Succession planning is the process of preparing for large transitions, often in leadership, in an organization. Harm reduction leaders agreed that it is never too soon to start succession planning and that not doing so can lead agencies to serious issues with programmatic stability in the long term.

There are many guides to succession planning but Ready4Change (R4C) was created by Balanced Imperfection with funding from AIDS United and the Comer Family Foundation for harm reduction organizations to get ready for and respond to change when it happens. Some of the basic tenants of that work indicate that it is best to have preparatory conversations and documents before change takes place.

Some of the important preparatory conversations R4C suggested were conversations with:

• Board(s) including Board of Directors (BOD), Community Advisory Board (CAB), Participant Advisory Board (PAB), Worker Co-op Boards, etc
• Leadership staff
• Outside leaders and directors
• Funders

The following were determined to be critical in terms of documentation for succession planning:

• Passwords
• Relationships/history
• Vendors
• Contracts/Grants
• Cross training
• Strategic plans and SWOT analyses

For more information on this critical topic please see the extensive resources at Ready4Change.me