What could succession planning look like in practice?

The approach to succession planning will vary across co‑operatives depending on their specific nature. Below are example scenarios of what could happen in practice in two different co‑operatives.  

In a Consumer Co‑operative, the following approach could be taken in the instance of a long‑standing Society Secretary retiring: 

1. Decide and plan in advance which roles require a succession plan. 
2. Consider any governance processes for the appointment in question i.e. is it in the gift of the members, board or management.
3. Assess if there are any suitable internal candidates. Ideally, personal development plans should be in place for staff members which indicate their ambitions. 
4. Ideally, an internal candidate will have already been identified as successor. Begin a handover period including shadowing and up-skilling, bearing in mind the departure date of the incumbent and any further training needs that have to be addressed by then. 
5. If no internal candidates are identified, external recruitment from within the movement could be explored through connections with other societies where individuals in similar roles may have no onward progression opportunities within their own society. If appropriate, this could be considered ahead of widening the search. 
6. It may be helpful to establish a working group to input into the recruitment process, made up of board or committee members as well as leadership acknowledging the need to work as a cohesive team. 

A Credit Union might take the following approach in the event of the Chair’s impending retirement: 

1. A year ahead of the retirement, the board should be notified/reminded of the impending retirement of the Chair so that there is awareness.  
2. Expressions of interest from existing board members to take on the role of Chair should be invited (in the case that there is a Vice Chair, it is not necessarily assumed that this individual would stand for Chair). 
3. If interest is received, a system of mentoring and shadowing should begin between the outgoing Chair and the interested individual/s (taking into account that in co‑operatives, there may be more than one nomination for the Chair’s position).
4. Shadowing and mentoring could involve allowing the interested individual/s to participate in tasks generally undertaken by the Chair such as, if appropriate, joining meetings between the current Chair and the CEO, accompanying the Chair to external meetings and having the opportunity to Chair a meeting.  
5. Credit Union Chairs are likely to hold a Senior Management Function (‘SMF’) under the Senior Managers Certification Regime (‘SM&CR’). The outgoing Chair should ensure that there is an appropriate handover to the incoming individual, as outlined in the section above.  

NB: the above scenarios are examples only and the guidance should be taken in the context of the co-operative’s rules or governing document which will take precedence over any guidance.