Succession planning tends to begin at the top, where the risk is most visible and most discussed.
In smaller and founder-led organisations, the sharper exposure usually sits below the executive team, in the individuals who hold client relationships, technical knowledge or operational continuity that has never been documented.
A useful exercise takes an hour. List the people whose departure would materially change what the business can deliver in the next ninety days. In most organisations the list is short, and at least one name on it is a surprise.
The response does not have to be a hire. It can be documentation, deliberate cross-cover, a development plan, or a change in how a relationship is held.
What matters is that the risk is named. Unnamed succession risk is the version that arrives without notice.
Unnamed succession risk is the version that arrives without notice.
