July 8, 2025 • 18 mins
You Don’t Have a Succession Plan. So What Happens When Your Top Performer Leaves?
Episode Description:
If your top performer walked out tomorrow… would you have someone truly ready to step in? Most organizations wouldn’t—and that’s the problem.
In this episode of Things Leaders Do, Colby Morris pulls back the curtain on why the absence of a real succession plan is one of the most dangerous blind spots in leadership today. And it’s not about building spreadsheets—it’s about building people.
Colby shares a powerful leadership lesson he calls the Michael Jordan Effect, where we mistake performance for leadership potential. He also breaks down a practical, people-first strategy for developing your future leaders—starting with your next one-on-one.
You’ll learn:
- Why succession planning isn’t about legacy—it’s about readiness
- How to avoid the trap of promoting the wrong people
- A 3-layer development plan that aligns employee growth with organizational needs
- Real-world stats from SHRM and Forbes that will reframe how you prioritize leadership development
- How to use one-on-ones as your most powerful tool in preparing your team for what’s next
Whether you’re leading a team of 5 or 500, this episode will give you the mindset, structure, and urgency you need to stop winging it—and start planning for sustainable leadership growth.
Ready to develop real leaders inside your organization?
Let’s talk coaching, team training, or booking Colby to speak at your next leadership event.
Visit nxtstepadvisors.com to get started.
Or connect with Colby on LinkedIn at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/colby-morris/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Here's a question for you If someone on your team
left tomorrow who wouldrealistically step up and take
their place, I don't mean whoyou hope would step up, I mean
who is actually ready to step uptoday.
Look, if that question causes apit in your stomach, you're not
(00:22):
alone.
In fact, you're in the majority, and that's exactly why we need
to have this conversation.
Hello leaders and welcome backto the TLD podcast.
I'm Colby Morris and I'm herealongside you in this messy,
beautiful work of leading people.
Well, today we're diving intosomething that keeps me up at
(00:44):
night, not because it's scary,but because it's so foundational
to everything we do as leaders.
Yet so many of us are flyingblind.
Let's start with what successionplanning isn't, because I think
this is where most of us gosideways.
Succession planning isn't a boxto check once a year during
(01:08):
performance reviews or somethinglike that.
It's not a spreadsheet withnames next to job titles though
I've seen plenty of thoseusually in a filing cabinet, and
it's definitely not somethingyou scramble to figure out after
someone gives their two weeksnotice.
Here's what I've learned afteryears of watching organizations
(01:29):
get this wrong.
Succession planning is anongoing, people-first strategic
discipline.
It's a mindset that says I'mnot just managing today's work,
I'm building tomorrow's leaders.
Think about it this way whenyou're gardening, you don't just
(01:50):
water the plants that arealready blooming right.
You're preparing the soil,you're planting seeds, you're
nurturing growth that you mightnot see for months, possibly
years.
That's what real successionplanning looks like, but here's
where it gets practical.
Real succession planning startswith two fundamental questions
(02:13):
that most leaders never ask.
One who actually wants to lead,not who you think should lead.
And two what do theyspecifically need to be ready,
not just what you think theyneed to be ready.
And that brings us to one ofthe biggest mistakes I see
(02:35):
leaders make.
I call this the Michael Jordaneffect.
And if you've been leading forany length of time effect and if
you've been leading for anylength of time, you've probably
fallen into this trap.
Here's how it works.
You have someone on your teamwho's absolutely crushing it.
They're your go-to person, yourtop performer, the one everyone
(02:56):
looks up to.
So, naturally, when aleadership position opens up,
you think they should be thenext manager.
But here's the thing, and thisis where we get it wrong every
single time.
Being great at the work andbeing great at leading the work
are two completely differentskill sets.
(03:17):
Look, michael Jordan wasarguably the greatest basketball
player of all time.
In my opinion, the goat.
Arguably the greatestbasketball player of all time in
my opinion, the GOAT.
But when he tried to be anowner and make personnel
decisions, let's just say hisdraft record kind of speaks for
itself.
The skills that made himdominant on the court, his
(03:37):
individual excellence, hisrelentless personal drive, his
ability to perform underpressure those didn't
automatically translate todeveloping other players or
building team systems.
I learned this the hard way.
Early in my career I had anemployee who was absolutely
phenomenal.
Month after month she washitting 100% 150% of her targets
(04:00):
.
When we needed a sales manager,it seemed like literally a
no-brainer.
But here's what I didn't do.
I never asked her if sheactually wanted to manage people
.
Turns out she loved the thrillof the hunt, the individual
competition, the directrelationship with her clients.
(04:21):
But management that meantmeetings, performance reviews,
dealing with other people'sproblems.
Within six months I lost both agreat salesperson and gained a
frustrated manager.
So before you promote your30-point scorers, ask yourself
(04:42):
do they want to coach the teamor do they just want to keep
scoring?
And, more importantly, have youasked them and that question,
that kind of insight.
That doesn't come from guessing.
It comes from something everygreat leader builds into their
rhythm Regular one-on-ones.
(05:03):
That's where the rubber reallymeets the road and it's why I'm
so passionate about doing themright.
In fact, I have a one-on-oneseries If you didn't catch just
a few weeks back, go back andcheck those out about how to do
your one-on-ones the correct way.
Your one-on-ones aren't juststatus updates or
problem-solving sessions.
(05:23):
They're intelligence gathering.
They're where you discover whoyour people really are, what
they actually want and what'sgoing to motivate them to grow.
Here's what I mean byintelligence gathering.
You're like what?
In every one-on-one, you shouldbe listening for clues.
When they talk about their work, what energizes them when they
(05:45):
talk about their work?
What energizes them?
No-transcript.
What do they complain about?
Sometimes?
What frustrates someone revealswhat they care about the most.
When they describe their idealday or role.
What does that look like?
And then, what do they ask youabout?
(06:08):
Are they curious about yourdecision-making process or do
they want to know about thetechnical details process?
Or do they want to know aboutthe technical details?
I remember having a one-on-onewith a team member who kept
asking me about how I madestaffing decisions, how I
handled difficult conversationswith other departments, how I
prioritize competing projects.
(06:28):
Those weren't random questions.
Those were signals that he wasthinking like a leader, not just
a contributor.
But here's the key you have tocreate space for these
conversations to happen.
Naturally, if your one-on-onesare just task management, you're
(06:49):
missing the whole point.
Try this approach in your nextfew one-on-ones Instead of
starting with your next fewone-on-ones, instead of starting
with how are your projectsgoing?
Try this hey, what's been themost interesting part of your
work lately, or what's somethingyou've been thinking about that
(07:09):
we haven't talked about?
Give them that permission tothink beyond their immediate
responsibilities.
You'll be amazed at what youdiscover.
Now, once you start having theseconversations and you identify
someone with real leadershippotential, here's where most of
us drop the ball.
We have good intentions, we seethe potential and then nothing
(07:32):
happens, or worse, we throw theminto a leadership role and just
hope they figure it out.
That's where having a realdevelopment plan comes in, not
the kind that sits in thatfiling cabinet, but the kind
that actually works.
Let me share a quote thatcompletely changed how I think
about this.
This is from Anne Mulcahy.
(07:54):
She was the former CEO of Xerox.
She said one of the things weoften miss in succession
planning is that it should begradual and thoughtful, with
lots of sharing of informationand knowledge and perspective,
so that it's almost a non-eventwhen it happens.
(08:18):
That's the gold standard.
Okay, when someone steps into aleadership role, it shouldn't
feel like throwing them into thedeep end.
It should feel like a naturalnext step in a journey they've
been on for months or possiblyyears.
But how do you actually do that?
Here's the framework I use.
(08:38):
It's a three-layer developmentplan.
Layer one is individualassessment.
What are their naturalstrengths?
What gaps do they need to fill?
What do they think they need towork on?
Now, this is crucial.
It's their self-awareness.
It's often more accurate thanyour external assessment.
(09:03):
And then layer twoorganizational requirements.
What does the specific roleactually require?
Now, this would be the rolethat they're trying to get to,
that promotional spot.
Okay, what does it actuallyrequire?
What are the minimumqualifications, the MQs, the
experiences, the competencies?
What are the unwrittenrequirements?
(09:26):
You know, cultural fit,relationships, institutional
knowledge.
And then layer three is bridgebuilding.
What specific experience canyou create to bridge the gap
between where they are and wherethey need to be.
What stretch projects can yougive, can give them leadership
(09:50):
experience?
Without the full responsibility?
Who else in the organizationcan mentor them in areas where
you're not the expert?
And here's the critical partthis isn't a document you create
once and then just file away.
Hear me, this is a living,breathing plan that you revisit
(10:10):
every quarter in yourone-on-ones.
You adjust it as they grow, asorganizational needs change, as
new opportunities arise.
I keep these plans in a simpledocument that I review before
every one-on-one.
It reminds me to check in ontheir development, not just
their deliverables.
Okay, there are some amazingsoftware options out there as
(10:34):
well for succession planning.
If you need something like thatbecause your organization is
that large, look into them.
They work great.
Now, speaking of why thismatters so much, let me share
some numbers that kind ofstopped me in my tracks when I
first saw them, because ifyou're still thinking succession
planning is a nice-to-haverather than a must-have, these
(10:57):
statistics might change yourmind.
These studies were completed bySHRM, the Authority in Human
Resources, and by Forbes.
In those studies, it showedthat 56% of organizations had no
succession plan at all as of2021.
And that 70% of successionplans fell within two years.
(11:21):
Why?
Because there's no ongoingsupport.
But here's the kicker Companieswith formal succession plans
see 30% higher retention andsignificantly better overall
returns.
Now this is perhaps the mostcompelling For every $1 invested
(11:43):
in leadership development, itreturned $7.
Now, I'm not usually one tolead with statistics if you've
been listening at all for awhile.
But these numbers tell a story.
They tell us that mostorganizations are flying blind
when it comes to developingtheir people, and the ones that
get it right are seeing real,measurable impact.
(12:06):
But here's what those numbersdon't tell you the human cost of
getting this wrong.
I've watched talented peopleleave organizations because they
felt like there was no pathforward.
I've seen teams fall apart whena key leader left and there was
no one ready to step up.
I've seen organizations loseinstitutional knowledge, client
(12:29):
relationships and theircompetitive advantage because
they treated succession planninglike an administrative task
instead of a strategicimperative.
But I've also seen the opposite.
I've watched organizationsweather major transitions
seamlessly because they had beenpreparing for months, sometimes
(12:49):
even years.
I've seen people grow intoleadership roles because they
never thought possible, becausesomeone invested in their
development.
I've seen teams get stronger,not weaker, when leadership
changes happened.
Did you hear me.
I've seen them get stronger,not weaker, when those
(13:10):
leadership changes happened.
The difference?
One word Intentionality.
Organizations that succeed atsuccession planning don't leave
it to chance, and thatintentionality shows up in ways
you might not expect.
Let me ask you something whenwas the last time you took a
(13:32):
real vacation?
Because building your benchisn't just about risk management
.
It's about creating the kind ofleadership depth that actually
lets you lead rather than justmanage crisis.
If you can't do that, yoursuccession planning isn't
incomplete.
It's non-existent.
Building a bench isn't justabout preparing for the worst or
(13:58):
the worst case scenarios.
It's about creating anenvironment where people can
grow, where responsibility isshared, where leadership is
distributed throughout theorganization.
Think about the best leadersyou've worked for.
I'm willing to bet they werethe ones who made you feel
capable of more than you thoughtpossible.
They were the ones who gave youopportunities to stretch, to
(14:20):
fail, to learn, to lead.
That's what real successionplanning looks like.
It's not about protecting yourposition.
It's about multiplying yourimpact.
Here's a practical way to thinkabout it.
Every person on your teamshould have at least one area
where they're developingleadership capability.
(14:40):
Maybe it's leading a project,or mentoring new hires, or
representing the team in somecross-functional meeting or
maybe even owning a clientrelationship.
The goal isn't to turn everyoneinto a manager.
The goal is to developleadership capacity throughout
(15:01):
the organization so that whenopportunities arise or when
challenges hit, you havemultiple people who can step up.
So here's what I want you to do.
I want you to give a specificchallenge for this week,
something concrete you can startworking on before you even
finish listening to this episode.
Step one I want you to pick oneperson not three, not five one
(15:32):
Someone on your team who youthink has leadership potential
and who has expressed someinterest in growing.
And then step two in your nextone-on-one, I want you to have
this conversation.
Start with this I've beenthinking about your development
and career growth.
Can we spend some time talkingabout where you see yourself
(15:54):
headed?
And then I want you to askthese specific questions Do you
see yourself stepping into moreleadership responsibilities?
What would that look like toyou?
What skills or experiences doyou think you'd need to have in
order to get to that next level,and what's one area where you'd
like to develop that would helpyou grow as a leader?
(16:16):
And then, in step three, I wantyou to create their first
development snapshot.
I want you to write thesethings down First, two or three
strengths that they bring, andthen one or two gaps they need
to fill.
And then one specific stretchopportunity you could create for
(16:37):
them in the next 90 days.
And finally, one externalresource.
It could be a book, it could bea course, a conference, a
podcast, a mentor that couldhelp them grow okay.
And then, in step four, I wantyou to schedule a 90-day
check-in.
Put it on your calendar rightnow.
(16:58):
This isn't optional and that'sit.
That's how succession planningactually starts.
Not with a comprehensiveorganizational chart, but with
one conversation, one person,one development opportunity.
Here's what I've learned afteryears of doing this work.
Succession planning isn't aboutyour legacy.
(17:20):
It's about preparing others tocreate their own.
Yes, it's strategic, yes, ittakes discipline and
intentionality, but most of all,it's people-first leadership at
its finest.
Because when you build leaders,when you invest in developing
others who will one day stepinto roles bigger than they
imagined, you're not justprotecting your business into
(17:40):
roles bigger than they imagined.
You're not just protecting yourbusiness, you're creating
impact that will outlast yourtenure, your career, maybe even
your lifetime.
That's the kind of leadershipthat matters.
That's the kind of leadershipthat changes lives, that builds
organizations, that createssomething bigger than any of us
could accomplish alone.
If you're working on this andyou need help whether that's
(18:03):
coaching, speaking or trainingfor your organization reach out
to me.
You can catch me atnextstepadvisorscom.
I'd love to help you buildleadership that lasts.
So until next week, go anddevelop your leaders, figure out
who's next and you know why,because those are the things
(18:24):
that leaders do.
Here's a question for you If someone on your team
left tomorrow who wouldrealistically step up and take
their place, I don't mean whoyou hope would step up, I mean
who is actually ready to step uptoday.
Look, if that question causes apit in your stomach, you're not
(00:22):
alone.
In fact, you're in the majority, and that's exactly why we need
to have this conversation.
Hello leaders and welcome backto the TLD podcast.
I'm Colby Morris and I'm herealongside you in this messy,
beautiful work of leading people.
Well, today we're diving intosomething that keeps me up at
(00:44):
night, not because it's scary,but because it's so foundational
to everything we do as leaders.
Yet so many of us are flyingblind.
Let's start with what successionplanning isn't, because I think
this is where most of us gosideways.
Succession planning isn't a boxto check once a year during
(01:08):
performance reviews or somethinglike that.
It's not a spreadsheet withnames next to job titles though
I've seen plenty of thoseusually in a filing cabinet, and
it's definitely not somethingyou scramble to figure out after
someone gives their two weeksnotice.
Here's what I've learned afteryears of watching organizations
(01:29):
get this wrong.
Succession planning is anongoing, people-first strategic
discipline.
It's a mindset that says I'mnot just managing today's work,
I'm building tomorrow's leaders.
Think about it this way whenyou're gardening, you don't just
(01:50):
water the plants that arealready blooming right.
You're preparing the soil,you're planting seeds, you're
nurturing growth that you mightnot see for months, possibly
years.
That's what real successionplanning looks like, but here's
where it gets practical.
Real succession planning startswith two fundamental questions
(02:13):
that most leaders never ask.
One who actually wants to lead,not who you think should lead.
And two what do theyspecifically need to be ready,
not just what you think theyneed to be ready.
And that brings us to one ofthe biggest mistakes I see
(02:35):
leaders make.
I call this the Michael Jordaneffect.
And if you've been leading forany length of time effect and if
you've been leading for anylength of time, you've probably
fallen into this trap.
Here's how it works.
You have someone on your teamwho's absolutely crushing it.
They're your go-to person, yourtop performer, the one everyone
(02:56):
looks up to.
So, naturally, when aleadership position opens up,
you think they should be thenext manager.
But here's the thing, and thisis where we get it wrong every
single time.
Being great at the work andbeing great at leading the work
are two completely differentskill sets.
(03:17):
Look, michael Jordan wasarguably the greatest basketball
player of all time.
In my opinion, the goat.
Arguably the greatestbasketball player of all time in
my opinion, the GOAT.
But when he tried to be anowner and make personnel
decisions, let's just say hisdraft record kind of speaks for
itself.
The skills that made himdominant on the court, his
(03:37):
individual excellence, hisrelentless personal drive, his
ability to perform underpressure those didn't
automatically translate todeveloping other players or
building team systems.
I learned this the hard way.
Early in my career I had anemployee who was absolutely
phenomenal.
Month after month she washitting 100% 150% of her targets
(04:00):
.
When we needed a sales manager,it seemed like literally a
no-brainer.
But here's what I didn't do.
I never asked her if sheactually wanted to manage people
.
Turns out she loved the thrillof the hunt, the individual
competition, the directrelationship with her clients.
(04:21):
But management that meantmeetings, performance reviews,
dealing with other people'sproblems.
Within six months I lost both agreat salesperson and gained a
frustrated manager.
So before you promote your30-point scorers, ask yourself
(04:42):
do they want to coach the teamor do they just want to keep
scoring?
And, more importantly, have youasked them and that question,
that kind of insight.
That doesn't come from guessing.
It comes from something everygreat leader builds into their
rhythm Regular one-on-ones.
(05:03):
That's where the rubber reallymeets the road and it's why I'm
so passionate about doing themright.
In fact, I have a one-on-oneseries If you didn't catch just
a few weeks back, go back andcheck those out about how to do
your one-on-ones the correct way.
Your one-on-ones aren't juststatus updates or
problem-solving sessions.
(05:23):
They're intelligence gathering.
They're where you discover whoyour people really are, what
they actually want and what'sgoing to motivate them to grow.
Here's what I mean byintelligence gathering.
You're like what?
In every one-on-one, you shouldbe listening for clues.
When they talk about their work, what energizes them when they
(05:45):
talk about their work?
What energizes them?
No-transcript.
What do they complain about?
Sometimes?
What frustrates someone revealswhat they care about the most.
When they describe their idealday or role.
What does that look like?
And then, what do they ask youabout?
(06:08):
Are they curious about yourdecision-making process or do
they want to know about thetechnical details process?
Or do they want to know aboutthe technical details?
I remember having a one-on-onewith a team member who kept
asking me about how I madestaffing decisions, how I
handled difficult conversationswith other departments, how I
prioritize competing projects.
(06:28):
Those weren't random questions.
Those were signals that he wasthinking like a leader, not just
a contributor.
But here's the key you have tocreate space for these
conversations to happen.
Naturally, if your one-on-onesare just task management, you're
(06:49):
missing the whole point.
Try this approach in your nextfew one-on-ones Instead of
starting with your next fewone-on-ones, instead of starting
with how are your projectsgoing?
Try this hey, what's been themost interesting part of your
work lately, or what's somethingyou've been thinking about that
(07:09):
we haven't talked about?
Give them that permission tothink beyond their immediate
responsibilities.
You'll be amazed at what youdiscover.
Now, once you start having theseconversations and you identify
someone with real leadershippotential, here's where most of
us drop the ball.
We have good intentions, we seethe potential and then nothing
(07:32):
happens, or worse, we throw theminto a leadership role and just
hope they figure it out.
That's where having a realdevelopment plan comes in, not
the kind that sits in thatfiling cabinet, but the kind
that actually works.
Let me share a quote thatcompletely changed how I think
about this.
This is from Anne Mulcahy.
(07:54):
She was the former CEO of Xerox.
She said one of the things weoften miss in succession
planning is that it should begradual and thoughtful, with
lots of sharing of informationand knowledge and perspective,
so that it's almost a non-eventwhen it happens.
(08:18):
That's the gold standard.
Okay, when someone steps into aleadership role, it shouldn't
feel like throwing them into thedeep end.
It should feel like a naturalnext step in a journey they've
been on for months or possiblyyears.
But how do you actually do that?
Here's the framework I use.
(08:38):
It's a three-layer developmentplan.
Layer one is individualassessment.
What are their naturalstrengths?
What gaps do they need to fill?
What do they think they need towork on?
Now, this is crucial.
It's their self-awareness.
It's often more accurate thanyour external assessment.
(09:03):
And then layer twoorganizational requirements.
What does the specific roleactually require?
Now, this would be the rolethat they're trying to get to,
that promotional spot.
Okay, what does it actuallyrequire?
What are the minimumqualifications, the MQs, the
experiences, the competencies?
What are the unwrittenrequirements?
(09:26):
You know, cultural fit,relationships, institutional
knowledge.
And then layer three is bridgebuilding.
What specific experience canyou create to bridge the gap
between where they are and wherethey need to be.
What stretch projects can yougive, can give them leadership
(09:50):
experience?
Without the full responsibility?
Who else in the organizationcan mentor them in areas where
you're not the expert?
And here's the critical partthis isn't a document you create
once and then just file away.
Hear me, this is a living,breathing plan that you revisit
(10:10):
every quarter in yourone-on-ones.
You adjust it as they grow, asorganizational needs change, as
new opportunities arise.
I keep these plans in a simpledocument that I review before
every one-on-one.
It reminds me to check in ontheir development, not just
their deliverables.
Okay, there are some amazingsoftware options out there as
(10:34):
well for succession planning.
If you need something like thatbecause your organization is
that large, look into them.
They work great.
Now, speaking of why thismatters so much, let me share
some numbers that kind ofstopped me in my tracks when I
first saw them, because ifyou're still thinking succession
planning is a nice-to-haverather than a must-have, these
(10:57):
statistics might change yourmind.
These studies were completed bySHRM, the Authority in Human
Resources, and by Forbes.
In those studies, it showedthat 56% of organizations had no
succession plan at all as of2021.
And that 70% of successionplans fell within two years.
(11:21):
Why?
Because there's no ongoingsupport.
But here's the kicker Companieswith formal succession plans
see 30% higher retention andsignificantly better overall
returns.
Now this is perhaps the mostcompelling For every $1 invested
(11:43):
in leadership development, itreturned $7.
Now, I'm not usually one tolead with statistics if you've
been listening at all for awhile.
But these numbers tell a story.
They tell us that mostorganizations are flying blind
when it comes to developingtheir people, and the ones that
get it right are seeing real,measurable impact.
(12:06):
But here's what those numbersdon't tell you the human cost of
getting this wrong.
I've watched talented peopleleave organizations because they
felt like there was no pathforward.
I've seen teams fall apart whena key leader left and there was
no one ready to step up.
I've seen organizations loseinstitutional knowledge, client
(12:29):
relationships and theircompetitive advantage because
they treated succession planninglike an administrative task
instead of a strategicimperative.
But I've also seen the opposite.
I've watched organizationsweather major transitions
seamlessly because they had beenpreparing for months, sometimes
(12:49):
even years.
I've seen people grow intoleadership roles because they
never thought possible, becausesomeone invested in their
development.
I've seen teams get stronger,not weaker, when leadership
changes happened.
Did you hear me.
I've seen them get stronger,not weaker, when those
(13:10):
leadership changes happened.
The difference?
One word Intentionality.
Organizations that succeed atsuccession planning don't leave
it to chance, and thatintentionality shows up in ways
you might not expect.
Let me ask you something whenwas the last time you took a
(13:32):
real vacation?
Because building your benchisn't just about risk management
.
It's about creating the kind ofleadership depth that actually
lets you lead rather than justmanage crisis.
If you can't do that, yoursuccession planning isn't
incomplete.
It's non-existent.
Building a bench isn't justabout preparing for the worst or
(13:58):
the worst case scenarios.
It's about creating anenvironment where people can
grow, where responsibility isshared, where leadership is
distributed throughout theorganization.
Think about the best leadersyou've worked for.
I'm willing to bet they werethe ones who made you feel
capable of more than you thoughtpossible.
They were the ones who gave youopportunities to stretch, to
(14:20):
fail, to learn, to lead.
That's what real successionplanning looks like.
It's not about protecting yourposition.
It's about multiplying yourimpact.
Here's a practical way to thinkabout it.
Every person on your teamshould have at least one area
where they're developingleadership capability.
(14:40):
Maybe it's leading a project,or mentoring new hires, or
representing the team in somecross-functional meeting or
maybe even owning a clientrelationship.
The goal isn't to turn everyoneinto a manager.
The goal is to developleadership capacity throughout
(15:01):
the organization so that whenopportunities arise or when
challenges hit, you havemultiple people who can step up.
So here's what I want you to do.
I want you to give a specificchallenge for this week,
something concrete you can startworking on before you even
finish listening to this episode.
Step one I want you to pick oneperson not three, not five one
(15:32):
Someone on your team who youthink has leadership potential
and who has expressed someinterest in growing.
And then step two in your nextone-on-one, I want you to have
this conversation.
Start with this I've beenthinking about your development
and career growth.
Can we spend some time talkingabout where you see yourself
(15:54):
headed?
And then I want you to askthese specific questions Do you
see yourself stepping into moreleadership responsibilities?
What would that look like toyou?
What skills or experiences doyou think you'd need to have in
order to get to that next level,and what's one area where you'd
like to develop that would helpyou grow as a leader?
(16:16):
And then, in step three, I wantyou to create their first
development snapshot.
I want you to write thesethings down First, two or three
strengths that they bring, andthen one or two gaps they need
to fill.
And then one specific stretchopportunity you could create for
(16:37):
them in the next 90 days.
And finally, one externalresource.
It could be a book, it could bea course, a conference, a
podcast, a mentor that couldhelp them grow okay.
And then, in step four, I wantyou to schedule a 90-day
check-in.
Put it on your calendar rightnow.
(16:58):
This isn't optional and that'sit.
That's how succession planningactually starts.
Not with a comprehensiveorganizational chart, but with
one conversation, one person,one development opportunity.
Here's what I've learned afteryears of doing this work.
Succession planning isn't aboutyour legacy.
(17:20):
It's about preparing others tocreate their own.
Yes, it's strategic, yes, ittakes discipline and
intentionality, but most of all,it's people-first leadership at
its finest.
Because when you build leaders,when you invest in developing
others who will one day stepinto roles bigger than they
imagined, you're not justprotecting your business into
(17:40):
roles bigger than they imagined.
You're not just protecting yourbusiness, you're creating
impact that will outlast yourtenure, your career, maybe even
your lifetime.
That's the kind of leadershipthat matters.
That's the kind of leadershipthat changes lives, that builds
organizations, that createssomething bigger than any of us
could accomplish alone.
If you're working on this andyou need help whether that's
(18:03):
coaching, speaking or trainingfor your organization reach out
to me.
You can catch me atnextstepadvisorscom.
I'd love to help you buildleadership that lasts.
So until next week, go anddevelop your leaders, figure out
who's next and you know why,because those are the things
(18:24):
that leaders do.
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