… something happens to me or I lose a key employee?
This is just one of a series of questions you should be asking yourself on an ongoing basis as a business owner / CEO.
Is your business resilient enough to continue to thrive if this happens, or will it face peril? Do you have formal succession plans in place and documented?
Remember, the costs to a company of replacing any employee average around 6 months’ salary and for a key executive even more. Not only are these significant costs for a business, but the indirect costs of positions being vacant for a while and then learning the ropes once on board are often even more significant.
Boards have a duty to ensure succession plans are in place for themselves and key executives, but this duty then extends throughout the company to all levels of management. And while many have rudimentary ones in place of showing which staff member will be next for a management role, few take this further. Are you looking externally, too, and identifying people you’d like to be part of your company when the time is right, and are you building / maintaining a business relationship with them?
And succession planning is a great time to consider the character v skill question I raised in this post, enhancing the skills of those inside the company who have the “right stuff” so they’re ready to step up when needed.
Give your business resilience and ensure proper succession planning at all levels. After all, isn’t Succession all about Success?
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