Leadership succession planning is essential to any business’s growth and development. The right people in leadership roles can help ensure that the right decisions are being made and that the company is thriving. But what happens when there’s no plan for leadership turnover? The company may suffer from internal conflict or stagnation while leaders fight to maintain control over their teams. If you run a business, seek out ways to prepare your team for change—especially if you’re thinking about retiring soon or looking to expand beyond what you’ve already achieved!
When a company’s leadership changes, it is critical to know that transitions have been carefully planned and prepared.
When a company’s leadership changes, it is critical to know that transitions have been carefully planned and prepared. A succession plan is a roadmap for the future; it identifies who can take on new roles, what skills they will need and how they will be trained.
In many cases today, there are multiple people with the potential to lead an organisation into the future. Succession planning allows you to identify those candidates early on so they can be groomed for promotion over time. This ensures that your company has a pipeline of leaders ready when needed and that nothing falls through the cracks during times of transition or change within your company structure.
A good succession plan helps the company stay productive during times of change.
A good succession plan helps the company stay productive during times of change. A succession plan can be a series of steps that are taken over time or a single event. The important thing is that there’s some plan to ensure that the organisation continues to operate smoothly and efficiently when a leader leaves.
A succession plan can keep the right people in the correct positions.
Succession planning is not about finding someone to fill a position; it’s about ensuring you have the right person for the job. You may have many qualified candidates, but it might not work out if they don’t fit with your culture or leadership style. So first, research your current leaders and determine what makes them great at doing their job. What are their strengths? How do they lead others? This can help you determine if there is someone else who has similar qualities that could grow into this role.
A good succession plan should be developed over time because everyone changes individually. In addition, it takes time for people to grow into their roles, so ensure that every potential successor has had enough experience to do so successfully before promoting them to one of yours!
Having a succession plan can reduce anxiety about the leader stepping down.
Once you develop a succession plan, the leader can focus on their new role and the company’s future. They will no longer have to worry about what will happen next.
It’s essential to start the process early.
The best time to start a succession planning process is not the day you have to find a replacement for your company’s chief executive officer (CEO). It’s not when a key employee leaves, and you’re struggling to fill their role. It’s not when your business has grown so large that it needs more leaders than just one person can manage alone. And it certainly isn’t after an employee fails in their job, leaving you with no other option but to replace them quickly and at all costs.
The best time to start preparing for leadership succession is today—or even yesterday, if possible! Start by defining what success means for your organisation, then identify who is most likely capable of achieving those goals in the future. You’ll be glad you did this early on: It will allow you more time and space later on when these critical decisions need making quickly, which tends not only to lead companies down destructive paths but also cause severe damage along the way.
The process needs to be reviewed and updated regularly.
The process needs to be reviewed and updated regularly. The board of directors and the current and new leaders must review the plan annually. The review process should include an assessment of the organisation’s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for growth.
The board is responsible for approving succession plans that are aligned with their vision for the organisation. However, they should also make sure that conflicts between individual plans do not occur or, if they do occur, that there is a transparent chain of command within each department or division.
Businesses need to take time with transition plans because leadership is vital to success.
While it’s true that the plan should be reviewed at least once a year, implementing it can take some time. It’s essential to ensure that the transition plans are flexible enough to accommodate leadership changes. If you don’t have one before an unexpected leadership change occurs, you’ll need to start from scratch. Another factor is communicating this plan with your employees. If they’re unaware, they won’t know how their roles might change under new leadership or what preparation work needs to be done before taking over those roles themselves.
Bottom Line
Putting in the effort to plan for succession now will inevitably result in a smoother transition when the time comes. When key roles become empty, you’ll have someone on board who can take it over with minimal disruption. The succession planning process can seem daunting, but an organised game plan is necessary for your company to remain productive and profitable. As such, it’s essential to take the initiative now so that you aren’t making these changes in a crunch. If you’d like more information or help with succession planning, please don’t hesitate to contact me. My 5 Pillars of Business Growth has a framework to ensure success in succession planning. It all starts by providing your team is set up for success—be proactive about developing a sound strategy for sustainable growth, and contact us today!
Who am I?
I am Dotun Adeoye, a Business Growth Strategist & Author of the 5 Pillars of Business Growth.
I’ve built up my experience via serial entrepreneurship, consulting leadership roles in business growth, business development and product innovation in large companies worldwide in the last 30 years.
Today, I consult with large businesses on how to sustainably grow their businesses, sustain infinite growth, and ensure business continuity irrespective of the business climate.
Hire Dotun Adeoye to Speak Virtually or In – Person at your company’s event to cover this or other topics. You can also get in touch via +44 203 097 1718 or dotun at dotunadeoye.com.
