Transforming Succession Planning into an Organizational Advantage

Part 1: Rethinking the Role (April 8)

What if succession planning started with the role saying, “Here’s what I need to succeed”? By flipping the old model of selecting a person first, leaders can instead craft role profiles that capture today’s demands and tomorrow’s possibilities — powered by data, technology, and clear frameworks. Learn how to develop a future-ready blueprint that makes succession sharper, actionable, and directly aligned to the real work ahead. Discover how to conduct AI scans to gain clarity on what key roles will demand today and craft role profiles that outline the skills and leadership styles your organization will need tomorrow. A clear, future-ready role blueprint leaders can use to clarify expectations, onboard successors, and guide development.

Topics

• Creating a role forecast
• How to use a framework to define the must-have, nice-to-have, and no-go skills, mindsets, and experiences
• Leveraging technology (including AI) to compare role needs across industries
• Developing role profiles that include ideal behavior, motivator, and thinking-styles
• Crafting “If my role could talk…” stories that make a role’s needs visible and actionable

Between Sessions: Leaders will test the process by creating a profile for one critical role in their organization and bring insights back to share.

Part 2: Aligning Talent to Roles (April 29)

What if matching people to roles wasn’t about gut instinct or favoritism — but about clarity and growth? Elminiate the guesswork by figuring out how to align talent directly to future-ready role forecasts and use practical tools to design development plans that actually stick. Examine how clarity and leadership affect retention and how you can encourage employees to own their growth and professional development. Get live coaching in how to implement development strategies and talk through your common challenges to developing your team. Leave with a practical method for objectively matching people to roles and creating development plans.

Topics

• Mapping your current talent pool to role forecasts
• Using the “1% better” method to design custom development plans
• Why top talent leaves, why they stay, and how clarity shapes retention
• Shifting accountability to employees through transparent role expectations and development paths
• Challenges to role development and development strategies

Between Sessions: Create a development plan for a potential successor using the role forecast from session 1 and test the “1% Better” approach.

Part 3: Making Succession Planning Stick (May 13)

What if succession planning wasn’t a checklist at all, but part of everyday leadership? Discover how to draw succession out of HR files and weave it into onboarding, reviews, cross-training, and culture. Share strategies from across the industry on how to keep succession current and constant and hold yourself and your leaders accountable to the priority. Discuss how to map efforts to organizational metrics, helping succession become part of the organization’s DNA. Leave with a sustainable model for embedding succession into talent management, leadership conversations, and organizational culture.

Topics

• Embedding succession into onboarding, performance reviews, cross-training, and role clarity conversations
• Mapping succession efforts directly to organizational and departmental metrics
• Using AI and technology to keep role profiles up to date
• Best practices and integration strategies from across public power
• Recognizing and rewarding employees who drive succession

Registration Fees

Registration is for individual access. If you have multiple people interested in attending, group discounts are available. 

Group Discounts

Save money when your organization registers five or more people for the webinar series. The larger your group, the more you save! 

Registrations must be submitted on the same order (at the same time) to qualify for the group discount; discounts cannot be retroactively applied to previous orders. 

If you need assistance, contact Registration@PublicPower.org.

Registration Help

Check out our Registration FAQs for answers to the most common questions and help with all your registration-related issues. 

Cancellations /No-Show/ Refunds/ Substitutions

All webinars will be recorded and attendees will automatically receive a copy of the recordings, in case you can’t attend live.

Registrants who cancel in writing at least 7 days in advance of the first webinar in the series are entitled to a refund of their registration fee, minus a $100 cancellation fee. Registrants who cancel after that will not receive a refund, but attendee substitutions will be allowed for this event only. Registrants and no-shows who do not cancel at least 7 days before the course start date are responsible for the full registration fee and are not entitled to a refund. 

Cancellations must be received on/before April 1, 2026. Cancellation requests should be made through your My.PublicPower portal, or addressed to: Registration@PublicPower.org.

Questions?

• Registration/Billing: Registration@PublicPower.org
• Schedule/Content/Accreditation: Academy@PublicPower.org

Earn While You Learn!

Participate in virtual programs to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs), Professional Development Hours (PDHs) and Continuing Legal Education (CLEs).

Accreditation

The following continuing education credits will be provided for this Group Internet based event, after successfully completing 90% of the three live sessions. 

• Recommended CEUs .5/PDHs 4.5 (total for all sessions)

What educational credits are available?

• You can earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and Professional Development Hours (PDHs), provided the following requirements are met:

Requirements for Successful Completion

• Registration is for individual access, so each person participating must register. If you have multiple people interested in attending, group discounts are available.
• Individuals are required to attend and actively participate in 90% of each live session and complete an online evaluation after the last session in a course.
  • Attendance: Individuals must attend at least 90% of each live session (based on electronic timestamps in Zoom).
  • Participation: Active participation in class will include engagement activities such as: polling/check-in questions, and Kahoot quizzes (tracked electronically). There will also be small group breakout sessions, in-class exercises, and Q&A sessions.
  • Online evaluation: Each person must complete an online evaluation after the course concludes
• Partial credit cannot be given for partial attendance.
• Attendance is monitored by an APPA staff member during the event, through an online report log, and upon review of the post-event evaluation data.
• Completion certificates will be available within two weeks of the last session in a live event (for those who meet the requirements) through your APPA member portal (access instructions will be provided).
• Virtual sessions are recorded (attendees automatically receive access to recordings within a week of the last session), though continuing education credits can only be given for attending live events. Recordings will be accessible for 90 days after the last session.

Guidelines for Group Participation in Virtual Events

• If a group is participating in a conference room together, we recommend each person still logs in individually from a laptop to ensure attendance and participation requirements are met (as noted above).
• If individual log in is not possible, the organization must designate one person as the main point of contact. Email Academy@PublicPower.org in advance of the virtual event noting this information
  • This person will record attendance in the room in the room (we can provide a sample attendance tracker) and ensure attendance and participation from the group throughout.
  • Submit the attendance record to APPA within 2 business days of the conclusion of a virtual event.
  • Ensure each person fills out the required online evaluation.

Accreditation Organizations 

Continuing Education Units (CEUs): The American Public Power Association is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and is authorized to issue the IACET CEU. For information regarding certification status, attendance requirements, and obtaining attendee transcripts, contact Academy@PublicPower.org. Verify our IACET Accreditation.

Professional Development Hours (PDHs): The American Public Power Association’s educational practices are consistent with the criteria for awarding Professional Development Hours (PDHs) as established by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). Course eligibility and number of PDHs may vary by state.

Questions? 

• Registration/Billing: Registration@PublicPower.org
• Schedule/Content/Accreditation: Academy@PublicPower.org

Format and Log-In Information

These webinars will be offered on the Zoom meeting platform. 

Communication

• 24 hours after registering: You’ll receive a confirmation email within 24 hours of registering, which contains some preliminary information.
• 24 hours before: You’ll receive your Zoom log in link the day before the first session in a course (sent from the APPA Academy’s Zoom account <no-reply@zoom.us>)
  • You’ll also receive a final logistics email 24 hours in advance of the first class.
• If you don’t receive this correspondence, email Academy@PublicPower.org

Course Materials and Recordings

• Zoom Links: Zoom log in credentials will be sent out 24 hours before the start of the first session.
• Course Materials: Attendees will receive access to course materials the day before each session through the "Documents" section of their My.PublicPower.org user portal.
• Recordings: All sessions will be recorded and can be accessed through your user portal as well (within a week of the last class in the program), in case you can’t attend the live versions. Recordings will be accessible for 90 days after the last session. Note: Continuing education credits can only be issued for attending live sessions.

Technology Requirements

• Zoom Meeting Application: Attendees are required to have strong Internet access, in order to run the Zoom meeting platform. Please see below for more information on downloading the Zoom Web Client.
• Audio/Webcam: You will need to enable computer audio to listen and speak (alternatively a call-in number will be provided) and you will also need a webcam, so you can fully engage in the small group breakout sessions and group discussions.  

New to Zoom?

If you haven't participated in a Zoom meeting before, please download the Zoom web client from the Zoom Download Center. This will enable you to access all of the Zoom tools and functionality vs. using the web version. Then, visit Zoom.us/test to ensure you are able to join a meeting. 

If you are not able to download the Zoom web client, you can still participate via your Internet browser. We recommend using Chrome for the best results.

Privacy and Security

The American Public Power Association takes your privacy and security very seriously. For this reason, we have put the following security measures in place for this course:

• A random Meeting ID
• Password-protected
• Enabled waiting room to screen meeting participants
• Restricted screen sharing to hosts only

Questions? 

• Registration/Billing: Registration@PublicPower.org
• Schedule/Content/Accreditation: Academy@PublicPower.org