Succession Planning and Building Leadership Pipelines – Dubai, 17–21 May 2027

Programme overview

Technical depth: Conceptual · Practical mode: Case study

Introduction

When a key leader resigns, retires or falls ill, many organisations discover that no successor is ready and that the talent list reviewed each year was never acted on. Vacancies in critical roles then stall strategy, raise external hiring costs and unsettle the teams below. This Core Concept course equips executives to govern succession as a business risk, judge the strength of the leadership bench and direct development investment where it matters most. Participants analyse cases from several sectors and leave with a Succession and Leadership Pipeline Strategy for their organisation.

Course Objectives

• Assess leadership continuity risk and identify the roles whose vacancy would most damage strategy delivery
• Evaluate succession and pipeline models, including the Leadership Pipeline and the nine-box grid, and select the approach that fits the organisation
• Direct talent reviews that classify successor readiness on consistent evidence
• Oversee development investment that moves successors through critical experiences and leadership transitions
• Govern executive and emergency succession, and monitor pipeline health with ISO 30414 succession metrics
• Produce a Succession and Leadership Pipeline Strategy ready for executive committee or board approval

Target Audience

• Executives accountable for the long-term leadership capacity of their organisation or business unit
• Chief human resources officers and HR directors who own succession and talent strategy
• Board and executive committee members who oversee senior appointments
• Directors of talent, leadership development and organisational capability
• Heads of subsidiaries and divisions responsible for leadership continuity across several locations

Course Outline

Day 1: Succession Risk and the Pipeline Context

• Leadership Continuity Risk Assessment Using an Enterprise Risk Register
• Critical Role Identification with a Role Criticality Matrix
• Strategic Workforce Planning: Leadership Supply and Demand Gap Analysis
• Build, Buy and Borrow Talent Strategy Options
• Succession Maturity Assessment of Current Practice

Day 2: Pipeline Models and Standards

• Leadership Pipeline Model: Six Leadership Passages
• Nine-Box Performance and Potential Grid
• Acceleration Pool Versus Replacement Planning Models
• ISO 30414 Succession Metrics: Coverage, Readiness and Effectiveness
• ISO 10667 Principles for Assessment Service Delivery

Day 3: Talent Reviews and Successor Development

• Talent Review Calibration Process and Evidence Standards
• Potential Assessment: Learning Agility and Leadership Derailer Indicators
• Successor Readiness Classification and Bench Strength Chart
• Individual Development Plans Using the 70-20-10 Model
• Critical Experience Mapping and Stretch Assignment Planning

Day 4: Governance, Risks and Special Cases

• Executive Succession Governance: Board Roles and Emergency Succession Protocols
• Succession Bias Risks: Similarity Bias, Halo Effect and Calibration Controls
• High-Potential Retention: Flight Risk and Impact Matrix
• Pipeline Diversity Analysis Against Workforce Demographics
• External Executive Hire Integration Using a 90-Day Onboarding Plan

Day 5: Case Work and the Succession Strategy

• Family-Owned Group Case Study: Founder Succession and Governance
• Public Service Case Study: Retirement Wave in Technical Leadership
• Bench Strength Dashboard Build for an Own Organisation
• Succession and Leadership Pipeline Strategy Drafting
• Executive Committee Review Panel and Strategy Defence

Skills You Will Gain

• Succession Risk Assessment
• Critical Role Analysis
• Talent Review Governance
• Potential Assessment
• Bench Strength Analysis
• Leadership Development Investment
• Executive Succession Governance
• Human Capital Reporting

Why Attend This Course

• Return with a Succession and Leadership Pipeline Strategy that has already faced executive-level challenge
• Know which roles to protect first and how deep the bench behind each one really is
• Ask sharper questions of talent reviews, successor slates and development spending
• Compare succession practice with executives from other sectors and countries facing similar leadership gaps

Conclusion

Leadership continuity is too important to leave to an annual list that nobody acts on. This course moves from assessing succession risk and identifying critical roles, through the principal pipeline models and human capital metrics, to the talent reviews, development investment and governance that turn names on a chart into ready successors. The final day applies that material to cases from several sectors and produces a Succession and Leadership Pipeline Strategy that participants take to their executive committee or board.