Succession Planning Starts Now!

It’s Never Too Soon

Often, sole proprietors long for the company of others in their business. One reason is that it can get very lonely when you’re running your own business all by yourself. Second, you can delegate tasks to someone else if there’s no one else working with you. Third, if you don’t want to work for the rest of your life, you eventually have to have someone else to whom you can pass along what you’ve learned.

When Should You Start Succession Planning?

What’s wrong with today? If you have anyone else in your organization, are you evaluating their potential? Of course, not everyone is cut out to be a leader. Plus, you also have to make sure that the person isn’t as entrepreneurially oriented as you are, or that person may just go out on his or her own. You must find somebody who shares your work ethic and has a strong desire to grow and become more than they already are.

A Success Story: George Garrett of Garrett Electric

A few years ago, I met George Garrett of Garrett Electric. Even though he only had one employee at the time, the first thing he told me was that he wanted to scale his business. George did several things right. First, he made sure that he was setting an example by giving excellent customer service to his clients. He always gives more than is expected. Next, he instilled in his employees the same work ethic so that he could duplicate his brand. In addition, he made sure that he not only invested in his own education but made sure to provide similar business training to his future successors.

Assessing and Developing Talent

Early on, George could tell that different employees had different levels and desires to grow and learn. This makes it easy to decide where he should be investing most of his time in creating succession plans for his business. You’ll want to make sure that you’re doing the same thing in your business.

Take a talent inventory of your staff. If you do not have a staff, you should be constantly looking around for potential future employees. Most likely it’s going to be from those future employees that you cultivate a succession plan for your future. Even if you’re not ready to hire today, you can still be on the lookout today. As the saying goes, the worst time to start looking for a dentist is after you already have a toothache.

               “No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get
                all the credit for doing it.”  — Andrew Carnegie

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the Leadership Academy.) I encourage you to click here to register for the Leadership Academy 5-part series running on five consecutive Tuesday mornings beginning March 18, 2025, through April 15, 2025, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This course alternates between in-room classes and live streaming each week.