Coordinate an executive succession planning workstream

Leadership continuity

Key takeaways

• Separate governance decisions from administration.
• Control access at every stage.
• Make handoff evidence explicit.

Operating data

Playbook

Executive succession planning is a governed leadership process, not a scheduling project. An executive assistant can coordinate owners, evidence, deadlines, access boundaries, and forums without evaluating candidates or shaping board judgment. Begin with a written mandate naming roles in scope, decision authority, advisers, confidentiality, decision points, and matters the assistant must never interpret.

Build a responsibility map separating candidate assessment, legal and people review, board governance, communications, and administration. If two owners claim final authority, pause scheduling until governance resolves it. Create gates for confirmed role requirements, evidence collection, readiness discussion, contingency coverage, recorded selection, approved transition, and authorized communications. Give every gate an input, custodian, reviewers, forum, and closure evidence.

The executive absence handoff guide supplies a continuity lens without treating temporary absence as succession. Use restricted workspaces and least-necessary distribution. Calendar titles, attendee lists, links, travel notes, and filenames can reveal sensitive intent. NIST access-control guidance describes general principles; authorized internal owners determine safeguards.

Prepare each forum with an approved brief separating verified evidence, open questions, risks, and requested decisions. Track source dates and owners, but never turn readiness into an assistant-created score. When evidence conflicts, show authorized reviewers and record the resolver. Reconfirm permissions when participant roles change, and distribute only the version cleared for that audience.

Coordinate transition dependencies only after authorization: stakeholder sequencing, knowledge transfer, delegated authorities, account access, commitments, travel, and contingency coverage. Route work through operations follow-through. Close with an access review, decision-record check, superseded-file disposition, and acknowledged handoff inventory, leaving assessment, selection, and disclosure with empowered leaders.