The Covid-19 pandemic has been an event like never before! The uncertainty around the current situation has left behind a trail of helplessness and trauma in our lives and businesses. The sudden outbreak of the pandemic has affected operations of every level at individual stages.
While the lockdowns have been impactful in slowing down this menace, it has also brought down the economy to halt. Keeping aside the businesses that have a global footprint, it’s the MSME or the smaller companies and industries that are facing the impact of the worldwide disaster.
Given that the death tolls often make the headlines, the stories fail to cover the “Sole Proprietorship” businesses grappling for survival. With over 63+ million MSMEs in India, very few have a well-crafted succession plan in place.
But, what is a Succession Plan?
As the name suggests, “Succession Plan” is more of a blueprint for future operations. Being one of the largest markets filled with small business owners, namely Sole proprietors, not many operators add ‘succession’ to their agenda. This results in a dying business once the owner hangs up their boots.
Why Now?
Let’s understand it this way: when the sole proprietor or owner of a business cannot perform operations or passes away, the results are mostly shutting down an otherwise healthy business. Succession planning works as a tool to allow your business to move forward without compromising with any uncertainties of the future.
Considering the turn of events, succession planning has become one of the essential ingredients to ensure the proper success of a business today! Over the last years, the constant change for the overall business environment for MSMEs has accounted for changes like GST implementation, demonstration, Covid-19 pandemic, and several other changes. This is why MSMEs today need to streamline their operations, keeping an idea of the future in mind.
Succession Planning: Steps to Get Started!
- Planning: Proper planning is the stepping stone to create sound succession planning. Your first step should be to create a blueprint to implement the succession plan. For your plan to be successful, you must integrate your program with the aspirations and interests of your team.
- Analyze: This step is all about thinking of the challenges practically. Here, you need to draw an idea of all the possible situations that the organization is likely to face and estimate the skills your successor needs to have.
- Identification of Talent Pools: Once you’ve analyzed the competency of your successor, the next step here is to identify the ideal employee in the organization. The key here is to look into the interested prospects and the ones to take over the fundamental operations.
- Development Planning: Once you’ve identified the gaps in your operations, the next step involves creating development plans. This stage includes incorporating formal development procedures like mentoring, special job assignments, coaching, learning projects, etc., aiding the employees to gain the required skills.
- Get the documents ready: Once you’ve strategized the succession plan, it’s time to take it to the documentation process. Remember, your plan should be linked to different HR elements like performance planning, compensation, recruitment, workforce planning, etc.
- Evaluate Effectiveness: The last step in the process is to evaluate the plan’s effectiveness you’ve created. Here, you need to ensure that all your key positions and areas of operation are covered under the planning. Further, to ensure the true success of your plan, systematically evaluate activities and monitor your workforce data.
Perks of having a Succession Plan in Place
When you look at it, there are numerous perks of having a succession plan in place. To begin with, you can never predict a disaster. Creating a succession plan is all about developing contingencies to ensure a seamless shift in leadership as and when required.
Here are some perks of having a succession plan in advance:
- Succession planning can be a valuable tool to cultivate new leaders and prepare an exit strategy for team leaders and business owners.
- Align your HR and strategic goals to ensure that the right talent fits in the right place and at the right time.
- Nurture your business with the right pool of candidates who are set to fill the key positions.
- To provide businesses with an opportunity for the timely transfer of ownership, roles, and skills.
- To have a revival plan during uncertainties.
If you look at it closely, the possibilities of having a succession plan are endless. It’s all about the right approach to operations!
Conclusion
Succession Planning is the need of the hour! Although the present pandemic has highlighted its significance, it is crucial to ensure the proper stability and success of any MSME business.
Considering the factors into play, it won’t be long before Succession Planning becomes a norm for businesses shortly.