Here’s what I told my coach client and would work with a coaching client of my own to realize, as well:

• There is no one “right” way to initiate a succession plan/exit strategy.  If you have a plan that works for you, use it;
• Your options include, but are not limited to, moving up (to an emeritus, or honorary,position, for example), moving aside (giving up all your accountabilities and assuming a consultative role), or, moving on/out (leaving);
• It may only be a subtle difference, but stepping back and assessing what you do well, then re-aligning the leadership team so you do only those things you do well, like to do, and can do in the time you want to devote, while someone else in leadership takes on your other duties, can also be an option;
• There is a reason why “success” is built into “succession.”  It’s about everyone being a winner – you, the organization and other leaders in the organization (who may feel they’ve been waiting in the wings too long).

Maybe stepping back, as a strategy, is an option you should consider for yourself or your clients.  What do you think?

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Recently, I was asked to give a speech to a client’s church group (The New Beginnings Group for those who had lost a loved one and needed to get on with their life).  I told him I typically speak only to business groups.  He suggested my succession presentation, with some tinkering, would do nicely.

The tinkering, though, gave me some additional insight into the loss we, as Boomer entrepreneurs and Senior Executives, face in moving on to a new stage of life when our “business” is at least NOT our central focus.

When I started talking, I shared my view that life is about giving up the things you love (because all living creatures and situations are transitory).  I suggested the grieving process has its place but too often we stop there, not thinking we have mountains yet to climb.  I shared with them the notion of the Hero’s Journey, as told so eloquently in books, recordings and videos, of Joseph Campbell (and Bill Moyers).  And then, I asked them to consider answering the 5 Questions I had found were most important to my clients in my succession and executive coaching (for those moving on) work.  They tend to be the most important because, the talk about having a “life” after work and without some vision of where you are going, moving on tends to be both scary and a health risk.

Here are the five business succession questions:
1.  What do I want to do with the rest of my life?
2.  Who do I want with (or around) me as I undertake new adventures?
3.  Where do I want to call home as I move forward?
4.  How can I minimize anger / worry about the past and the future?
5.  How do I want to be remembered?

I hope you find them helpful.

John Reddish, and his Associates at Advent, help entrepreneurs and other leaders who want to master growth, transition and succession to get results faster, less painfully and in ways that work for them. This happens through consulting, coaching/mentoring, training and/or speaking. Understanding that there is no ONE path to get results, client services are tailored to the way s/he can best use our services.  John is a member of the National Speakers Assn. For more information: www.getresults.com. For succession information, go to: www.thesuccessionplanner.com. Or call 610.506.6311 in the US, 01.610.506.6311internationally, or at johnr [at] getresults [dot]com.

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John Reddish, www.thesuccessionplanner.com and www.getresults.com

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No, when coaching works, it is the performer who takes the laurels (and the lumps that can come along with learning), who seizes the opportunity that only proximity can reveal, whose rough edges get shorn. Coaches and mentors also help keep us in touch with our true self, so that we can be better people out in the world of business, and even at home. The coach is the supporting player, as it should be.

And we’ve always had coaches, mentors, cheerleaders. They’ve been known by a hundred names. Only recently that a body of knowledge, and a profession have sprung forth in a formal sense. But why now?

I think, frankly, that the current impetus is money related. “If you are going to charge for this service, I need to know how to calculate its value.” And that’s a fair request. The training and work/life experience a coach brings to the sidelines is an equal part of the winning, or losing proposition.

Coaching is not therapy. Coaching is not consulting. Coaching is not training. Coaching is not, as I once thought “wringing a person like a sponge to get out that extra content.” Coaching is not certain; both the coach and the person coached can mess up the process. It is not going to change your life, although it may be the 2×4 that strikes you causing instant revelation and cries of Eureka, or the brisk Fall breeze that clears away the cobwebs and helps you begin to get results!

Coaching is a tool where two people who respect each other explore how the potential in one of them can be maximized and how destructive and limiting behaviors can be overcome. It requires hope and trust. It requires that the coach be content with a position on the sidelines and a commitment to the success of the person being coached. It requires enough give and take where both the coach and the coached can tell the other, “you are dead wrong.”

If you want a coach, there are many good ones available. Ask around. Search the internet. Read articles by coaches. Find a coach who fits your needs, your time availability, your pocketbook. Take a test drive. Document your desired outcomes and each small success along the way. Never depend on memory – people (with the best of intentions) forget. Better yet, record each coaching session – a good coach won’t object.

And if your coach really helps you, the operative word is, “thanks.”

John Reddish works with entrepreneurs and other leaders who want to master growth, transition and succession to get results faster, less painfully and in ways that work for them. For more than 30 years, clients have called on John for Business Consulting – Help in Solving Problems and Seizing Opportunities; Speaking and Training that Informs and Motivates; and Executive Coaching and Mentoring. For information and/or additional similar content go to: www(dot)getresults(dot)com, or call 1.800.726.7985.

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