spencer Stuart found that only 58% of S&P 500 boards appointed a new director in the 2024 proxy year. Given the rapid pace of change in just the first few months of 2025, boards should make the necessary adjustments to serve the company and its shareholders — even if it means shaking up the status quo.
Spencer Stuart also noted that more newly appointed directors were actively employed than retired, a shift from last year when there was an even split between the two. Additionally, 30% of new directors are active or retired CEOs, and another 29% have a financial background. This is not surprising, given that many boards have continued to seek high-level executive and financial expertise to help navigate turbulent economic times.
The proportion of next-gen directors has also continued to climb, if only slightly, with 3% more directors in 2024 falling under the age of 50 than in 2023. This may be closely linked to the backgrounds the S&P 500 board prioritized; nearly a third of next-gen new directors have backgrounds in technology and telecommunications, up from 14% in 2023. The vast majority of next-gen directors are also actively/fully employed.
Roles and responsibilities for succession planning
All board members and many company leaders will have a say in succession planning. However, some roles have additional weight in managing and executing the process, particularly:
The corporate secretary
What can you, as a corporate secretary or other governance professional, take away from this snapshot of other boards’ practices? If your board is already reviewing its succession planning regularly, you may find that your board matrix reflects current succession planning practices. If this isn’t the case, and whatever your sector, you may want to recommend or initiate some updates to your board’s practices. Does your matrix template adequately reflect the governance needs associated with the organization’s strategic plan?
Your lead committee will want its planning to reflect any strategic updates (opportunities and risks) and the most recent environmental scan. Your lead committee will update the board competency matrix to reflect current and future organizational needs. Once the template is updated, you can insert a list of directors, leadership roles and term dates. While still relatively simple, matrices have evolved; you can readily find samples online. On completion, the matrix will serve to identify gaps. Following board approval of the matrix and recruitment recommendations, board succession planning will see the identification and assessment of external prospects.
Nominating and governance committee members
The nominating and governance committee evaluates the current board composition and identifies its future needs. This becomes the basis for the succession planning template. Committee members will collaborate to assess skills gaps, prioritize certain skills and anticipate which skills will be most valuable in the future.
The committee will use these insights to develop candidate criteria and build a pipeline of promising candidates. They then oversee the recruitment process, from candidate outreach to final recommendations for appointment. As the business landscape evolves, the committee will update the succession plan to align with the organization’s needs and priorities.
The board chair
The board chair leads the board in good governance practices, which extend to the succession planning process. They facilitate discussions around future needs and vacancies, ensuring succession planning remains an active agenda item. Board chairs also mentor board members for leadership positions, like committee chairs, to maintain continuity.
Once the nominating and governance committee identifies candidates, the board chair shares the organization’s vision, culture, and expectations with them. This helps ensure candidates understand their role and are informed about how they are expected to contribute.
Planning for leadership positions
What about a succession planning template for leadership positions on the board? You can establish a simple table listing key roles: board chair, vice chair(s) and then each of the committee chair roles. Alongside each role, insert the incumbent’s name and the date on which that director’s term concludes. From this point, the committee can identify prospective successors in subsequent years.
Your lead committee may project only two years out or five. This might be affected by your sector and whether external parties have authority over your board appointments and terms, which may make longer-term projections challenging. If your committee has identified prospective leadership successors, either formally or informally, it can populate the table with those names.
It’s worth considering, with each review, whether previously identified names continue to make sense. It’s not unheard of for the board’s needs or a potential successor’s availability to change. You ideally have board-approved position descriptions or terms of reference (TOR) for each of your board’s leadership roles.
If not, consider establishing them. If you have such documents, your lead committee would be well served to invite interested prospective successors to review such “job descriptions” and provide self-assessments of their related leadership skills or competencies. Your lead committee could also review board evaluation results as part of this process.
Wrapping up planning
It’s not likely that all prospective successors will be role-ready when identified for a future leadership role. With the leadership role description and a self-assessment in hand, the lead committee and each individual can identify specific forms of development to be undertaken. This may include mentorship, conferences, workshops, opportunities to lead in other capacities, formal education or a combination of these approaches.
This also supports board culture and engagement and requires that the board be adequately financially resourced. If board succession planning doesn’t appear on the board’s work plan or agendas, you’d be doing your board a service by recommending its inclusion.
We tend to do what we document. If your board wants to support effective succession planning, board engagement and transparency, it may approve and document its practices within a succession planning policy. The policy can contain links to role descriptions and information on selection criteria/leadership competencies, self-assessment processes, development plans and evaluation and onboarding processes. The next step is building in regularly scheduled reviews of this policy and the associated budget, templates and forms. Is your board up for it?
Simplify succession planning with technology
True succession planning is more than board meeting conversations or static templates. It’s an ever-evolving process that the board chair, nominating and governance committee members, and corporate secretary will lead and that other board members will support. Ensuring your board succession planning template can keep up with the fast-paced business landscape today and in the future can quickly become unwieldy.
Many boards are turning to board management software to apply an always-on approach to succession planning. Modern board portals can leverage resources and insights to quickly identify skills gaps and find, recruit and connect candidates to help you fill them. Diligent Boards, part of the Diligent One Platform, was designed with succession planning and recruitment in mind.
However, it’s important to note that not all software is created equal. Download our buyer’s guide to board management software to see several must-ask questions and ensure you find the right solution for your board.
FAQs
What are the 5 D’s of succession planning?
The 5 D’s of succession planning — Departure, Death, Disability, Disqualification and Disinterest — represent key scenarios that can lead to leadership transitions. A strong succession plan anticipates these situations by establishing clear policies for leadership continuity, emergency replacements and long-term strategic board development.
What’s the best software for board succession planning?
The best board software for succession planning depends on your organization’s unique needs and budget. Platforms like Diligent Boards include leadership management and development tools, helping organizations stay proactive in governance and prioritize seamless leadership transitions.
How often should a board succession plan be updated?
A board succession plan should be reviewed and updated at least annually or whenever there are significant leadership changes, shifts in organizational strategy or emerging governance needs. Regular updates keep the plan relevant, aligned with long-term goals and ready for board transitions.
How can organizations ensure diversity in board succession planning?
Organizations can promote diversity by setting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals, expanding recruitment networks, removing barriers for underrepresented candidates and integrating inclusive board practices. Actively seeking diverse talent through partnerships, leadership development programs and targeted outreach yields a board that reflects varied perspectives and lived experiences.
What common mistakes should organizations avoid in board succession planning?
Common mistakes include failing to plan for unexpected departures, neglecting leadership development, overlooking diversity, relying on informal recruitment and not reviewing plans regularly. Avoiding these pitfalls is key to a proactive, strategic board succession approach that fosters long-term stability and governance excellence.
