As construction industry leaders approach retirement, succession planning becomes a crucial part of the conversation.
ConstructioNext offers the following common succession planning mistakes and how to address them before it is too late.
- You involve human resources too soon. Although it is important to consult human resources later in the process, it is not necessary at the beginning—especially for small to midsize contractors—and can complicate the situation by adding another voice to an already crowded group. However, if you have specific questions related to human resources, include the department in the conversation.
- You use an outside advisory board of consultants. An outside board can include individuals such as your accountant, attorney and insurance agent. Although these professionals can contribute to a succession plan, people who truly understand your position should be your external consultants, such as fellow businesspeople who know what it takes to run a company and can offer unique insights from their own experiences.
- You use only a top-down approach. Involving senior leaders is fine, but it is crucial you include their likely successors. You also should bring in a few representatives for the mid- to lower-level employees to offer transparency. Having diverse representation helps align all parties as your company plans for the future.
- You excessively defer to senior leadership. Although you respect your company’s senior leaders, deferring primarily to them does not help set up junior leadership and employees for success when senior leaders are ready to retire. Listen to everyone’s thoughts and remember that junior employees will one day be the senior leadership.
