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    • About succession planning
      • Why succession planning matters
      • The case for action
      • What we know about succession planning
      • Framework for action
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Framework for action

Effective succession planning relies on some key basic principles. Once they are in place, there are a number of practical steps you can take to begin building up a sustainable stream of leadership talent.

Framework for action

Drawing on the experience of its succession planning consultants, leaders and further research, the National College has drawn up a framework for action on succession planning. It pinpoints key principles, practical steps and tools to enable you to draw up and manage your own local strategies for producing a continuing supply of high-quality leaders.

Five foundations

Successful succession planning depends on five foundations. They are:

• Building capacity and collaboration – in dealing with succession challenges in partnership with other schools you will need to be clear about who is responsible, who will do the work and who needs to be involved.
• Creating positive cultures – leaders need cultures that inspire and engage them.
• Diagnosing needs – areas can have very different needs and resources for dealing with them. You need to assess how effective you are now and what demands you may face.
• Developing strategy – pulling the evidence together into a plan of action, developing a vision and managing change.
• Reviewing and revising – approaches to measuring impact, celebrating success and developing more ambitious plans.

Seven local actions

The foundations act as a firm platform for the seven practical, local actions required to ensure effective succession planning. These steps broadly reflect the stages of a leadership career. As such, they ensure that your approach to building up the supply of talented leaders is progressive, rather than sporadic, and that there are no gaps at any stage in a leader’s development.

The steps are:

• retaining talented leaders – keeping the talent you have for as long as is healthy, heading off potential shortages before they arise
• attracting talented leaders – making your school/centre/area a place where leaders want to come and want to remain
• identifying talented leaders – assessing leadership talent and potential so that resources and development are focused where they are most effective
• recruiting and inducting leaders – supplementing existing staff with leadership potential with fresh talent recruited from outside
• developing leaders – building leadership capacity at all levels
• accelerating progression – giving those with most potential as leaders the chance to progress more quickly in their professional development and their career
• managing and supporting careers – taking a proactive, rather than responsive, approach to managing the careers of leaders

Related publications and resources

• A framework for action – Succession planning: a case for action
• A framework for action – Five foundations for success
• A framework for action – Seven local actions
• A framework for action – Getting started on succession planning
• A framework for action – Additional materials
• A framework for action interactive guide

Further information

For further information, email the succession planning team at successionplanning@nationalcollege.org.uk.