Vocations · Professional Development

Someone will do this job next.
Decide who.

Every small organization has roles where work stops if one person is gone, and the owner’s is usually first. A plan names who could step in, how ready each person is, what they need to learn and what happens if the change comes suddenly. List your key roles and the checklist shows where the gaps are.

Add a key roleWhat you get
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $5

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Job search kit, $29 for 34 items.

Your key roles

The worked example is made up: the owner of a small landscaping company five years from retirement with no one ready yet, and its office manager with a trained backup. Saved on this device only.

Loading the role form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Vocations · Professional Development$5

What you finish with
A record per key role: how critical it is, whether an owner holds it, years to the planned change, each possible successor by initials with readiness and the next development step, and nine steps. Counts successors ready now and within two years and steps done; flags critical roles with no one ready, near departures, roles with no successor, owners without a buy-sell agreement or valuation, and a missing emergency plan.
Who it is for
Small business owners, nonprofit directors, team leads and family business members.
Format
Browser checklist with a saved record per role. Prints one role, every role in a table or a blank sheet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Job search kit ($29) and the Vocations Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Professional Development space in Caveat Vocations.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. List the roles where work stops or slows without the holder.
  2. Name possible successors by initials and rate their readiness.
  3. Write one development step for each.
  4. Work through the steps, the emergency plan first.
  5. Review the plan once a year.

Add a key role

Six steps

A succession plan, in order1The sudden caseWho covers if someone is gonetomorrow2The rolesWhich ones stop the work ifempty3The peopleSuccessors, with how readyeach is4The gapsA development step for eachperson5The ownershipBuy-sell agreement and avaluation6The reviewOnce a year, and after any bigchangeA succession plan, in order1The sudden caseWho covers if someone is gone tomorrow2The rolesWhich ones stop the work if empty3The peopleSuccessors, with how ready each is4The gapsA development step for each person5The ownershipBuy-sell agreement and a valuation6The reviewOnce a year, and after any big change
Start with the emergency plan: it is the shortest to write and the one most often needed.

Initials, not names

A succession plan is sensitive: people may read it as a promise or a slight. Keep successors as initials here, and talk with each person about their development before naming them in anything shared.

For owners

A buy-sell agreement among owners, often funded by life or disability insurance, decides what happens to a share when an owner dies, becomes disabled or leaves. It is drafted with a lawyer and checked against a current valuation.

Sources

  1. U.S. Small Business Administration. Close or sell your business and exit planning guidance (sba.gov).
  2. SCORE. Succession planning for small business owners (score.org).
  3. Rothwell, W. J. (2015). Effective Succession Planning (5th ed.). AMACOM.
  4. Society for Human Resource Management. Engaging in succession planning (shrm.org).

The worked examples are made up. This checklist is for planning; it is not legal, tax or valuation advice. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.