Changing of the Guard
As a business owner, ask yourself: “In what ways would my company be better if I focused on a succession plan?” What a great question to really consider when you are looking to grow and improve your business.
Succession planning for most businesses takes a backseat to every day operations, to chasing the next sale, or solving the current crisis. This happens more than you would expect. So much so that only one out of four business owners makes a successful transition to the second generation, and only one out of three to the third generation. It isn’t the change that will do you in, it is the transition itself that will be the biggest hurdle.
As referenced in Changing Places by Franzetta and Jackson:
“Change is situational – the move to a new site, the retirement of a founder, the reorganization of a team. Transition on the other hand is psychological; it is a three-phase process that people go through as they internalize and come to terms with the details of the new situation that change brings about.”
Planning for transition takes time and takes careful planning. You will need to consider what you are trying to accomplish, the people in the organization, and the complexity of the business issues at hand. All of these need to be accounted for when determining changes in leadership, changes in responsibility, or changes in the structure of the business. There is a sense of urgency that needs to be accommodated in the planning, while executing on a transition plan can be done over a longer period of time – often years.
YOUR CHALLENGE: Take the time to review your long-term plans for the business. Write them down, share them with key people, and make a commitment to yourself and your business to do one thing this month that will move you closer to those goals.
If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:
