Succession Planning vs. Leadership Development
Many of our clients talk about succession planning and leadership development as if they are one in the same. While both are an essential component of smart talent management strategies, each serves a distinct strategic purpose and requires different mindsets, investments, and time horizons. For organizations looking to attract and retain top talent, that distinction matters.
The High Level: Succession Planning vs. Leadership Development
At the highest level…
- Succession planning is about roles.
- Leadership development is about capability.
What is Succession Planning?
We consider succession planning to be a risk management discipline. Its primary objective is continuity and stability by maintaining a strong leadership pipeline. This is accomplished by:
- Identifying mission-critical roles.
- Assessing internal leadership readiness.
- Ensure key positions can be filled with minimal disruption.
Succession planning answers a vital talent review question: If this person leaves tomorrow, who steps in, and how prepared are they?
Done well, succession planning emphasizes readiness, timelines, and exposure to specific experiences. Done poorly, it devolves into a static list, political horse trading, or an annual HR exercise disconnected from real work.
What is Leadership Development?
Leadership development, by contrast, should be a strategic growth engine. Done right, it builds the capacity of leaders to:
Its goal is not to fill a box on an org chart but to elevate the organization’s overall leadership capability to deliver results and maintain organizational health.
The Succession Planning vs. Leadership Development Problem
The problem arises when organizations expect leadership and new manager training programs to magically produce successors — or when they assume a succession plan eliminates the need to invest in strategic leadership capabilities. Neither assumption holds.
Succession planning without action learning leadership development creates brittle pipelines. People may be “ready now” on paper but lack the adaptive capacity to lead through ambiguity, disruption, or scale. Leadership development without succession planning, on the other hand, produces capable leaders with nowhere to go — increasing frustration, turnover, and underutilized talent.
What High Performing Organizations Do
Top organizations integrate the two but do not blur them. Leadership development builds depth and breadth across the system. Succession planning applies that depth to specific roles, at specific times, with explicit accountability.
Research backs up the effectiveness of this approach. Research by Kevin S. Groves published in the Journal of Management Development indicates that organizations outperform competitors when they integrate leadership development with succession planning, rather than relying solely on identifying replacements.
The Bottom Line
Succession planning ensures you have the right people ready for critical current and future roles. Leadership development ensures you have the right leaders capable of executing your strategy. Treating them as the same is a mistake. Integrating them — while respecting their differences — is how organizations set their people up for success.
To learn more about succession planning and leadership development, download 5 Must-know Succession Planning Trends and Lessons from the Field