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Are you prepared to turn over the reins? Small to midsize firms should consider some key areas when thinking about the next generation of company leaders. O P I N I O N
W e all regularly read the industry news regarding the purchase or merger of other firms. For mega-firms, these might be driven by stockholder demands for increased revenue and growth. For others, it might be an avenue to cash out and begin to enjoy that elusive retirement. But, what about those small to midsize firms that want to maintain independence and perpetuate the firm into the next generation of leaders?
STEPHEN LUCY
should happen to you, but won’t you rest easier knowing that staff and plans are in place to address unforeseen conditions? 4)Provide the training and support leaders need to succeed. Evaluate the management skills of those identified to lead, just as you evaluate their technical competency. If they are not capable of leading, don’t push them into the job. For most firms, internal training resources are focused on technical or work product topics, so plan to utilize external training programs focused on the business of our industry. And even consider hiring from outside our industry for the expertise you will need. Fresh viewpoints not tainted by a career spent in the AEC industry can be beneficial. 5)Communicate your leadership transition plans to everyone. Communicate internally and external- ly. If you hold this information close, the unknown will create an atmosphere of fear and speculation. Share your views and the value of your transition plan with your entire team. Take the time to have personal candid conversations and better under- stand your team’s expectations and needs. Inform your clients and introduce them to your up and com- ing leaders. Our industry is built on relationships, many built over years of interaction. So don’t think that transitioning those all-important relationships to the next generation of the firm will occur in an instant. Take the time and the effort necessary to bring others into your client relationships and all new relationships to be developed. 6)Recognize that the firm’s owners are not nec- essarily the firm’s best leaders. I am a strong believer that leadership and ownership are two distinctly different things. A majority owner “If you truly seek to remain independent and successful, then consider these steps for effective leadership transitions.”
As a small to midsize firm, competing against global giants may seem like a David vs. Goliath scenario, but there can be benefits that come from being smaller, provided you have a strong game plan to guide your firm’s future. Engineering New- Record ’s performance metrics point to revenue increases linked with list-rank gains, in which 10 of 17 firms in the study’s “leadership quadrant” are midsize, with only one very large firm as among the “best of the best.” So, success without consolidation is entirely possible. However, while flying by the seat of your pants might have worked when your firm was smaller, growing and perpetuating a firm requires organizational planning and division of duties that tap the business skills of your existing team or those skills that you have identified as essential to your firm’s success. If you truly seek to remain independent and successful, then consider these steps for effective leadership transitions: 1)Create the plan and work the plan. Involve your team in the process of laying the path for leadership and management transitions. Don’t wait until the day before your founder, partner, or firm leader de- parts. Planning is an intensive, collaborative process, and a good transition plan requires time and partici- pation to prepare. Time spent up front in planning will pay multiple dividends during implementation. 2)The plan must include contingencies. Murphy’s Law is everywhere, so you need to consider reason- able alternate scenarios which could occur and incor- porate those possibilities into your plan. “Reason- able” is key, as you also do not want to get bogged down in an infinity of what-ifs. Alternate plans ,or even exit strategies, from your plan should be dis- cussed and understood by the transition team. 3)Identify future leaders. Successful leaders should know their possible replacement from the moment they move into a leadership position. If they do not, they should actively identify, cultivate, and educate their successors. Just like the saying “there is safety in numbers,” there is safety in having redundancy in your leadership ranks. Heaven forbid something
See STEPHEN LUCY, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER SEPTEMBER 21, 2015, ISSUE 1120
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