# Succession Planning: Secure Critical Roles before the Retirement Wave Arrives > Succession planning in four steps: identify critical roles, build a successor pool, implement development plans, review annually. With a focus on age structure and knowledge loss. URL: https://techport.ai/en/hr-beratung/strategie-und-planung/nachfolgeplanung --- 1. [HR Consulting](/en/hr-beratung)/ 2. [Strategy and Planning](/en/hr-beratung/strategie-und-planung)/ 3. Succession Planning and Critical Roles [Strategy and Planning](/en/hr-beratung/strategie-und-planung) # Succession Planning and Critical Roles By Redaktion techport.ai, HR-Beratung · Last updated on 21 August 2026 Ask your management which five people the company cannot afford to lose. The answer will come quickly. Then ask who could replace these five people. The answer will take longer, and often it is: nobody, at least not in the short term. This risk is not on any balance sheet, but it determines whether the strategy will remain viable in terms of personnel in two years. Succession planning is not a programme for the executive board. It is a method to secure the handful of roles whose unfilled status harms the company, from the Head of Purchasing to the sole person who understands the old plant control system. ## How You'll Notice It * Critical roles are known, but nowhere documented. * The incumbents of these roles are, on average, significantly older than the workforce. * Succession is discussed when the resignation or pension application is submitted. * Internal candidates are informed of their suitability when it is too late to develop them. ## Why This Happens Succession planning has no natural deadline. It competes with day-to-day business and loses out because the risk remains abstract until it materialises. Added to this is discomfort: talking about succession means talking about the departure of people who are still present. Without a process, deadline, and responsible parties, nothing happens. ## Our Approach 1. **Identify critical roles.** Not the most important people, but the roles whose vacancy endangers turnover, security, or operational capability. We assess each role by the impact of a vacancy and the time to refil. This rarely yields more than twenty roles. 2. **Build a successor pool.** For each role, we name internal candidates with a time horizon: immediately ready, in one to two years, in three to five years. Where there is no one in-house, this becomes a recruitment task with lead time. 3. **Implement development plans.** Each person in the pool receives a plan with specific experiences: project leadership, representation, rotation, qualification. This is agreed in the development interview and documented in the system. 4. **Review annually.** Roles, pool, and plans are discussed with management once a year. The HR system provides the data for this: age structure, fluctuation risk, development status. ## What You Gain * The company understands its key personnel risk and can manage it. * Talent stays because they see a perspective that goes beyond the next job title. * External searches begin with lead time instead of under pressure, and this significantly reduces costs. ## From Our Projects When we assess critical roles with management, the list regularly includes roles that no one had previously considered: the person who handles customs clearance, the administrator of the payroll system, the master technician with the sole inspection qualification. Leadership positions are usually better secured than these functions. And in almost every project, the average age of critical role incumbents is higher than that of the workforce. ## Good to Know According to calculations by the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (German Economic Institute), approximately 1.3 million people will reach retirement age annually until 2036, while only about 800,000 will enter the workforce. In many industrial companies, the average age in key technical functions is over 50. Age structure analysis is therefore the first step in any succession planning, and it can be extracted from any HR system in an hour. ## Frequently asked questions Should candidates know they are in the pool? Yes, in most cases. Covert pools create expectations in no one and disappointment in everyone. Transparency does not mean promising a succession, but offering development. How do we handle the works council? Succession planning affects selection guidelines and individual personnel measures. We recommend discussing the criteria for critical roles and the selection into the pool with the works council before any names are mentioned. ## Let's talk about Succession Planning and Critical Roles In a thirty-minute first call we clarify where your biggest lever is and whether we are the right partner for it. [Book a first call](/en/kontakt)[Our consulting](/en/so-funktionierts) ## Further reading [Mobility and LeaversRetirement and knowledge transfer13.3 million people in employment will reach retirement age by 2040. How companies can make their own retirement wave visible, secure experiential knowledge, and shape transitions with phased retirement and continued employment.](/en/hr-beratung/mobilitaet-und-austritt/ruhestand-wissenstransfer)[Onboarding and DevelopmentCareer Paths and Internal DevelopmentWhy people resign to get promoted, how career models based on job architecture are created, and how development becomes traceable in the HR system.](/en/hr-beratung/onboarding-und-entwicklung/karrierepfade)[Mobility and LeaversInternal Mobility and PromotionsWhy companies recruit externally for what they have internally, how an internal job market works, how managers learn to let go of talent, and how promotions become transparent.](/en/hr-beratung/mobilitaet-und-austritt/interne-mobilitaet)[KnowledgeHR MetricsDefinitions and formulas that read the same across the company.](/en/hr-beratung/kennzahlen)[KnowledgeHR Maturity CheckKnow where your people function stands in ten minutes.](/en/hr-beratung/reifegrad-check) Back to the field [Strategy and Planning](/en/hr-beratung/strategie-und-planung) ## Sources * [Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (German Economic Institute), Deschermeier/Schaefer: The Baby Boomers are Reaching Retirement Age (2026)](https://www.iwkoeln.de/studien/philipp-deschermeier-holger-schaefer-die-babyboomer-erreichen-das-rentenalter.html) * [§ 95 BetrVG (Works Constitution Act), Selection Guidelines](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/betrvg/__95.html) * [§ 99 BetrVG (Works Constitution Act), Co-determination in individual personnel measures](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/betrvg/__99.html) Rt Written by [Redaktion techport.ai](/ueber-uns), HR-Beratung Mehr als 15 Jahre Erfahrung in HR-Prozessen und HR-Systemen, Einführung von HR-Software in mittelständischen Unternehmen, Verhandlung von Betriebsvereinbarungen zu IT-Systemen. 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