Succession planning: make it easier with these two key questions

Steve Ballmer was CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. The world changed immeasurably in that time, and many thought he should have been replaced sooner.

But the world’s third most profitable company at the time had no succession plan. Microsoft didn’t do it, and yet we mere mortals are supposed to impose this complex and foggy initiative in our own businesses.

I could try to convince you as the Greeks did, with logic – a detailed study by Deloitte found that “while 86% of leaders believe leadership succession planning is an urgent or important priority, only 14% believe they do it well”. Or that according to Harvard Business Review, “many large companies fail to pay enough attention to their succession practices, which leads to excessive turnover at the top, destroying a significant amount of value – close to $1 trillion a year”. But I know that intellectually you get it.

So, why don’t we do succession planning? We’re busy, sure. But the problem is that there’s no reward for those who do it, as they’re likely to be gone when the succession takes place. It’s also always tomorrow’s problem, when so many other issues are in the here and now.

Google searches for ‘how to succession plan’ leave us with a task that feels like an entire company would need to stop what it’s doing just to make plans. That, of course, can’t happen. So, let’s make it darn simple with laser-like focus, beginning with one question: “Which member of your team, if they left, would leave you most in the shit?” Each line manager will be able to answer that question. Keep in mind that the person from your team that is the identified succession planning critical point, might be so because either they are:

• The most experienced
• The most influential across the company
• The most knowledgeable on the company’s products/services
• The longest-serving member
• They know how to use the relevant software and no one else does

The next step is for each line manager to ask themselves a second question: “What are you going to do about it?” HR manages the spreadsheet, line managers populate it, and so it begins. Circulating the file just before appraisal time would be a good idea.