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540. Culture, Clarity, and the Long Game: Planning Succession with Purpose · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the daily influence where our mission is to deliver a daily dose of positive influence that can uplift you personally or be shared within your sphere of influence.
• 0:20
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• 0:36
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• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey everybody, Brian's with here with the I&T series and your daily influence.
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And today you are going to hear us explore the unseen elements that shape how we lean into succession issues for our clients.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's an amazingly emotional and strategic topic that can conflict with each other.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Today, you're going to hear Brandon again with me talking about one of our clients.
• 1:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they came to us with a concern.
• 1:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: How do they preserve its unique culture while planning for an ownership transition?
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, is that internal?
• 1:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is it external?
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Will leadership change?
• 1:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: What does that even look like?
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And while this is in a short term issue for them, they're tackling it now.
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you're going to hear us talk about how we can help them over the
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Future years, many years actually, maintaining that culture, create financial stability and also what does that future look like and also how smart management will be part of that succession plan.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: and how aligning stakeholder expectations with what leadership roles are and the future timelines with those timelines might be in how intentional planning in our smart management program is going to set them up.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So listen to Brandon and I talk about this part of our business and what we have done for our client in this case.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I hope you enjoy it and we'll see you again next time.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: So let's discuss succession and talk about another engagement of ours.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: What succession concerns were on the table when we started working with this client?
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: So this particular client is in software development or software support either one in their area of influence and
• 2:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: They have a very stable business from a financial perspective.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's growing.
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: They also have a fairly stable workforce.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the owner is looking for an exit, but they don't want to exit for at least five years.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they want to understand first is that
• 3:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: too soon to start thinking five years.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if we do start thinking, what does that look like from a strategy and a tactical perspective for them?
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what were some of the emotional or operational barriers they were facing in making a plan?
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: On the emotional side, it's release, right?
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's ensuring that what you've built in whatever amount of time you've
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: put into as an owner, your company is going to be, you know, kept up is going to have a legacy that is reflective of the effort and reflective of the core values and the mission that you intended it to have.
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then, you know, tactically it was understanding
• 3:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: where the team was that the team was prepared and understood what this might look like.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Could they be included?
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Was there going to be outside interest or internal interest?
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And really, I was creating this engagement and communication platform to have clarity.
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Make sure that legacy was as they hoped and intended it to be and doing all that without upsetting current culture.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: and preparing them for what was coming in the next five years.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And how did the smart framework help to clarify leadership rules, ownership decisions, and timeline planning?
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, smart lays this foundation for clarity.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: It allows for everybody on the team from top, middle,
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: and below.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't matter where you're at an organization to understand what is specifically going on, what measurements are important in the organizations area of influence and each individual person's area of influence, what's attainable, what's real and what's timely, and it helped them to get some clarity in the process, it helped leadership understand also what that's going to look like, it helped them deliver
• 5:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: in a clear way what their goals were, what the timeline is and why it was a good time and also that it was the right time and it helped everybody get on the same page and also everybody now has a common and clear foundation and a common and clear
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: process that they can follow so that they won't get lost as succession, matures and evolves over the next five years.
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And reflecting on our results of our work with them, what impact did our involvement have on team confidence or stakeholder alignment?
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: First, what it did was bring that clarity that they had hoped for and it kept the team on the same page.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: It gave us clarity on individual roles.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: It gave us clarity on the strategy of the business and how we can support that strategy so that when we get to the end of five years there's still a viable business for succession.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: It also allowed us to identify who was interested in being potential future stakeholders and champions of the organization and how and what role they could play either through succession or after succession.
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it really helped for that clarity for people to feel like they were part of this process and not just getting drug through it or forced through it.
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: without really the clarity they need to maintain the viability of their own individual efforts as well as the team as an organization.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it sounds like we help them build a lot of confidence in their succession process.
• 7:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: So where does their succession process stand today and how do they feel about the future of the company now?
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well, their process today is still at the very foundational level.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: They now all understand
• 7:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: what the horizon isn't where that horizon is located.
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's five years from now.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: They understand what needs to be done in the next five years and what the goal is.
• 7:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: They understand that that goal is potentially a moving goal, but they are all clear and accepted of that moving goal.
• 7:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they know what each phase is going to look like.
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: between now six months, eighteen months, thirty six months.
• 7:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are also more apt to deal with some of the challenges that they face in the face of six sessions.
• 8:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: So for example, they themselves are also influenced by socioeconomic and political influences.
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: they work and not for profit for grant work and it is help them to pivot into or away from certain parts of their business as those things influence them and prepare better for succession thinking about we have to maintain long-term viability by those pivots.
• 8:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: All right.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: That wraps up our discussion on succession.