Ready Now, Ready Soon, Ready Later

Let's talk about succession planning for a minute.

For many credit union leaders, that phrase lands somewhere between a buzzword and a compliance task. The board asks about it once a year, so someone writes down who steps in if the CEO suddenly leaves. Then that page gets filed with the policies and procedures, and it stays there.

If that sounds like your plan right now, you're in good company. Most succession plans I see are built to check a box: "If this happens, this person jumps in." 

But a plan like that can't tell you whether that person is actually ready or what it will take to get them there. 

Start with who's on your bench.

The best succession plans begin with the people you have today. That means your leadership team, your emerging leaders, and your board.

From there, the plan asks two questions. 

Who's in each critical seat today? 

And who's on the bench behind them, and how ready are they?

Once you map those answers out, you start to see your organization differently. Some people are ready now. Others could be ready soon, and a few might be ready later with the right development. You'll probably also spot a role or two where nobody is on deck at all.

That empty spot helps you know what to focus on next.

Let the map drive your hiring and development.

That map is where the value lives, because it should shape two decisions you're already making.

• The first is hiring. If no one is on deck for a key role, that gap changes who you go looking for. You might start hiring for the next seat, not just the open one. It gives you the information to hire for capacity, not just the experience you'll need in the future. 

• The second is development. Maybe you look at the map and say, "Wow, we don't have a real plan for growing people internally." With this knowledge, you know exactly where to focus: the key players who could move into a role in the next six months, the next year, or on a longer horizon.

With staffing as tight as it is right now, that focus pays off fast. Every leader you grow from within is one less critical seat you have to fill externally.

Confidence is the payoff nobody budgets for. 

My favorite part of this work is what it does for the people on the map. Once they can see it, they know where they're going and where they're growing. Your emerging leaders stop wondering whether they have a future at your credit union or if their development is on track. And that confidence and planning help them stay. 

In the credit union industry, something unexpected always happens. When it does, you're ready with people who have been preparing for that exact moment.

Your action step this week: Pick your three most critical roles. For each one, write down who could step in now, who could be ready within a year, and who's further out. Any blank space on that list is your next development or hiring priority.

If you don't have a solid succession plan in place and you know you need one that matches your realities today, hit reply and tell me where you're at. 

I'd love to share the frameworks that have worked for more than 215 leadership teams across the country.

Lead Boldly,
~ Michael