Succession & Transition Readiness
A principal-led examination of the seat, the successor, and the position being left behind.
Introduction
Before the handover, a single examination.
Succession is rarely a problem of process. It is a problem of judgement — about what is genuinely ready, who is genuinely ready, and what positions the outgoing leader has been carrying on behalf of the institution. This diagnostic is for leaders navigating that transition in motion, and who want one sitting in which to examine it before the commitment that is hardest to reverse.
The instruments
Three instruments,applied to one transition.
Adapted from the diagnostic library to the specific conditions of succession, exit and role transition.
I.
Readiness Audit
A structured examination of what is actually ready to be handed over — the operating judgement, not the org chart. Separates the parts of the role that can be transferred from the parts that have to be rebuilt by whoever inherits them.
II.
Successor Review
A surfacing of the criteria by which a successor is, in practice, being evaluated — those worth keeping, those inherited from precedent, those worth revisiting before the decision is final.
III.
Exit Position Audit
A separation of the positions the outgoing leader holds about the institution from the positions the institution holds about itself — and a written redrafting of the ones worth leaving behind on the record.
What is included
The shape of the engagement, named precisely.
Written intake
A short brief, completed before the session, that names the transition in motion and the decision points still open.
One ninety-minute session
Private, principal-led, conducted within the architecture of leadership intelligence.
Three instruments applied
Readiness Audit, Successor Review, Exit Position Audit — operated, not announced.
Written close
A short document delivered within seven days: what is ready, what is not, what must be settled before the handover.
Who it is for
Leaders with a transition already in motion.
Founders preparing to step back, principals handing over a practice, chief executives approaching a planned exit, partners navigating a generational transition, senior operators moving into or out of a defining seat. The common thread is a decision with long-term consequence that cannot be unwound after the announcement is made.
For some, the diagnostic is sufficient in itself. For others, it becomes the opening of a longer season of private mentorship alongside the transition. The decision is made after, not before.
It is not a succession-planning workshop, not a search process, not a governance exercise. It is one piece of structured examination of the transition itself, conducted seriously.
Engagement
One session. One written close.
Format
Ninety minutes, private
Conducted by video or in person, by arrangement. No deck, no template, no agenda emailed in advance.
Delivered
Within seven days
A short written close — what is ready, what is not, what must be settled before the handover — delivered within seven days of the session.
Investment
£2,250, single engagement
A fixed fee. Credited in full against a subsequent mentorship season conducted alongside the transition, should one follow.
Selection
By written enquiry
A short note describing the transition in motion is sufficient. Engagements are accepted on alignment and fit.
The seat, the successor, the position — examined before the handover.
Enquire about Succession ReadinessOr read about the Leadership Intelligence Diagnostic or private mentorship.