How often do you consider who will do your job when you’re not around to do it? How about who will do everyone else’s job when they’re not around either? Succession planning is one of the keys to great leadership.
A friend of mine and former EO Global Director, Carlo Santoro, once described great leadership as ‘leaving a legacy’. In my opinion, Carlo is spot on and I use his approach as often as I can.
Similarly, in Good to Great, Jim Collins discovered and described the humble but professionally driven Level 5 Leaders that were laser-focussed on creating an organisation that became even better after they left it. Level 5 Leaders select and train successors to do a better job then they ever did. That’s great leadership.
Succession planning is needed for every position in every organisation. At The Physio Co, we continually reassess who will be completing every role a) this month, b) next month and c) in 12 months time. We appoint an ‘apprentice’ often and provide as much training as possible. In my opinion, it’s not possible to be ‘too prepared’.
The future is inevitable. How often are you preparing your succession plan?
PS - apologies for fewer posts last week. I won’t make excuses, I’ll just get on with it.
PPS - this week I’m in Phoenix for a ‘mini-think week’ at the Fortune Growth Summit. I’ll also be visiting Zappos while here in the US. Exciting few days ahead!