Random Thoughts:How The Cookie Crumbles

At a recent meeting with a vendor company's representative, talk turned to
the status of its distributors. It was not surprising to hear a vendor say that
the distributor had the potential to do a lot more but was not doing so. This is
something that most vendors feel about their distributor partners.

But what came as a surprise was the fact that the distribution house in this
case, which incidentally is a big name by itself in India, was unable to realize
its potential because it was facing a lot of power conflict within. After a
couple of key people quit the distributor a couple of years ago, the company was
still trying to come to terms with this reality and find a good replacement for
those people. Till date, it has not succeeded and has had to make do with
mediocre people instead.

Needless to say, this has got the vendor worried. So much so that it is
contemplating adding another distributor to its network, to offset the slowdown
in business that it is facing with the first.

This brings the spotlight again on the issue of having a succession plan in
place. This was a subject that DQ Channels had explored at length in one of its
earlier issues.

However, talking about a subject, thinking about it and further taking
actions on it are all three distinct things. While the article per se was
appreciated by a lot of people, very few of them have given thought to haveing a
succession plan in place.

Most folks assume that their children will simply step into their shoes when
the time is right. They discount the fact that there might be other people in
the organization who have been working with the company for a long time and feel
they are the relevant heirs.

To have someone else supersede them merely because of a blood relation is
unlikely to go down well. In the best scenario, they might continue to work,
albeit grudgingly. In the worst scenario, they might quit or continue to work
with the company but undermine its potential continuously, consciously or not.

It is also likely that the offspring of the first generation entrepreneur
might not be keen to join the business. Or as has been displayed by some
companies, might not have the aptitude to grow the business.

Whichever way you look at it, as an entrepreneur you are sitting on a ticking
time bomb. The time to start thinking about a succession planning

is now.

You can have a mix of your family and a core team of seasoned employees
working together. Make it pretty clear at the onset about your plans for
succession in the future. This will clear any ambiguity about ambitions and will
give your second in command the time to entrench himself in the business.

But whatever you do, don't delay this decision anymore. Your business is not
run merely on the emotions, egos, whims and fancies of the people in your
organization and family. It extends itself to an entire universe of people
associated to it, who might also be dependent on it.

Think about it.

vinita bhatia

(vinitavs@cybermedia.co.in)