Building Out Your Bench: How to Create Succession Pipelines

Succession planning goes beyond ownership. Team members get sick. Employees can leave for various reasons and when you don’t have contingency plans in place, it can be a serious setback for your company.

“Losing a branch manager, department head, or operations leader can have just as significant an impact on day-to-day operations and team morale,” says Jim Tuzzolino, Southern division president for Ruppert Landscape, headquartered in Laytonsville, Maryland. “By planning ahead, we ensure stability, maintain trust with our teams and customers, and reduce disruption.”

Brian Helgoe, CEO and founder of Monarch Landscape Companies, based in Los Angeles, California, adds that building out your bench is also simply the right thing to do.

“Whether you’re an owner or a leader, people are going to work for you, and they’re working hard trying to figure out their own careers, and if you’re not really thinking through what their next steps are and providing them feedback to be successful at that, it feels selfish,” Helgoe says.

Go Deep in Your Org Chart

Just like football teams have 4^th string quarterbacks you need to prepare employees deep into your organization, so they are ready and able to step up if the situation arises.

Helgoe says they have a succession plan for their regional sales leaders and branch managers as well as their crew leaders.

“Most of our branches have plans for all their crew leaders or foremen,” Helgoe says “That’s a big deal for us, and we expect our branch managers to know that. We don’t have a lot of turnover there, but that’s the most devastating turnover we have for us with customers. So we make sure whatever is happening, we always have a plan around to 60-70% of our crew leaders.”

Byron McFarland, founding principal of The McFarland Group, which specializes in business succession, recommends keeping track of which employees are demonstrating traits necessary to step up when a crew leader is out.

Tuzzolino says their goal is to have at least one potential successor identified for key leadership roles including branch managers, department heads, and regional leaders. For Ruppert, it’s important to have a trained culture leader who can keep things moving forward.

“You’ve got to be realistic about your leadership positions and have an advancement track of where you’re developing people to in the future replace other people,” says Kurt Bland, president of Bland Landscaping Company, based in Apex, North Carolina.

Bland says by having the associate branch manager position, their promising employees are prepared to become branch managers when the opportunity arrives.

Chris Psencik, partner and vice president of McFarlin Standford, which provides business coaching to landscape companies, adds that the leadership you have within your organization can also impact your company valuation and buyer confidence.

“Leadership within the organization is what will help a potential buyer know that what they are buying has the ability to exist beyond the owner’s involvement,” Psencik says.

Identifying Future Leaders

Some of the traits to watch for in your potential leaders include good communication skills, resilience, consistently going above and beyond and putting others before themselves.

“Leadership potential isn’t always loud — it often shows up in subtle ways like dependability, problem-solving, and the ability to motivate others,” Tuzzolino says.

Psencik says rather than dictating, these individuals lead through example and create unique opportunities for their fellow team members to grow.

“They are extending grace and looking at themselves first on what they can do better to help others versus pointing the finger,” Psencik says. “They are seeking to grow professionals rather than discipline others. These are some common traits I look for when I am looking for next-level talent within my organization and teams that I work with.”

Helgoe says they will also evaluate their employees’ will and skill levels. He says the team members they invest the most in have both the skill to move forward and the will to learn more. He says they also utilize the 9 Box talent review.

“Everyone can’t be perfect,” Helgoe says. “In a world where you have like six or seven employees working for you who are all really good, it forces you to assess them more accurately and provide more specific feedback about why maybe they’re not performing as well as one of their other peers.”

It’s also recommended when you’re hiring to consider the long-term potential of that candidate.

“When hiring, we consider not just the immediate role, but the long-term potential of the individual, Tuzzolino says. “We often recruit with an eye toward leadership, especially in roles where succession planning is critical to our growth strategy.”

Pitfalls in Succession Pipelines

Succession pipelines are important, but they also come with their own set of challenges including individuals who may be reluctant to train their successors and employees becoming frustrated when the higher role they’ve been groomed for is not readily available.

McFarland says to prevent employees from feeling threatened, you need to let them know how sharing their knowledge is not going to hurt their value proposition. Helgoe says they commonly tell their employees to ‘make themselves useless’ as no one should see themself as irreplaceable.

“We encourage our managers to identify and mentor their successors early on, long before the need arises. It’s part of our company culture to “build your bench.” We believe it’s a leader’s responsibility to prepare others to one day take their place—through shadowing, stretch assignments, and intentional coaching.

Another issue that can arise as you prepare your future leaders is a sense of impatience or entitlement.

McFarland says advancement should be based on merit instead of a calendar. Let your people know what it takes in order to ascend and where they currently are.

“If they are not ready to be advanced, be okay telling them why,” McFarland says. “The fear of conflict is chronic. Most people want to be told where they’re at, so figure out how to tell them and do it in such a way that they feel respected.”

Bland says they make a conscious effort to keep all of their stakeholders informed about long-term plans and paths so they’re not left wondering.

“It starts with communicating to those people,” Bland says. “If they don’t know you’re going to open offices, then they can’t ever imagine themselves being there. If they don’t know that we’re going to continue growing, then they can’t ever imagine seeing an opportunity.”