Having the right people, with the right skills, in the right positions is paramount to sustaining an organizations growth and success. ASTDs Improving Succession Plans report explores the business case for succession planning and breaks down how companies are executing it, from who is involved and who ought to be involved to how organizations decide on candidates to fill the succession pipeline.Despite the important connection between succession planning and business success, most companies admit their succession planning efforts have significant room for improvement. This report is a powerful tool for implementing meaningful change within organizations: the analysis of this research leads to recommendations on the creation of metrics, candidate selection, and key practices to cope with barriers to effective plans that business leaders and learning executives will find especially useful.