The Art of Succession Planning

They wait for someone to step down or even worse, be removed. Then and only then do they entertain thoughts of who or what should happen next? One of the reasons little forethought is given to succession is evident in the fact that it rarely shows up in corporate business plans.

Companies are quite diligent in forecasting out 3, 5 and even 10-years but most of what they plan has more to do with finance, P&L, product evolution and little or no emphasis on who or how future leaders will captain the corporate ship.

It's no secret senior executives, especially those new to the position, see themselves as bulletproof. In their minds, talk of succession is analogous to talk about potential failure - they will be there forever - so they have little appetite for negativities like that preferring rather to concentrate on positive things like how they will make the company successful - perhaps in perpetuity?

Professional consultants like Pat Micallef, VP of international consulting firm The Meta Group, takes a strong position when he says, "The success of any corporate succession, is predicated on the strength of the company business plan, and, it goes without saying," he says, "leadership change is integral to future corporate strategies and should be built-in. The success of which, however, [succession planning] hinges expressly on whether or not the architects of the plan have a clear understanding of three important criteria:

a) What will it take to keep the company running and profitable?
b) What will it take to Grow the company? and,
c) What will it take to Change the company?"

It is here we begin so see more clearly that succession planning is an integral part of a much larger stratagem, more complex, perhaps, than seen at first blush. Senior executives rise to the top based mostly on their unique and proven skills tacitly believed by corporate board members or company owners to be the stuff necessary to champion the needs of the corporation.

In a perfect world, the corporate cream rises to the top in a comfortable and timely fashion - but we don't live in a perfect word - in fact, one could argue we live in a more imperfect world than we'd like to believe. With that in mind, companies and industries the world over, are addressing the reality that a decade from now, their entire business landscape will be completely different!

Randy Moore, VP of York Region based Mister Transmission, knows the future looks bright for the products and services he sells. Mr Moore would do well with a long term succession plan.

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