Imagine being the owner of a successful company. You’ve been in this role for years. Perhaps decades. You are grateful…but tired too. You feel stuck.

However, unlike your employees, you can’t just quit. Far too many people depend on you. No, you need to clone yourself. But…you can’t.

You’d like to hand the company over to an executive to run it for you. But to whom? You don’t know anyone who fits the bill.

Why good help is hard to find

It is hard to find good help. People may have always felt this way. But it is harder now.

Demographically, there aren’t as many qualified leaders available as there are positions to fill. This has absolutely nothing to do with ‘kids these days’, people not wanting to work, or any of the other lazy nonsense you hear. No, it is simply that there are fewer people with the necessary experience and qualifications.

This has caused some organizations to drop their standards. This is a risky and expensive choice. Because now you are paying for the less experienced leader’s learning curve. And that is a learning curve that you can only hope they will climb.

Not only that but when you drop your standards, you get mediocre candidates. Most high-caliber candidates will look at your standards, look back at you, and say, “No thanks.”

So, what do you do?

Build your leaders.

While it is possible to find qualified candidates, there are farther and fewer in between. In fact, I support developing a robust, assertive recruitment strategy. Don’t be shy about choosing it.

But building your leaders is usually a better option. Statistically, executive successions are more likely to be successful when working with internally grown leaders. This is for obvious reasons. Internal candidates are a known quantity, they understand your organization, and they have relationships with key stakeholders.

The challenge here is that it takes time to grow good leaders. The best time to start was exactly 3-5 years ago. The second best time is today.

I’ve never, ever, met a client who was grateful they waited to start building leaders.

Create the conditions for success

Organizations that can attract, build, and retain the best people will have a competitive advantage over everyone else. In fact, that is the competitive advantage for the foreseeable future.

Building and maintaining a strong bench is the best way to ensure that you have the leaders you need when you need them. This is as true for succession as it is for preparing for growth or change.

You need to invest in building and preparing a pool of people who can step into senior leadership roles. I recommend that my clients look 3-5 years ahead to determine what leadership roles will need to be filled. Start preparing for those roles now.

Setting leadership development programs, mentoring, and coaching aside for the moment – you can create an environment that makes it easier to build leaders. Along with supporting leadership – this environment also builds a robust, resilient, efficient, high-performing organization. To do this you need to:

• Develop a Values-Based Culture: This aligns your team with your organization’s core values, ensuring a common foundation for decision-making and behavior.
• Communicate Your Vision Clearly: Having sharp, defined goals enables your team to lead more effectively, reducing the need for constant oversight.
• Document Policies and Procedures: Establish a playbook that’s easy to access and understand. This not only reinforces your culture but also ensures consistency across the organization.
• Cultivate Accountability: Set clear expectations and hold your team to them. A culture of accountability is crucial for leadership development.

I’ve written about these often. They re-visit these topics because very few organizations have all four in place. For that matter, many don’t even have one in place. Each one provides value. Put all four into place and watch the magic happen.

Even if you did nothing but these four things, you would create an environment where high performance is the natural result. Plus, it is easy to lead. Because it is easy to lead, it takes less experience and skill to lead. This expands your pool of potential leaders – without dropping performance standards.

Building your bench

But you shouldn’t just do those four things. In addition to the above, actively equip your team for leadership roles. Anticipate growth and challenges by having a ready pool of trained leaders.

Because I’m helpful, and I want you to succeed, I’ve written a new book, “Train to Lead.” This is a practical training guide for building leaders. But that won’t be available until this spring. Until then, keep an eye on future articles. I will share helpful concepts and excerpts from the book as well as opportunities to receive a free copy. Stay tuned for that!

However, in the meantime, are you curious how you measure up as a leader? To find out, download this leadership assessment. It will help you evaluate how ready any leader (or potential leader) is right now.

In Part II of this short series, I’ll describe how to quickly prepare a leader for executive leadership. 

Take good care,

Christian

i Internal successions are statistically more successful. The success of a succession is determined by the preparation of both the organization and the successor. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the source of your candidate is the difference that makes the difference.