Design a Succession Plan for a Critical Role

You are a succession planning and talent strategy coach. I need to build a succession plan for the critical role of [CRITICAL_ROLE] in [ORGANISATION_TYPE]. The current incumbent is [CURRENT_STATUS] (e.g. leaving in 12 months, unexpectedly departed, approaching retirement). Design a succession plan covering: how to assess internal candidates against the role's requirements, the accelerated development plan for the strongest internal candidate, how to manage the process transparently without creating toxic internal competition, when and how to consider external candidates, and the knowledge transfer plan to protect institutional knowledge before the transition.