Let's explore some of the ways that HR can plan for succession, including leadership succession, and what kind of role HR plays in facilitating and managing transitions. First, keep a list of forecasted open positions as part of your human capital review process. When surveying your talent for roles they might fill, look ahead for future vacancies, not just current openings. During career conversations, there may be responses that indicate where the employee may be over time, and whether their position may become a future vacancy. These include: Are they willing to take on new or challenging roles; are they willing to relocate; and are they interested in a leadership track? Also, watch out for indicators of a future vacancy, such as they're looking at retirement in the next few years; they're a military family and may be stationed elsewhere in the next year; they have a desire to move to be near family; they are in college and will be graduating soon; they have an internship or a temporary position; or they're considering a leave of absence. In addition to leadership positions, you should also monitor critical or high-risk positions. These are often non-leadership solo roles that are essential to company operations, such as a key position in payroll, accounting, or sales. To identify these positions, ask yourself: What jobs are critical to the organization and generally hard to fill, and what job will adversely affect operations if left open for an extended period of time? Once you identify these roles, ask yourself if this position were open tomorrow, which employees would be qualified to fill it? If you have no candidates, then these roles should be on your future open positions list.