Succession Planning is not easy but it should not be difficult or neglected either, as it's one of the most important jobs as a leader!

As a business leader, I have always believed in the importance of building?sustainable?and scalable, high performance teams that can eventually operate with or without me.?The key word here being “sustainable”, as the business must continue to grow and expand without you as otherwise you cannot honestly argue or state that you have been truly successful as a leader.?And while many people talk about the importance of succession planning, however, not everyone follows through on this critical step that requires both?strategic planning,?personal humility?and complete?trust?in your own people.?

?Are you willing to hire someone better than yourself??Are you willing to show your entire P/L to someone within your organization with full transparency??Are you willing to replace yourself for the betterment of your team leader(s) so they can grow?

While I may not have understood the importance of succession planning during my early recruitment / team leader days in Tokyo or Singapore, as soon as I became a Country Head or Managing Director in Singapore I had realized quickly that developing your tier-1 and tier-2 leaders to take over your job would be the most important step as a business leader (of course, so you can also do more in the future for your company).?Ultimately, their success is your own success, so why not spend the effort to guide them to take over your job as quickly as possible.??

?Being radically transparent, I had even shared my own compensation details to help share and understand the full scope of a business P/L as sometimes it’s hard to get the full picture while hiding some important details from your leaders.?While this may have been radical at the time (and perhaps not something I would do again unless absolutely necessary), I believed it was very important given our financial circumstances at the time and thought it would also help inspire the next in line to strive toward that final goal and target.?And while the passing of the baton in this particular case did not follow the order I would have liked, I am confident looking back that I had followed the right steps to guide this leader as much as possible to reach its ascension to the throne!

?This year, I have had the privilege and honor to officially promote one of my direct reports, Chris Keek, to become Country Head of BTI Executive Search Singapore.?Convincing someone to get out of their comfort zone to join a startup going through a complete rebuild was not easy but fortunate to have had her trust and loyalty to make the bold decision.?And finally through the complete efforts of her own determination, learning and growth, and successful hiring decisions, Chris had started her new journey as Country Head this year which was a big goal we had set out a few years back.?Honestly, I could not be more proud of her making this big step!

While I don’t plan to go anywhere or be replaced quite yet (hopefully), I wanted to share this story for all business leaders that may be hesitating to complete or even start their succession planning efforts as you are really only holding the business back from growing and scaling in the future, and it’s really the most important job as a leader to follow through on this strategic step.?Remember, it should not be about you > it’s your people that matter most!??

Anyway these are two great photos of Chris and I have who have been through thick and thin over the past 7 years together!?Please do wish me in congratulating her in this well-deserved promotion and hope you continue to support her, the team and the BTI Executive Search Singapore and APAC business!?

(Chris, I am happy to still be your private legal advisor when you are in trouble….sorry inside joke)!

@chriskeek @btiexecutivesearch #btiexecutivesearch #successionplanning