In the Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector, effective leadership transitions are essential for organisational continuity and long-term success. CEOs, senior leaders, and Trustees play pivotal roles in navigating these transitions, ensuring seamless handovers and preserving mission-driven momentum. The “Succession Planning” training program is meticulously tailored to address the unique challenges and opportunities surrounding leadership succession within the VCSE sector.
Our Events
Lunch Masterclass: Succession Planning
Training Session
11/02/2026
Lunch Masterclass: Succession Planning
Who is it for?
CEO, Senior Leaders, Trustees
Date: 11/02/2026
Time: 12.00pm-2:30pm
Venue: CO3 Office, Belfast
Member Price: 149
Non-member Price: 249
Why Is It Risky to Not Have a Succession Plan?
Not having a succession plan can disrupt your organisation. Leadership gaps slow down progress and lower productivity. High turnover occurs as employees leave due to uncertainty, increasing hiring and training costs. Customer satisfaction suffers with inconsistent leadership, harming your reputation.
Board succession is also critical. Without a plan, losing board members can lead to poor governance and strategic disarray, weakening your organisation’s foundation.
Don’t wait for a crisis. Plan for the future with our succession planning training. Learn to create and maintain a strong succession plan for leaders and board members.
By the end of the session, you will:
- Understand Where You Are Now: Assess your current succession planning efforts and identify gaps.
- Define Succession Planning: Clearly understand what succession planning entails and why it’s crucial.
- Recognise the Benefits: Learn how effective succession planning boosts productivity, morale, and organisational stability.
- Distinguish Between Executive and Board Succession Planning: Understand the unique aspects and needs of both executive and board succession planning.
- Explore Three Types of Succession Planning: Gain insights into strategic leader development, emergency succession planning, and departure-defined succession planning.
- Create a Succession Plan: Develop a comprehensive plan tailored to your organisation’s needs.
- Use a Checklist & Review: Ensure your plan is robust with a practical checklist and regular review processes.
Who will benefit most?
- Chief Executives and senior leaders in the third sector who carry the responsibility of steering their organisations through change.
- Board members and trustees who want to strengthen governance and ensure leadership continuity.
- Senior managers identified as potential future leaders, who want to understand what succession planning involves and how to prepare for it.
This session is great for you if...
- You know your organisation relies heavily on your leadership and you want peace of mind that things won’t fall apart if you step back unexpectedly.
- Your board or funders are starting to ask about continuity and you’d like to feel confident showing them a clear, practical plan.
- You’re so focused on delivery and impact that succession planning keeps slipping down the list, but you recognise it’s too important to leave until later.
This session will be facilitated by…
Roger Courtney
Roger Courtney Consultant
Dr Roger Courtney MBE was born and brought up in Belfast. After undertaking a Psychology degree he trained as a community and youth worker and set up Crescent Arts Centre. He was Chief Executive of the Simon Community NI working with homeless people for 16 years and was co-founder of the NI Council for the Homeless. Since completing his PhD in the Strategic Management of Non-profit Organisations, he has been working as a freelance advisor to a range of third sector organisations in strategy, governance and fundraising.
Pink Inc Creative
Katrina Taylor
Pink Inc Creative
Dr Roger Courtney MBE was born and brought up in Belfast. After undertaking a Psychology degree he trained as a community and youth worker and set up Crescent Arts Centre. He was Chief Executive of the Simon Community NI working with homeless people for 16 years and was co-founder of the NI Council for the Homeless. Since completing his PhD in the Strategic Management of Non-profit Organisations, he has been working as a freelance advisor to a range of third sector organisations in strategy, governance and fundraising.was born and brought up in Belfast. After undertaking a Psychology degree he trained as a community and youth worker and set up Crescent Arts Centre. He was Chief Executive of the Simon Community NI working with homeless people for 16 years and was co-founder of the NI Council for the Homeless. Since completing his PhD in the Strategic Management of Non-profit Organisations, he has been working as a freelance advisor to a range of third sector organisations in strategy, governance and fundraising.
Pink Inc Creative
Gillian Heron
Pink Inc Creative
Dr Roger Courtney MBE was born and brought up in Belfast. After undertaking a Psychology degree he trained as a community and youth worker and set up Crescent Arts Centre. He was Chief Executive of the Simon Community NI working with homeless people for 16 years and was co-founder of the NI Council for the Homeless. Since completing his PhD in the Strategic Managementsations, he has been working as a freelance advisor to a range of third sector organisations in strategy, governance and fundraising.n Community NI working with homeless people for 16 years and was co-founder of the NI Council for the Homeless. Since completing his PhD in the Strategic Management of Non-profit Organisations, he has been working as a freelance advisor to a range of third sector organisations in strategy, governance and fundraising.
Pink Inc
Liam Mulherin
Pink Inc
After undertaking a Psychology degree he trained as a community and youth worker and set up Crescent Arts Centre. He was Chief Executive of the Simon Community NI working with homeless people for 16 years and was co-founder of the NI Council for the Homeless. Since completing his PhD in the Strategic Management of Non-profit Organisations, he has been working as a freelance advisor to a range of third sector organisations in strategy, governance and fundraising.rought up in Belfast. After undertaking a Psychology degree he trained as a community and youth worker and set up Crescent Arts Centre. He was Chief Executive of the Simon Community NI working with homeless people for 16 years and was co-founder of the NI Council for the Homeless. Since completing his PhD in the Strategic Management of Non-profit Organisations, he has been working as a freelance advisor to a range of third sector organisations in strategy, governance and fundraising.
Pink Inc
Pink Inc Creative
Pink Inc
Dr Roger Courtney MBE was born and brought up in Belfast. After undertaking a Psychology degree he trained as a community and youth worker and set up Crescent Arts Centre. He was Chief Executive of the Simon Community NI working with homeless people for 16 years and was co-founder of the NI Council for the Homeless. Since completing his PhD in the Strategic Management of Non-profit Organisations, he has been working as a freelance advisor to a range of third sector organisations in strategy, governance and fundraising.
What Members Say About CO3
We’re delighted to get behind the financial resilience programme who, which will support a range of charity leaders from the small right through to the large, will really help give them the skills to be strong and be there for their communities for as long as they’re needed.
As a chief executive it is a very lonely job at times, particularly in small charities and Northern Ireland has got many small charities. So when you feel that loneliness or isolation, the one thing that CO3 brought was the ability to go and chat to somebody, whether it be a mentor or whether it be just another chief exec to bounce off.
Kate Fleck
Member of the Board, OCN NI
CO3 offer a wide range of courses for middle, middle managers, senior managers and chief executives within the third sector. Some of the programmes include the Leading Edge programme, there’s other leadership programmes available and then they also offer some micro learning sessions around how to present things like finances to your board of directors, reviewing your governance structure within the organisation and they would bring in some expert facilitators to deliver those sessions as well.
Martin Flynn
CEO, OCN NI
We’re delighted to get behind the financial resilience programme who, which will support a range of charity leaders from the small right through to the large, will really help give them the skills to be strong and be there for their communities for as long as they’re needed.
As a chief executive it is a very lonely job at times, particularly in small charities and Northern Ireland has got many small charities. So when you feel that loneliness or isolation, the one thing that Co Three brought was the ability to go and chat to somebody, whether it be a mentor or whether it be just another chief exec to bounce off.
Kate Fleck
Member of the Board, OCN NI
“CO3 is always a great network for support, for encouragement, for advice, answers to tricky questions when you're really, really stuck. Overall, it's been a fantastic network of colleagues who are always there for guidance and encouragement whenever things are really tough.”
Karen Collins
Chief Executive, Aware NI
“It is so valuable having other people who are in a similar position that you can network with, you can share problems with, you can ask advice. And so my whole career, CO3 has been really, really important to me in providing those things.”
Roger Courtney
Founder & Director, Roger Courtney Consulting
“I think for me the CO3 is a safe space just to have a chat, to make connections and also to learn from other people who are in a similar position in their career as you are.”
Lisa Keys
Chief Executive, Northern Ireland Boys’ Brigade