Nearly six out of ten small businesses fail during ownership transitions—not because they were struggling, but because owners made preventable planning mistakes. From waiting too long to keeping plans secret, these errors destroy years of hard work in moments.Learn more: https://www.estates-utah.com/
You've poured everything into your business. Late nights, missed family dinners, and financial risks that kept you up at night. And now you're finally at a point where you can think about stepping back, maybe retiring, perhaps handing things over to someone else. But here's the brutal truth that nobody wants to hear: nearly six out of ten small businesses never make it through that transition. They crumble right when the owner leaves, taking years of hard work down with them. It's not because these businesses were failing. It's because their owners made avoidable mistakes in planning who would take over. Let me walk you through what actually destroys these succession plans, because if you're making any of these errors right now, you're setting yourself up for disaster. The worst part? Most business owners wait way too long to even think about this stuff. They tell themselves they'll figure it out later, when retirement gets closer, when things slow down a bit. Except things never slow down, and developing someone who can actually run your company takes years, not months. By the time a health crisis hits or you're just burned out and ready to leave, it's already too late to do this right. Starting succession planning early isn't just about having a backup plan. It completely changes how your business operates. You get to test different people in leadership roles, see who actually has what it takes, and adjust your strategy when something doesn't work. Companies that wait until the last minute end up making panicked decisions that hurt everyone involved, including the business itself. Now here's something that surprises people. Keeping your succession plan completely secret actually backfires in the worst way possible. You might think you're being smart by playing your cards close to your chest, but meanwhile, your best employees are walking out the door because they can't see any future for themselves at your company. They have no idea you were planning to promote them eventually. They just see a dead end, so they leave. The reality is that talented people need to know there's room for growth. They don't need to know every detail of your plan, but they absolutely need to understand that leadership opportunities exist. When employees can see a path forward, they stick around and invest more energy into their work. Finding that balance between transparency and discretion can literally save your business. Family businesses face their own special nightmare. So many owners just assume their kids or other relatives will want to take over someday. They build their entire succession plan around this assumption without ever having an honest conversation about what everyone actually wants. Then reality hits. Maybe the kids have zero interest in running the business. Maybe they don't have the skills. Maybe they'd rather do literally anything else with their lives. These assumptions destroy relationships and businesses at the same time. Sometimes your best successor isn't at your dinner table; they're in your finance department or managing your operations. Accepting this early gives everyone time to adjust and find arrangements that actually work for real people with real goals, not fantasy versions of what you hoped would happen. Here's another massive mistake. Business owners identify one person for each key role and think they're done. They put all their eggs in one basket. Then that person gets a better offer somewhere else, or realizes the job isn't what they thought, or just changes their mind about their career. Now you're scrambling with no backup plan and a critical position that needs filling immediately. Building pools of talent instead of betting everything on single individuals gives you options when life happens. And life always happens. Plus, when you have multiple qualified candidates, you don't end up with leadership vacuums every time someone moves up and leaves their current position empty. When choosing successors, most people focus entirely on technical skills and past performance. But technical expertise doesn't guarantee someone will thrive in your specific leadership environment. Promoting a high performer whose personality clashes with your company culture creates friction that damages morale and drives other talented people away. Culture fit matters more than most business owners realize, and it deserves real attention during your selection process. Another thing that kills succession planning? Treating it like something you can just dump on your HR department. Yes, HR brings valuable expertise, but they cannot make this work without active participation from senior leadership. When executives treat succession as someone else's responsibility, the whole organization follows that example. The plan becomes paperwork that sits in a drawer instead of actual preparation for the future. If you want a succession plan that actually works, you need to write everything down in detail. This creates accountability and provides legal protection if anyone challenges your decisions later. Your documentation should explain what competencies you evaluated, which candidates you considered, and why you made specific choices. This becomes invaluable for demonstrating that you followed a fair, consistent process. And those plans you write down? They need constant updating. A succession plan that sits untouched for years becomes fiction. People's skills develop, career goals shift, and business needs evolve. Reviewing your plan every six months keeps it aligned with reality instead of outdated assumptions. One final mistake: creating job descriptions for imaginary superheroes instead of identifying actual competencies necessary for success. The goal is finding capable successors who can handle the job well, not mythical perfect leaders who don't exist. Set realistic requirements that reflect the actual work. Your business represents years of effort and supports multiple livelihoods. It deserves better than last-minute scrambling or wishful thinking. Click on the link in the description to learn more about building transition strategies that actually protect what you've worked so hard to create.
Curry Andrews Consulting
City: South Jordan
Address: 10808 South River Front Parkway
Website: https://www.estates-utah.com/
Phone: +1-801-960-3830