A director announces their departure. Retirement, internal promotion, a new opportunity, personal reasons. The cause doesn't matter. What matters is the question no one asks early enough: do we have someone ready to step up?
In most organisations, succession is treated as an exceptional event. People think about it when it is too late, when the announcement has been made, the timeline is set, and pressure is mounting.
The reality is more straightforward: every director will leave, eventually. Retirement. A move to a different remit. A voluntary departure. A health situation. This is not a question of "if". It is a question of "when".
And yet the numbers speak for themselves. According to Deloitte, while 86% of leaders view succession planning as an urgent or important priority, only 14% believe they do it well. (Deloitte Insights : The holy grail of effective leadership succession planning)
That means 86% of organisations face a strategic departure without an identified, developed successor.
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The problem is not the director's departure. It is that the organisation functioned as though this departure would never come. |
This is not a question of bad intentions. It is a question of how the organisation operates.
To understand what is at stake, consider two fictitious (but realistic) organisations facing the same event: the announcement that their Sales Director will leave in six months.
The organisation that is left with a void
In this organisation, the director is outstanding. He is the living memory of the client portfolio. He manages the key relationships directly. Important decisions flow through him, often implicitly, rarely documented.
His team is competent, but accustomed to receiving direction. They execute well. They have never had to make independent calls on strategic matters.
When the announcement comes, the diagnosis is swift: no one in the team is ready. External recruitment is explored. The process takes seven months. During that time, key clients grow uncertain, a few walk away. Revenue dips. Without clear direction, the team loses cohesion.
The real problem is not the director's departure. It is that for years, the organisation concentrated leadership at a single point without ever distributing it.
The organisation that ensures continuity
In this second organisation, the outgoing director worked differently. He delegated with method — not everything, but the right things, to the right people, with progressively increasing autonomy. He invested in the development of key team members. He made sure his team understood the strategic stakes, not just the operational tasks.
Two team members had gone through a structured leadership development programme. They learned how to steer, make decisions, and manage high-level client relationships.
When the departure is announced, the transition is organised in three months. An internal successor is appointed. Clients are reassured. The team stays cohesive around a vision they have learned to share.
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❌ Without a succession plan |
✅ With a succession plan |
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Leadership concentrated in one person |
Leadership distributed, documented, transferable |
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Strategic decisions not shared |
Team involved in the broader stakes |
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No successors identified or developed |
A visible, trained internal pipeline |
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Transition reactive, often outsourced |
Transition planned and handled internally |
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Client and momentum losses |
Continuity of relationships and performance |
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High human and financial cost |
Immediate ROI on the development investment |
Most leaders know intuitively that succession is a real issue. So why do so few organisations actually prepare for it?
Organisations that come to LMI on this topic typically arrive in one of two situations:
Situation 1 — The crisis has already been announced
A departure is planned within the next six to twelve months. The organisation realises it has no successor ready. The urgency is real, but it is not irreversible.
In this case, LMI works on two levels simultaneously: identifying high-potential profiles within the team, and immediately launching a structured development programme to accelerate their growth within the available timeframe.
The ELD (Effective Leadership Development) and EPP (Effective Personal Productivity) programmes are precisely designed for this kind of rapid, structured, measurable progression. Progress is visible from the early weeks: participants apply their learning to real goals, within their everyday context.
Situation 2 — The crisis has not happened yet
Everything is running smoothly. The director is in place, performing well, and no one is thinking about departure. This is precisely the right moment to act.
Building a leadership pipeline is long-term work. The best programmes run six to twelve months. Not because it is slow, but because lasting behavioural change takes time. Leaders are not developed in a two-day seminar.
LMI supports organisations that want to get ahead: identifying high-potential managers, structuring their development, and progressively building a culture in which leadership is passed on naturally, not just top-down.
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The best time to prepare for succession is before the question arises. The second best time is now. |
LMI programmes are not generic training courses. They are structured, individualised journeys anchored in the participant's operational reality. Each person works on their own objectives, in their own context, supported by a facilitator who adjusts the pace and priorities accordingly.
Concretely, managers coached through LMI develop :
These are exactly the competencies that make the difference between a manager who fills a role and a successor who ensures real continuity.
If your director told you tomorrow morning they were leaving in six months, would you have someone ready to take over?
Not someone technically capable. Someone ready to exercise the leadership of the function, maintain strategic relationships, and guide the team through a transition without disruption.
If the answer is no (or if you hesitate) that is the signal to act. Not in a year. Not when the departure is made official. Now.
At LMI, we help organisations build this succession pipeline, with method, over time. Whether the departure has been announced or is still far off.
Discover our programmes (https://lmibelux.com/your-leadership-project)