Succession Planning

Be prepared! Have someone ready to take your place when the opportunity does arise.

Transcript

Welcome back to my podcast, Scaling Out.

News flash - We are all going to die one day. Oh man, thats morbid right? Ok, maybe I should stick to work themes & say we are all going to retire or leave our current job one day.

Wait, you are one of the lucky few that love your job and plan to stay forever & ever? Sure.

Ok, but when I change the question to - do you want to move up the ladder? Ive got your attention now.

Guess what, its extremely hard to move up if there is no one to take your place. If you are not coaching your replacement, you are setting yourself up to NOT be selected for that job promotion because your management will not have someone at that point to do both your current job and your new job.

Of course, it seems weird to be coaching your replacement when you might be completely happy where you are at. But you never know when an opportunity will strike, and being prepared is critical here.

There is a perceived risk in training & mentoring someone else for your position when its not available, they will gain skills and understanding that could actually land them a job promotion somewhere else faster. But I argue here that growing employees is more important than worrying about whether they stay. Accept that some might leave, that impacts your current business BUT it continues to expand your network out as now you have coached and mentored team members who work at any number of companies and maybe could hire YOU one day should the need arise.

Wait, did Angela just suggest that someone on my current team could get a promotion elsewhere and end up hiring me? Yes. Just accept the fact that you have team members right now that are better than you, your job isnt to seek and destroy. This isnt a dictatorship. Your real job is to find and grow those around you. Lift everyone up! That improves everything & everyone.

Thanks for listening to my podcast today, until next time stay safe everyone!