An Excellent Succession

Scott Couchenour • December 6, 2020

It's Monday and the funeral is over. What will your organization do?

So you're the head of an organization. You have several people working with you and you turn a profit most months in the year. Your organization is providing a product/service that is being used by clients and you are humming right along.

What if you were suddenly taken out of the equation? What if there was instantly no more influence you could provide? What would happen to the people who work for you? What would happen to the profits? Where would your clients go?

EXIT SUCCESSION

If you haven't thought about it before, you will definitely want to now. What is the plan for your departure from the position you hold?

It's not intuitive when you're feeling good and the business is running well. But it needs to be a consideration if you're going to have an excellent organization that isn't teetering on the absence of a plan.

TWO PARTS OF SUCCESSION

There are two elements of succession you may want to consider:

Who will do your duties?

This requires that you make a list of everything you are currently doing. Then, analyze them as to whether they are tasks you need to be doing anyway. If not, offload them as soon as possible. This will leave you with the few, but atomic, tasks that must be done that only you can do.

With that list, begin looking for the person (inside or outside your organization) who has the greatest probability of success doing these tasks. Then start having conversations with them.

How will the organization pay for your replacement?

Your succession could be a quick and unexpected exit. God forbid, you get hit by a bus or have a heart attack. In those cases, how will your organization be able to weather the season after the funeral and everyone has gone home? Without money, this could greatly impact the success of the organization.

Key person life insurance is a great way to cover the costs of uncertainty by your staff and market as well as funding a head hunter to help find your replacement.

These are just a couple elements of an excellent succession. Can you think of others?

ACTION STEP

Do an inventory of your succession plan.
What do you have in place that needs to be updated?
What do you need to add that isn't in place yet?

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