Succession & Cover Map
Plan for the absence, not the applause — and never let a name on a map become a promise nobody made.
What it is
Succession planning for organisations with no succession function. Builds the failure map instead of the org chart, reads each candidate against the role as it will be in two years, and separates the successor from the emergency cover holder — two jobs, usually two people. Leaves behind dated development actions, a cover holder with stated decision rights, the external lead time where there is no internal answer, and the rules that stop a plan being read as a promise. For owners, directors and HR leads of one.
What you receive
an honest map of who could do whose job — critical roles found by what breaks without them rather than by seniority, each candidate banded ready now, ready with development or not a successor against the role's real demands, development actions dated and owned, an emergency cover holder named per role with what they may decide, and the discretion rules, lead times and retention exposure that stop a name becoming a promise
Delivered as a single, complete .md skill file — open it, paste it into any capable chat model, and work. No installation, no account with anyone but us.
Supported models
- Claude (Opus/Sonnet)
- ChatGPT (GPT-4o/5)
- Gemini
- any capable chat model
People reach for it when
- “what happens to the business if my operations manager quits tomorrow”
- “succession planning template for a small company with no HR department”
- “how to plan who replaces key staff without promising anyone a promotion”
- “who could cover my head of sales readiness assessment”
- “emergency cover plan when a key employee leaves suddenly”
Record
lineage: first-party house build
gates passed: demand-evidence · function-fit · beats-the-blank-page
status: IN THE COLLECTION
Sale-time bench runs and the fix-or-refund log attach to this record when the payment room opens.
In the collection. The sale room is being fitted; this work goes on sale when it opens.
Join the house — be written to when sales openBack to the collectionLicense
Free-shelf works ship under the DolceDrago House License — use the outputs freely, personal or commercial; the work file itself stays with the house.