WorkAI Automations3 min read
Critical roles and succession, kept current
The board's question about who would step in has an answer before it is asked.
Built by our founder in the Chief People Officer seat of a private-equity-backed software company, for its own people function. Built in 30 to 45 days, inside the company’s own systems.
The problem
When the board asked who would step in if the head of sales left, the answer was a pause. Succession lived in the chief executive's head and on a slide from the previous year's offsite.
Roles that mattered most to the plan had no named cover, and nobody found out until someone resigned.
What we built
A critical role register, scored for impact on the plan, scarcity and knowledge concentration, that pulls tenure and vacancy status from the roster each month.
A succession coverage measure, the share of critical roles with a ready successor, that appears on the monthly scorecard.
Alerts to the chief executive and HR lead when a critical role becomes vacant, loses its named successor, or crosses a tenure threshold.
A development plan per successor, drafted by AI from the gap between the person and the role, edited and owned by the manager.
How it works
The roster refreshes the register monthly. Scoring runs on the rules the leadership team set; nothing is decided by the model.
When cover changes, the alert names the role, the reason, and the person who owns the next step.
Once a quarter the leadership team reviews the register in a meeting that takes an hour, because the preparation is already done.
The result
The board page carries a succession coverage number, and it moves when the company acts.
A critical role never sits uncovered without someone knowing, and knowing by name.
Development money goes where the exposure is, not where the loudest request came from.