9 Steps to Succession Success
9 Steps to Succession Success
As the first cohort of the baby boomer generation edges toward retirement age, more and more owners of small- and mid-sized businesses are trying to figure out how to phase back. Many want their businesses to continue, but without the full-time commitment to day-to-day operations they have been used to giving.
Good agents understand that long-term success means more than selling insurance for immediate needs; it means keeping an eye on that clock for clients’ businesses as well as their own agencies. They begin to think of insurance in a different light: insurance for the business’ legacy.
If you are thinking about, and planning for, the next phase of your – or your client’s – firm, taking the following steps will help you move quickly toward the goal, and assure smoother sailing in the process.
1. Know your ABCs
Business owners whole-heartedly agree that their companies started to significantly move forward once they learned to let go of the “C” players and develop effective performance management and coaching processes. It may be difficult to do at first – and it will mean development of conflict resolution skills – but it will pay off.
2. Pay attention to the alpha dog
Businesses also may need to say goodbye to “A” players, where “A” stands for “alpha.” Alpha employees interact well with clients, are high producers, and work hard, but exhibit abusive behavior within the firm, can be bullies, and often serve as stumbling blocks to succession success.
What to do? Identify these individuals, give them a chance to change, and then help them to separate with ease if it doesn’t work out. The people a business owner wants to become buyers of his or her firm will not be interested if it means inheriting alphas.
3. Understand that the proof is in the…projects
Business owners must grant project ownership only when a person has proved his or her leadership abilities. The proof is in strategic learning project assignments for up-and-coming next-generation leaders. These projects will give them the opportunities to prove that they can move from project managers to company leaders.
4. Become a decision-maker
A business’ next generation of leaders will need a methodology for making decisions, practice in making difficult decisions together, and a model to follow. It is important to set a good example for decision-making, so owners who are not decisive persons will be wise to obtain coaching in that area. If not, they can expect stagnation, delays, and discouraged personnel.
5. Be a talent scout
Business owners often can not identify the right talent mix for their firm’s next leadership team. How is the world changing? What kind of leaders will the firm need? To succeed in the future, the next team may require different skills, sensitivities, and attributes than the owner needed. Focusing on the vision of the company, business owners must think carefully about what they really need from their leaders today as well as three-five years from now. Professional assessment tools can go a long way to help identify the best talent.
6. Consider a sale
If business owners are not ready to let go and share authority, or if they have tried several times and failed (perhaps losing key employees in the process), they may be better off being honest with themselves about a legacy. Selling a business to a third party may be a viable option.
7. Take your time
Once identified, the future president of the company must be a leader – someone people will follow. This person needs time to demonstrate his or her abilities, judgment, leadership style, and interactions with people. Business owners who are humble enough and vulnerable enough to listen and change, and recognize that they will need to hone change skills during this process, will be most successful in the succession process.
8. Avoid parity of power
While the next-generation team must make decisions and learn together, “equality for all” can spell disaster. Each person should not necessarily have the same amount of stock or the power as the next. The executive team will eventually pare itself down to the two or three people everyone trusts. Ideally, a next-generation president should be appointed by consensus, based on his or her track record of leadership and ability to gain peer confidence.
9. Identify and correct fatal flaws
Smart owners will check their behavior and leadership ability for these three fatal flaws in transition planning:
• The inability to set direction.
• The inability to align critical constituencies.
• The inability to adapt to changing circumstances.
The ability to grow beyond one’s flaws is an important part of leadership – one that needs to be part of the current owner’s work as well as the next-generation leadership team’s.
As the first cohort of baby boomers edges toward retirement age, the industry likely will see a huge supply of businesses changing hands and coming on the market for sale over the next 10 years. Those agents who have the foresight to look ahead and serve as true leaders for their clients and their own businesses will be those who succeed.
Managing a company, identifying leadership needs, and handling development of new leaders is a challenging task with risks and rewards to match. Paying heed to the steps identified here, and utilizing tools and advisors as needed, will set the tone for a smooth and effective transition in leadership.
9 Steps to Succession Success - To learn more about this author, visit Sandy Blaha's Website.
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When it comes to the planning for the transition of a business, good things do not come to those who wait. Those who do often find themselves feeling the pressure of a ticking clock, caught between needing to move quickly and immobilization.
As the first cohort of the baby boomer generation edges toward retirement age, more and more owners of small- and mid-sized businesses are trying to figure out how to phase back. Many want their businesses to continue, but without the full-time commitment to day-to-day operations they have been used to giving.
Good agents understand that long-term success means more than selling insurance for immediate needs; it means keeping an eye on that clock for clients’ businesses as well as their own agencies. They begin to think of insurance in a different light: insurance for the business’ legacy.
If you are thinking about, and planning for, the next phase of your – or your client’s – firm, taking the following steps will help you move quickly toward the goal, and assure smoother sailing in the process.
1. Know your ABCs
Business owners whole-heartedly agree that their companies started to significantly move forward once they learned to let go of the “C” players and develop effective performance management and coaching processes. It may be difficult to do at first – and it will mean development of conflict resolution skills – but it will pay off.
2. Pay attention to the alpha dog
Businesses also may need to say goodbye to “A” players, where “A” stands for “alpha.” Alpha employees interact well with clients, are high producers, and work hard, but exhibit abusive behavior within the firm, can be bullies, and often serve as stumbling blocks to succession success.
What to do? Identify these individuals, give them a chance to change, and then help them to separate with ease if it doesn’t work out. The people a business owner wants to become buyers of his or her firm will not be interested if it means inheriting alphas.
3. Understand that the proof is in the…projects
Business owners must grant project ownership only when a person has proved his or her leadership abilities. The proof is in strategic learning project assignments for up-and-coming next-generation leaders. These projects will give them the opportunities to prove that they can move from project managers to company leaders.
4. Become a decision-maker
A business’ next generation of leaders will need a methodology for making decisions, practice in making difficult decisions together, and a model to follow. It is important to set a good example for decision-making, so owners who are not decisive persons will be wise to obtain coaching in that area. If not, they can expect stagnation, delays, and discouraged personnel.
5. Be a talent scout
Business owners often can not identify the right talent mix for their firm’s next leadership team. How is the world changing? What kind of leaders will the firm need? To succeed in the future, the next team may require different skills, sensitivities, and attributes than the owner needed. Focusing on the vision of the company, business owners must think carefully about what they really need from their leaders today as well as three-five years from now. Professional assessment tools can go a long way to help identify the best talent.
6. Consider a sale
If business owners are not ready to let go and share authority, or if they have tried several times and failed (perhaps losing key employees in the process), they may be better off being honest with themselves about a legacy. Selling a business to a third party may be a viable option.
7. Take your time
Once identified, the future president of the company must be a leader – someone people will follow. This person needs time to demonstrate his or her abilities, judgment, leadership style, and interactions with people. Business owners who are humble enough and vulnerable enough to listen and change, and recognize that they will need to hone change skills during this process, will be most successful in the succession process.
8. Avoid parity of power
While the next-generation team must make decisions and learn together, “equality for all” can spell disaster. Each person should not necessarily have the same amount of stock or the power as the next. The executive team will eventually pare itself down to the two or three people everyone trusts. Ideally, a next-generation president should be appointed by consensus, based on his or her track record of leadership and ability to gain peer confidence.
9. Identify and correct fatal flaws
Smart owners will check their behavior and leadership ability for these three fatal flaws in transition planning:
• The inability to set direction.
• The inability to align critical constituencies.
• The inability to adapt to changing circumstances.
The ability to grow beyond one’s flaws is an important part of leadership – one that needs to be part of the current owner’s work as well as the next-generation leadership team’s.
As the first cohort of baby boomers edges toward retirement age, the industry likely will see a huge supply of businesses changing hands and coming on the market for sale over the next 10 years. Those agents who have the foresight to look ahead and serve as true leaders for their clients and their own businesses will be those who succeed.
Managing a company, identifying leadership needs, and handling development of new leaders is a challenging task with risks and rewards to match. Paying heed to the steps identified here, and utilizing tools and advisors as needed, will set the tone for a smooth and effective transition in leadership.
9 Steps to Succession Success - To learn more about this author, visit Sandy Blaha's Website.
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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