Overseeing CEO succession planning is widely considered a full board responsibility. But determining who does what within that mandate can be challenging. Most boards designate the nominating/governance or compensation committees to lead these efforts. Some create a special ad hoc committee for this purpose. No matter the structure, what’s most important is to establish clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

To keep CEO succession planning a priority, directors need to lay out the goals of the process, the cadence for discussion, the plan’s short- and long-term aspects, and the details of the candidate development program. They should also determine how often CEO succession planning appears on the board agenda. And although the current CEO can provide valuable input, the board should regularly discuss succession in executive sessions.

Developing an emergency succession plan requires identifying strong interim candidates who could step in quickly, such as the CFO, COO or other senior executives. Having emergency CEO candidates spend time with the board and the current CEO to better understand the business will help smooth the transition.

If there is no clear internal or external candidate, the board should discuss whether a former CEO or director could temporarily step into the CEO role while the board searches for a longer-term replacement. As part of this discussion, it’s important to assess their comfort level for stepping into the role as well as the anticipated time horizon.

A board that makes it clear to its CEO from day one that planning for succession is a critical part of the board’s job can circumvent much of the anxiety about whether the CEO will feel threatened by the process. The CEO’s responsibility, much like the board’s, is to avoid the disruption of a messy transition.

Maintaining a strong pipeline of CEO-level talent can be a significant challenge in succession planning. If and when a transition becomes necessary, a weak pipeline can result in a scramble to fill the role or in choosing someone who’s not yet ready for the challenge. The first step is a thorough assessment of the company’s leaders — going beyond CEO direct reports — with the aim of identifying individuals poised to become the company’s future leader.

Boards should consider their methodology for evaluating candidates and use the resulting information in their decision-making process. The most effective boards leverage data to aid impartiality and objectivity. Adopting an analytical and evidence-based approach to assessing CEO candidates can reduce bias, allowing boards to avoid evaluating candidates based on personal preferences and familiarity. Simultaneously, leveraging data in the succession process can effectively highlight outlying opinions and possible favoritism against objective facts about each of the candidates.

In the era of activist investors, it’s important to establish and maintain transparency. Boards should consider outlining their CEO succession process in the company’s proxy statement. This could include a description of who is responsible for leading the process, how the company identifies and assesses CEO candidates, how often the board reviews the succession plan, and how the board would respond to an emergency departure.

Directors also need to plan to promote a new CEO to lay the groundwork for a successful tenure. If and when the succession plan is put into effect, the media, employees and other stakeholders should all hear the message that the board fully supports the new executive.

The best boards have an onboarding plan that helps the new CEO get up to speed on company goals, strategy and culture, with directors investing time in listening to and guiding the new CEO. Onboarding details should be shared with key stakeholders and senior business leaders, and the plan should include the division of responsibilities of the outgoing CEO should they remain in the role for a period. Having a well-structured plan will ultimately contribute to the success of the incoming CEO.