You've put your blood, sweat and tears into building your company. It's grown into something that you're proud of ' something that will leave your mark on the world and bring you the retirement you've always wished for. In fact, it's grown past the point where you cannot expect to handle everything on your own. What can you delegate? And to whom? Or perhaps you're thinking that you'd like to start moving into that planned retirement of your dreams. But how will the business run without you at the helm? With an entire generation of Baby Boomer leaders looking towards their retirement futures, these questions are being asked frequently. In fact, succession planning is becoming an increasingly important aspect of today's business landscape.

The key to understanding succession planning is that it's simply the act of having a systematic process in place. A process where business owners and corporate leaders identify, assess and cultivate their key people to ensure they are ready to take on strategic roles within the company.

Succession planning is something every leader and organization talks about. On some level, every business owner knows that they need to have a succession process in place, yet very little attention is actually paid to developing a strong plan and implementing it. Even when there is some semblance of a plan, often it does not address challenges and issues that arise as impediments to a smooth transition.

Consider the following scenarios:

SCENARIO 1

POTENTIAL PROBLEM: Multiple partners or owners don't agree on who should take over the business, in what time frame and in which roles.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Define what skills, experience and attributes are needed for a position and then to compare those to any heir apparent candidates.

SCENARIO 2

POTENTIAL PROBLEM: Planning has been tardy and when the owner or executive is ready to hand things over, the heir apparent doesn't have the requisite skills or experience.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Short of something like a death or debilitating disease, succession planning should begin years in advance and those who are to be put in charge need a formal training and development program designed and implemented.

CONSIDERATIONS: Decide if you are going to have them buy in, or you are simply handing them the keys to the kingdom. All decisions need to be made well in advance and shared with those who are going to be involved.

SCENARIO 3

POTENTIAL PROBLEM: The heir apparent simply isn't ready. Not because they weren't given time or attention but simply because they either don't have what you need right now (and possibly never will).

POSSIBLE SOLUTION: First you have to ask yourself how you will handle this should it arise. Second, you should be creating markers (metrics) along the way so this doesn't happen ' you should know at least a year out if the person you have chosen is going to make it or not.

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