Over the past week in the US, we’ve witnessed a major advantage of political democracies over other kinds of government: the peaceful transfer of power. This form of elective and collaborative succession planning is the law of the land, but how formalized is the process in your organization?

With the current economic crisis looming as a backdrop, leadership has come into question on many fronts. Scores of incumbent elected officials were stripped of responsibility on November 4, 2008. An unprecedented number of CEOs have lost their positions. In USA Today, 'Leadership vacuum' sucks up public's faith details some startling business statistics:
• 1,132 CEOs had departed their jobs as of Q3 2008 according to Challenger Gray & Christmas.
• Worldwide confidence in business leaders is the lowest in 10 years according to DDI.

Successful succession planning offers organizations a winning strategy to identify best fits using a complete view of available and qualified talent for a position—be it from your team, other departments, external channels, or personal networks. With barely a third of surveyed organizations prepared for succession planning, it’s time to take action to ensure peaceful—and effective—transfers of power inside your organization.