Succession Planning: I’m Almost Ready to Retire – What Now?

Succession Planning: I’m Almost Ready to Retire – What Now?

 

If you own a business, your retirement planning involves much more than just putting away enough money to cover your expenses when you leave work. When retirement is only a few years away, you need to start identifying and developing new leaders who can replace you and other retiring managers. You should always ensure you have done appropriate succession planning so there will be capable, experienced people to take over new roles if a manager dies, becomes disabled, or leave.

The Steps of Successful Succession Planning

You want to make sure your succession planning is correct and successful. You want to have a succession plan in place for the whole company and each department. Your staff members need to be aware of the succession plan, so that shows you have shared that plan and it can fall right into place when and if the moment comes.

  • Be proactive – Finding a promising candidate that you can trust to carry on the company in a leadership role can take time. Even if you don’t plan on needing a replacement in the immediate future, preparing your staff to step up into essential roles helps form a safety net for your company.
  • Be open-minded – While it might seem obvious that the second in command would step up to the higher position, you shouldn’t overlook other employees in your company that are promising and that have potential. Ignore titles and look for ability and skills.
  • Let staff know your vision – You need to include potential supervisors and managers in conversations regarding strategies and plans. They should consist of planning. They also need to acquire the necessary leadership and planning skills while getting a full understanding of the organization and understanding its objectives.
  • Offer feedback – Make a note of any well-honed presentation capabilities. Keep files that track achievements, skills, and abilities, so you have documents to reference when higher positions open. These files will be helpful for performance reviews as well.
  • Provide proper training – After having identified your top-performers, you should provide the appropriate training. You want to help them improve existing skills and acquire new ones.
  • Do a trial run – You want to try things out for your succession plan. When you go on vacation, let a successor step up and be responsible. A trial run will help them gain experience and let you see how things would fall into place.

Financial Stability as Part of the Succession Plan

You need to make sure your company’s finances are in place for succession planning, so contact the experienced tax planners at MKS&H. We would be happy to meet with you at your convenience to discuss the best strategies for your business.

About Author

MKS&H

McLean, Koehler, Sparks & Hammond (MKS&H) is a professional service firm with offices in Hunt Valley and Frederick. MKS&H helps owners and organizational leaders become more successful by putting complex financial data into truly meaningful context. But deeper than dollars and data, our focus is on developing an understanding of you, your culture and your business goals. This approach enables our clients to achieve their greatest potential.

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