What is your retirement plan?
Do you want to work actively within the business forever? Do you want to take the leap from self-employed to business-owner? What about becoming a silent investor, relaxing on a beach, and reaping the rewards of your years of service on the business that you’ve created?
All of these require a succession plan.
Succession planning is the process of determining which individuals, within a business, will be promoted to a leadership role, should one become vacant, or the business grows and there is a need for leadership development. Succession plans should not be cemented into existence as should be adaptable; especially an employee leaves the business or stops applying the effort they once did.
There are 5 basic steps to succession planning:
1. Determine the long-term and mid-term goals for the business This part has no short cuts. You will have to determine what it is that you wish to have achieved in the long-term and mid-term. Long-term goals should be on a 5–10-year structure while mid-term goals should be focuses from 1-5 years, depending on the rate of staff turnover. Do you still want to be participating in the business? If so, at what level? What can you do over the next 5 years to limit the amount of pressure on your staff member with the highest sales? What do we want to achieve every single month in 2026? Once you have your goals determined, you can also determine the perfect team that will help the business get there.
2. Pinpoint successful candidates (or characteristics of a successful candidate) After the goals have been established and the leadership positions determined, it is vital to also determine who will be replacing those individuals, should they leave or have personal obligations that prevent them from taking on the role efficiently. Human Resources Management is all about finding the right individual in the right position, and part of EOHCB’s services is to provide assistance and guidance with regards to staff management and growth.
3. Let them know A key aspect in motivational theory is Expectancy Theory. In layman’s terms, Expectancy Theory focuses on the nature of an individual’s behaviour to change in line with expectations. If you tell someone that they’re being prepped to fill a leader position, they will change their behaviour and actions accordingly.
4. Integrate the succession plan into hiring strategies Staffing decisions should not be based solely on the immediate issues. Staffing and developing a team should be a long-term focus. Long-term focus should prioritize different factors in the interviewing and staffing process. Skills and technical ability can be improved over time, but that requires potential and aptitude. Loyalty and a healthy predisposition towards work are important long-term factors in a long-term working relationship. Once a team has been developed effectively, then filling leadership positions will be far easier.
5. Keep the long-term goal in mind. As challenges change from day to day and week to week, it might be easier to change staffing and leadership positions to make the current situation easier. In light of this, it is easy to lose track of the long-term goals and future business structures when the current moment is chaotic and unbearable. At times like these, it is important to remember the reasons that we have made the difficult decisions. Whether it is losing potential profits to maintain a new business structure, or investing in staff training or new stock management processes. Business management requires a dual-view system. We have one eye on the current tasks and another on the tasks with long-term rewards, and in order to meet long-term rewards we must have a future business structure that will fall in line.
What do you want from your business and what future do you want for the business? What structure does the business have in the future? Will you be there?
Staffing and succession planning requires various human resource management processes, such as interviews, contracts of employment, training agreements and even staff counselling or disciplinary action. Contact the EOHCB to find out more on improving your staffing processes, and adding value to your business.
The EOHCB Team
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