While strategic planning provides a roadmap for organizational growth and master
planning provides a vision for the built environment, succession planning ensures an
organization’s capacity to respond to change in top leadership. Ideally woven into a
strategic plan, succession planning aligns staff development opportunities with the perceived
future needs of an organization, increasing institutional flexibility, and staff competencies. In the event of a leadership change, a succession plan also outlines one or more courses of action to navigate times of uncertainty with minimal disruption to mission delivery.