What Your Leadership Bench Is Really Made Of

By Jamie Jacobs & Amy Sulgrove

Most organizations have a succession plan. Far fewer have a bench. The difference shows up the moment a critical leader resigns, gets recruited away, or is asked to step up before they are ready. That gap is where the opportunity sits, and it's far easier to close the gap than most leaders assume.

I asked Amy Sulgrove, founder and CEO of Talent Executives, to talk it through with me. Amy sees it from the search side. I see it from the design side. Here is how the conversation went.

A Plan on Paper Is Only the Start

Jamie: Amy, when does a thin bench show up for you?

Amy: Most organizations have a succession plan. It sits in a slide deck, gets reviewed once a year, and earns a round of nods. Then a critical leader resigns, gets recruited away, or is asked to step up before being ready, and the plan meets real life.

I see this all the time from the search side. The call usually comes after the resignation, and the question is how fast a strong replacement can be found. Retained search is the right answer for some of those seats. For others, the better answer was available months earlier, had the bench been built with the same care as the plan. Across hundreds of leadership searches and succession engagements at Talent Executives, one pattern holds. The organizations that rarely get caught short have been honest with themselves about a handful of things.

Six Honest Questions

Jamie: What are those things?

Amy: That pattern became the Leadership Bench Index™, a free assessment with eighteen questions and a read that takes about eight minutes. It looks at six dimensions of leadership readiness. Each is scored on a 100-point scale, and the overall result lands in one of four bands, from Exposed to Deep Bench. The results appear on screen right away, and no email is required to see them.

Clarity Is the Critical First Step

Jamie: Where does the Index begin?

Amy: The first two dimensions are about clarity. Critical role clarity asks whether you know which seats actually carry the plan and what great looks like in each one going forward. Successor visibility asks whether you can name who is ready now and who is ready soon, seat by seat, and say plainly who is not ready yet. Those two questions alone surface a great deal.

Readiness Deserves a Standard

Jamie: The third dimension is the one that gets me curious as an organization designer. How do you describe it?

Amy: Readiness rigor asks whether readiness is a judgment call or an assessment against a defined standard. Judgment calls tend to favor the people we know best and the roles as they exist today. A defined standard lets a leader see the real distance between where a successor is and where the seat is headed.

Jamie: That is the part I would add to. Seats change. The leader your business needs three years from now may carry a different mix of capabilities than the one who holds the role today. A standard written for the future of the work gives successors something real to grow toward.

Naming a Successor Should Change Something

Amy: Jamie, what happens after someone is named a successor?

Jamie: The fourth dimension, development and movement, asks whether being named a successor changes how that person spends the next year. I love this question because it hands leaders a lever. A stretch assignment or time with the board can change a person’s trajectory in twelve months. When naming leads to nothing, successors notice, and so do the leaders who were not named.

The Outside Market Belongs in the Picture

Jamie: Amy, the fifth dimension brings in the outside market. Why does the Index ask about it?

Amy: Market awareness asks whether you know what the outside market holds for these roles, and how your internal candidates compare. We ask because it keeps everyone honest. Strong internal candidates deserve to be measured against what is possible, and leaders deserve to know when the right answer is to look outside.

Sometimes an internal successor holds up well against the market, and seeing that clearly builds confidence in the promotion. Other times the comparison shows where a seat needs fresh perspective. Either result is useful, and neither is a verdict on the people involved.

Ownership Keeps It Alive

Amy: The sixth dimension is ownership and governance. What have you seen there?

Jamie: It asks whether succession is a living conversation with real owners or an annual deck that gets acknowledged. In my experience, organizations with strong benches treat leadership depth as part of how the business runs. It shows up in quarterly conversations and board agendas. Someone owns it, and it gets revisited as strategy shifts.

The Bench from the Design Side

Amy: You start somewhere other than the org chart. Where?

Jamie: I ask what the business needs to accomplish over the next three years and which capabilities that work will require. The seats worth protecting are the ones that carry that strategy. Some of the most important ones sit two levels below the executive team.

Once a leadership team agrees on the capabilities the next chapter needs, succession conversations get more specific and more honest. People can see where they have real depth, where the business relies on a single leader, and where someone is quietly carrying the work of three roles. That last discovery is common, and it is useful to find it before a resignation does.

A strong bench also gives leaders room to grow. When someone knows the next seat is within reach and the organization is investing in their readiness, they stay curious and engaged. Depth becomes part of how a company keeps the talent it has already built. Start with the work, then the seats, then the names. In that order, the plan tends to hold.

Start With the Seat That Worries You Most

Jamie: Who should take the Index, and when?

Amy: The Leadership Bench Index™ is built for anyone responsible for leadership continuity, from CEOs and CHROs to board members and department heads. It is especially useful before a planned transition, during strategic planning, or after an acquisition.

Jamie: Leadership depth is one of the most hopeful things an organization can build, because it is built by choices leaders make this year.

Amy: Take the Leadership Bench Index™, pick one seat, and have the honest conversation. The bench you want is closer than it looks.