Why all businesses need to plan for succession

If something happened to you, or other key people in the business, how would the business cope? How seamless and easy would the transition be for both your business and your customers? Succession planning isn’t just about retirement but about what would happen to your business and how it operates should something unforeseen happen.

It’s not just about securing your future

Even if you’re planning to retire in 20 years or if you already know who your successor will be, succession planning is still valuable. It allows you to plan for the unexpected and takes what could be a major crisis down to a significant but manageable event.

By having the conversations now, and documenting clear intentions, you could save yourself, your stakeholders, and family a lot of pain should an unexpected event occur.

It’s also about efficiency.

Planning for unexpected scenarios forces you to assess who does what, why, and how they do it best:

• Is the right person performing the task?
• Is this process the best way of doing the job?
• When multiple people perform the task, are they doing so consistently?
• Have we defined and documented the best process?
• Should this task be the responsibility of a single team member?

Succession planning is about providing a safety net for your team by documenting the key business processes in your company. It also enables you to devise the most efficient system for each task. Having clear procedures to follow is helpful when a staff member is absent, but, most importantly, when the time comes that you need to transfer this knowledge to a new staff member, manager, or owner.

A robust and effective succession plan takes three to five years from initial planning to implementation.

Having said that, any plan is better than no plan. Generally, the longer you have to execute your plan, the bigger the opportunity you have to maximise the value of your business and, therefore, the capital you extract on exiting.

A succession plan is not something you write and leave to rot in a dusty drawer. Succession planning is an important part of your business strategy that requires regular attention and ongoing development!

Involving key team members in aspects of planning will engage and empower them as the journey begins.

Want help developing your succession plan? Get in touch!