Identify an individual or role and build a succession plan for your own organization, or, if working in a group, choose one member's organization to analyze. First, identify a specific role or family of roles to plan for.

What is the typical turnover for this role or family of roles? (This might be one opening every three years for a single role, or two openings each year for a family of related roles.) This gives you a minimum threshold for ready-now successors.

What are the various strategic capabilities that might be required to execute this role or family of roles success-fully in the future? This gives you a multiplier for how many ready-now successors you might need to meet business challenges.

What is the turnover rate among the successor population for this role or family of roles? If it is high, this means you need to nurture additional ready-now successors.

List some likely successors, the personal characteristics that they will bring to the role, and any derailers that might impair their ability to be effective.