How Do You Build Your Next Generation?

When we talk about succession planning, people often associate that with selling your company and handing the keys to a new king of the castle.

But succession planning is about so much more than that – is the castle healthy? That is the subject of this episode of The AV Profession, with Brad Malone and Tim Albright.

“The term, succession planning has this feel of bequeathing the business and then washing your hands of it,” says Malone. “So Navigate prefers the phrase, build your next generation.”

As the company grows, have you created the next generation of leadership, or the next generation of management?

And, how do you build your next generation?

“If I want to grow from a lead tech one to a lead tech three, who am I creating to be the lead tech one? If I’m a PM, how do I create the next PM so that I can grow, or I can move. The succession plan is always like this progression. I am building someone up to take over for me, AND do the job better than I could do it.”

Knowledge needs to be shared

“Toddlers moving up, you’ve got to crawl, you’ve got to walk, you’ve got to run,” says Malone. “And then once they run, you’ve also got to let them be free to go wrong. And I always view as a manager, did I make them better than me? Did I give them the opportunity to grow beyond me? Then I put that down as a success.”

Also on the podcast:

How do you effectively and efficiently transfer the knowledge from the folks who have it to the folks who need it?
How do you make sure that the next person taking your spot is not only as good, but obviously better than you at what you are doing?
Building the next generation takes time and resources. How do you create a culture that values investing in people?