Our three-step process includes:
START YOUR JOURNEY HERE
Our two-day on-site workshop identifies your successor pipeline and the priorities & values that make your organization unique. At the end of IGNITE, you will have an identified successor pipeline and individual professional development plans (IDP) for everyone in the pipeline.
ONCE YOU HAVE IGNITION...
If you choose to LIFT the whole organization, we help to create career paths and learning paths (running in parallel) to attract and retain the best of the best and to start building your future-leader pipeline.
BUILD UPON IGNITE AND LIFT
An ongoing "lift" to build leadership competencies throughout all levels of the organization via cross-functional peer learning groups. Peer learning groups are custom-designed for your company so that they align with your priorities, values, and future goals.
What is the difference between a Strategic Plan, a Succession Plan, and an Exit Plan?
Strategic Plan:
A strategic plan outlines the long-term goals and objectives of an organization and the strategies to achieve them. Given the speed of business these days, the strategic plan rarely goes beyond three years. It is simultaneously data-driven and aspirational including vision and mission statements, competitive analysis, and projections for growth in terms of product or service offerings, revenue, and/or customer acquisition. The strategic plan is crafted by a very small group, usually just the senior leaders of an organization (and the board of directors, if one exists), and passed down to lower levels of the organization for execution. A strategic consultant can assist in helping the senior leadership team to define their vision, goals, and implementation strategy.
Succession Plan:
A succession plan is a structured process for identifying and developing internal talent to fill key leadership positions within an organization as attrition happens. Grooming future leaders for promotion ensures continuity of the strategic plan as “new” leaders are still aligned with the established vision and goals. Succession planning is aspirational in that a company does not want to replace like with like; future leaders should have “new and improved” skills to help the organization keep pace with the future. Succession planning involves the whole organization in that all employees should be continually improving their skills and all current leaders should be grooming future leaders. HR typically leads the process since they are the “people people” of the organization.
A succession planning consultant helps map out the leadership pipeline, and identify the development needed - both for individuals and the organization as a whole - and the order of execution (e.g. all employees in their first three years will develop communication skills, financial acumen, and competitive intelligence). Succession planning is essential for maintaining organizational stability and retaining institutional knowledge,
Exit Plan:
The exit plan helps the business owners to exit or divest from their investment in a company. Do they sell, merge, offer terms, pass on to a family member, or create an ESOP? The point of the exit plan is to protect the owner, get the most valuation for the business, and ensure a smooth transition to the new owner.
All three types of plans are critical for organizational success and they each serve distinct purposes: a strategic plan guides the overall direction and priorities of the organization, a succession plan ensures leadership continuity and talent development, and an exit plan prepares for the eventual divestment or transition of ownership or control.
The plan that gets the least attention (and is the least understood) is the succession plan. A strategic plan is important as you are building and growing a company. An exit plan is important when you want to move on to a new endeavor or retire. While the succession plan helps you to achieve both of those things.
Making succession planning a priority - and building a leadership pipeline of capable
individuals two and three levels deep - are key to having talent in place that ensures the
long-term performance and endurance of your organization.