Clear Needs Lead to Clear Hires

May 29, 2012 | Succession Planning

I received a telephone call recently from a client desperately trying to fill a vacancy in her accounting office. After describing the situation she read the position description to me. Among other general items, it noted, "At least three years of accounting experience." Well that's just dandy, but what does that really mean? Does the person she hires need to have three years of experience in her company's industry, or will three years of public accounting experience be OK? Does the person...

How Managers Develop Their Employees

Mar 13, 2012 | Succession Planning

We're working with several organizations helping them prepare their next tier of managers to eventually take over the senior leadership positions. However, before we focus on developing this next tier of managers, we spend a good bit of time working with the current senior leadership team to help them comprehend their level of responsibility in developing their own employees. It's not Human Resources' job; it's theirs. Whether they hold the position of VP of Operations, Director of Eastern...

Who is Key?

Oct 10, 2011 | Succession Planning

I had an interesting conversation the other day with a client. We were discussing her company’s strategic plan and the next step: the succession plan. I was outlining for her the basic steps to identifying the responsibilities of key positions when she asked a great question: “Just what is a ‘key’ position?” Her question honestly stunned me for a moment because of its simplicity and its importance. If we, as business owners, do not know which positions in our company are key, how can we ensure...

Succession Planning: Determine What You Need

Jun 16, 2011 | Succession Planning

The most common question I'm asked by new clients who are focusing on succession planning is: "How do I start?" It's a great question and many clients don’t anticipate the answer I give them: Start by having a very clear, well-developed strategic plan. Needless to say, when new clients hear my response, their troubled facial expressions often indicate they are thinking, "She's trying to sell us additional services we really don't need." No, I am not. But I am trying to save you money and time....

Plot Your Succession Plan

Mar 27, 2011 | Succession Planning

I was recently asked by an executive team, "How do we start pulling a Succession Plan together? We believe we have many of the pieces already, but we don't know what to do with them." That's a great question and a great position to be in. The answer though, requires you to first be clear on what you really want your Succession Plan to do for you. Once you're clear on that, you can then better appreciate how to start. When most people think of Succession Plans, they imagine some document that...