It is as certain as spring will bring sunshine. One day it will happen. The General Manager will want to, have to, need to go. So how does a company keep the culture, clients and competence – when the General Manager for some reason is on his or her way out the door?
The importance of carving out a succession plan
It was about time, actually. After 17 years of running Miljönären, a successful Swedish crafts business, starting at 50 employees, moving up to 220 last spring, it was time for Andreas Söderkvist, the General Manager at large, to take on a new challenge.
He just did not know it himself yet.
Neither Andreas, nor his business partner Klas, had any children who wanted or could have taken over their company. That is why they were quite early aware of the importance of carving out a clear path for the future: They knew that life could happen.
And that is exactly what it did.
A surprising ownership presentation in the forest
Spring of 2023: A farmhouse in the forest near Uppsala, Sweden: In a cozy living room two representatives from HG prepared to give a presentation: on why they would be a good fit for Miljönären. The two founders of the company, Andreas and Klas, were not super excited. Why? They were sort of used to this, having had larger companies knocking on their door before, not ever being able to make them nod or agree.
– None of the others ever made us really tick with the way they saw sustainability, the path forward or how to take care of the employers in a way that made sense to us, Andreas says.
But this time, it would be different.
– So we were not really prepared for what we were about to hear, he says.
– What HG said about soft values, that people meant more than the numbers and economy had us both interested. We had always put people first, so their visions aligned with ours, he says.
After a reindeer stew lunch and professional presentation they just looked at each other from across the room.
– In the car on the drive back to town we had kind of already decided that HG was going to be the way forward for us.
Click to check out the 7 ways to plan for eternity! >
One week to decide who would take over the General Manager-position
Nine months later Miljönæren was a part of the HG-family. With Andreas still in the General Manager-seat. But at the very same time last summer, the HG Sweden suddenly grew rapidly. New Regional Managers were needed. Andreas had not foreseen being asked so quickly to take over one of the new HG-titles, but being asked to become HG-leader for the Swedish northern territories was an exciting opportunity both for growing further as a leader, and a wanted new challenge.
Klas for other reasons already had stepped down as partnering General Manager. Andreas therefore needed to decide if someone else really was going to take over the chair he had been sitting in for 17 years.
And if so: Who?
Both decisions needed to be made fast: Andreas got about one week to decide.
– That would have been a stressful situation. I would probably not have been able to sleep that whole week, but I did, he says.
Because he and Klas had together already made a plan.
Click to check out the 7 ways to plan for eternity! >
Miljönæren prepped someone already on the payroll
A plan for succession. It is not really normal within his industry to make a concrete plan for what will happen to a company after the General Manager, the founder or the owner will step aside.
But he and Klas sat down already back in 2016, to discuss what should be done if a huge change would suddenly – or not so suddenly – happen.
– Back then we knew that in 7 to 8 years one of us would probably want to retire. So the first thing we discussed was: Should we look for a successor outside or inside the company?
The answer for Miljönären was: Inside.
– We soon started training and supporting a group of four-five competent project leaders, good employers who we felt would be a nice fit when the time was right. We lifted them, so to speak. To prepare them for the responsibility that would come in the future.
A succession plan creates trust that promises will be kept
Andreas and his partner Klas started to think about what a possible exit would look like. They wrote down the story of their business, as well as specific things they wanted the next General Manager to think about, to take especially care of and to continue with. In regards to both how to handle the employers and clients and how to maintain the culture they had spent years building up.
– The fact that this plan exists, means our clients and partners can feel safe. They can trust that we will continue to keep what we have promised, no matter who is being called General Manager, says Andreas.
In the end, a very competent project manager, Matias, had been ready for years to take over the role of General Manager – so then, when time was right, he did.
– To make sure our company would live on for eternity, we made a succession plan early, so now it can. And will.
Click to check out the 7 ways to plan for eternity! >
A tested way of leaving your company in safe hands
If the general manager for some reason is moving on the HG method of assisting companies is not some top down corporate best practice. Instead it’s a method local companies have put to the test themselves. HG consists of many local companies with their hubs all over Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. These companies share knowledge on a daily basis and support their colleagues.
– What several local companies have seen is that by becoming a part of HG all of them are able to engage in methods and experiences done by others in the industry. These are things we have seen actually work, says Thomas Thorsøe, CHRO at HG.
HG actively engages in conversations with the local company discussing the future of the business to define clear short term care takers and more long term successors.
– This is a decentralized model where we always want to learn from everyday stories experienced all the time. Stories that empower us all, he says before he adds:
– Remember, in the safety of HG each local company will be taken extra care of because the General Manager always will have the Regional Manager to back him or her. And everyone can be sure HG systematically works to ensure a good transition of all of the companies as needed, he says.
One of his best tips after gathering a pool of possible successors within the company is:
– Let each candidate try out your shoes while you are still wearing them.
