Credit union boards, for better or worse, do not have the luxury of having human resources departments to take care of recruiting, screening, hiring and training replacements for board members who, for whatever reason, leave their positions. The board members themselves are responsible for all of these activities.

As such, successful boards are those that have proactive board succession plans in place – plans that include, first, determining the direction or directions that the members want to take their boards; second, identifying potential replacements; and third, getting these new members up to speed once they are officially on the board.

What does it take to succeed in this process? There are several steps, according to industry experts.