Wednesday 24 June 2015

When all the best laid (succession) plans go wrong!

By Amanda Vigar, Managing Partner, V&A Bell Brown LLP

When Jeremy Clarkson was unceremoniously removed from Top Gear, who thought that Chris Evans would be leading a completely new team of presenters?

It will be interesting to see just what impact Chris has. having, apparently, only agreed to take it on if he is allow a free hand on forming its future. Mind you, is he just the first in through a rotating door trying to get things back on track (like the football managers that now seem to leave before they’ve even started) or will he become the saviour of Top Gear?

In recent years, in the business world, we’ve seen the likes of M&S struggle to find the right new leadership to pull their businesses round after they have lost their way. Each time, there was hope that it would all come good, the flame flickers for a while (think Stuart Rose and Per Una) and yet now M&S seems again to be a bit of a lost soul on the high street.On the other hand, when Apple lost Steve Jobs, the naysayers predicted the end of Apple and yet in the few short years since his untimely death the value of the company has more than doubled under his hand-picked management succession team.

Looking at all the business succession activities, there are no hard and fast rules on what will work. But one thing for sure is: if you don’t plan ahead for the future management of your business it is bound to fail especially if the exit of a key member of senior management is unplanned! That means having more than just a plan A too.

One of the first questions I ask both a business owner or someone looking to start-up is “what is your exit plan?” Most people just look at me blankly because they haven’t even thought about exit! Yet, without a plan they have no idea how to shape their business in the next 5, 10 or 25 years. People who do keep that end goal in sight at all times are much more likely to succeed.

Even better, make sure you can have more than one route through to that end – just in case your managing director decides to punch your key customer!