Succession Planning Sprint
Succession Planning Sprint
Give us 4 hours and we’ll help you future-proof your organization.
Without a plan, succession becomes a scramble — reactive, stressful, and costly. SIGMA’s Succession Planning Sprint puts an end to that cycle. Designed for busy leadership teams, this streamlined engagement delivers a comprehensive succession plan in just 30 days — no long meetings, no extra work for your team. You need a plan. We’ll build it — fast.
Why Succession Planning Matters
Leadership transitions are inevitable. The question is whether your organization will be prepared — or left to react under pressure. Without a plan, succession becomes reactive, costly, and disruptive. When a key leader leaves unexpectedly, the impact is significant:
- Replacement costs can exceed twice the leader’s annual salary when accounting for recruitment, onboarding, and lost productivity.
- Institutional knowledge walks out the door, leaving teams without direction or historical context.
- Customer relationships may suffer, especially in client-facing roles.
- High-potential employees disengage or leave when they see no clear path for advancement.
- Productivity slows as interim decisions are made and new leaders adapt to new responsibilities and expectations.
Succession planning protects against these risks. It provides stability, preserves knowledge, and ensures your next generation of leaders is ready to step in with confidence. A well-executed plan isn’t just a safeguard — it’s a strategic advantage.
Studies show that organizations with effective succession plans reduce turnover by up to 50% and are twice as likely to retain high-potential talent.1
What is the Succession Planning Sprint?
The Succession Planning Sprint is a fast, full-service consulting engagement designed to deliver a complete, ready-to-implement succession plan in just 30 days. All it takes is a single four-hour strategy session with your leadership team. From there, SIGMA’s consultants handle the rest — no additional meetings, no added work for your team.
Here’s How it Works
Why Busy Leaders Love the Sprint
If succession planning keeps falling off your to-do list, you’re not alone. That’s why we created the Sprint — a fast-track session that builds your plan without eating your calendar. Succession planning used to take months. Now it takes four hours.
Who is the Sprint For?
Organizations without a formal succession plan
SIGMA can help you finish what you’ve been trying to start for years
Teams facing retirements or leadership transitions
Our consultants will prepare your critical roles and leadership teams for the future
HR leaders looking to reduce risk and retain top talent
Build a pipeline that will help you attract and retain top talent
Executives seeking practical solutions to high-stakes challenges
We take succession planning off your plate so that you can focus on what matters most
Benefit From Our Proven 6-Step Process
Developed by experienced consultants and refined through years of real-world application, SIGMA’s six-step succession planning process ensures that your succession planning efforts are aligned with business goals, backed by best practices, and built to deliver long-term results. This framework has been used by Fortune 500 companies, public institutions, and nonprofits to build bench strength, reduce risk, and prepare leaders to step into critical roles. Expand the steps below to see how we help clients move from planning to action.
In this initial step, we identify key positions crucial to the organization’s success, ensuring a strategic focus on roles that significantly impact performance and future growth.
We then develop comprehensive success profiles outlining the skills, competencies, and attributes necessary for success in identified critical roles, providing a clear benchmark for evaluating potential successors.
Through a collaborative process involving leadership and key stakeholders, we nominate individuals with the potential to fill critical roles, considering both current performance and long-term leadership capabilities.
A thorough assessment of nominated successors’ skills and competencies is conducted to identify specific areas for development, tailoring training and support initiatives to address individual needs and enhance readiness for future roles.
After assessing development needs, we recommend targeted development programs and initiatives to nurture the growth and capabilities of identified successors, ensuring they acquire the skills and experiences needed to excel in their potential future roles within the organization.
Ongoing evaluation and measurement mechanisms are established to track the progress of successors in their development journey, allowing your organization to adapt strategies as needed and ensuring a continuous alignment between talent development and organizational objectives.
SIGMA is a trusted strategic partner to more than 8,500 organizations across North America
“This was phenomenal. I am in the process of standardizing our succession processes across our Americas region and this is exactly what I wanted. SIGMA gave me the resources I needed to help my team be able to easily understand how to identify critical roles easier and then begin to build out each of their benches in a methodical way. I can’t wait to start using all the tools! This went above my expectations. I am already working on how to implement my succession plan.”
Jen Kilman
Senior Director, Talent Development
Omron Management Centre of America
What You’ll Get
• Customized succession plans for each of your leaders
• Critical role identification to focus resources where they are most needed
• SIGMA Success Profile™ for each critical role, to identify the right talent to achieve success
• Succession benches to ensure leadership continuity
• Succession communication plan to build trust with employees and stakeholders
• 12-month implementation plan to guide your next steps
• Progress reviews to measure success at key milestones
• Access to SIGMA’s exclusive resource library
How Much Time Does Succession Planning Really Take?
Behind the Scenes of the Sprint: What do SIGMA’s Consultants Do in 30 Days?
Week 1
- Assess the urgency of succession planning needs
- Review and analyze critical roles
- Prioritize critical roles based on urgency rating system
Week 2
- Synthesize competency scores to identify critical leadership competencies for the entire organization
- Analyze 360-degree feedback
- Build SIGMA Success Profile™ for each critical role
Week 3
- Evaluate internal talent pipelines
- Build succession benches for each critical role
- Highlight potential successors and their readiness to step into succession positions
- Outline career paths to critical roles for each succession candidate
Week 4
- Develop comprehensive succession plan
- Outline actionable recommendations and next steps
- Create presentation-ready executive summary
- Assemble client-specific supporting resources
The Succession Planning Sprint
You Need a Plan. We’ll Build It — Fast.
Succession planning doesn’t have to be a frustrating, drawn-out process. SIGMA’s Succession Planning Sprint streamlines everything into one high-impact consulting session that delivers results fast. In just four hours, your leadership team can lay the foundation for a succession strategy that is ready for implementation in 30 days. Download the program summary to learn more.
Let’s Talk
No Pressure, No Obligation
Submit the form below to learn more or get started. We’ll help you get succession planning off your to-do list and into action.
Succession Planning Diagnostic
Not ready to begin just yet? Start with SIGMA’s complimentary Succession Planning Diagnostic. This brief 5-minute questionnaire will help you evaluate the current state of succession at your organization. Our consultants will review your responses and provide personalized resources based on your needs. You’ll also receive access to a free 30-minute follow-up consultation. If you’re unsure where to begin, this is an excellent place to start.
The Costly Consequence of Insufficient Planning
Many organizations underestimate the true cost of inadequate succession planning — until it’s too late. In this blog, we’ll explore the direct and indirect costs of failing to prepare for leadership transitions, and why a proactive strategy is critical to long-term success.
Succession Planning Software vs. Consulting: Which is Right for Your Organization?
Software helps to track talent, but it takes expert guidance to develop leaders. See how software compares to consulting — and why hands-on expertise drives real results.
10 Reasons to Future-Proof Your Organization
Whether you’re a startup or an established enterprise, having a solid succession plan is essential for business continuity, growth, and long-term success. In this blog, we’ll highlight 10 powerful reasons why every company should invest in a strong succession plan.
1 Dyerly, R. (2025). The myth of replaceability: Preparing for the loss of key employees. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/executive-network/insights/myth-replaceability-preparing-loss-key-employees.
2 On average, executive search firms charge 20-30% of the candidate’s first year salary, plus administrative fees and, in some cases, retainer fees. The indicated cost assumes the successful candidate will be paid a salary ~$200,000. We excluded additional administrative and retainer fee costs in favor of using a conservative estimate.
3 Sorensen, T. (August 1, 2023). 40% of executive searches fail; clients to blame for most of them. LinkedIn. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/40-executive-searches-fail-clients-blame-most-them-tom-1c/.