How do you turn an employee into a doer?

The topic of company succession is quite complex: the management of your own company should be placed in the hands of a suitable successor at the right price. So what is the best way to proceed?

A desperate entrepreneur recently asked me this question - later she asked me: "Why don't you make a podcast episode out of it?" She had long passed her retirement age and had finally found a successor. A very young employee who had been thinking about taking over the small dance studio for a long time.

But it's not just dance school owners who struggle with the challenge of succession. There are also many small owner-managed companies with 5 to 20 employees in the electroplating industry that are struggling with this difficult issue.

The obvious solution

They cannot find a successor within the family - or want to avoid family disputes. So why look far afield when the obvious could be a solution? But the idea of finding a suitable candidate within your own company is initially dismissed as absurd. Once you've got over this, as an entrepreneur you have a thousand questions: "Who wants my company?", "What is it worth now?", "Passing on my life's work - how can that even work?" and "How do I identify a suitable successor?" For employees, taking over the company can be a desirable career prospect - and a good solution for entrepreneurs.

What are the advantages of an employee buy-out (EBO)?

Incidentally, this is the name given to internal succession when employees buy shares in the company in whole or in part and take over the management.

• Successors from the company often know the company very well
• They have experience in the industry
• They have good contacts with the workforce, customers, suppliers and business partners
• They know the previous company strategies
• They know the problems and blind spots of the owner
• You have a more objective view of the company's development opportunities
• There is already a basic trust between the future ex-entrepreneur and the successor
• The handover process can be planned for the long term
• Family disputes and differences of opinion are eliminated

The owner of the dance school is already a few steps ahead here. She has already found her successor. The situation is completely different in the middle of the process. A concept for how the handover can work needs to be drawn up very quickly. And this is where opinions differ. Especially when the employee of choice doesn't seem to have the traits of a "doer" at all, but still thinks and acts as an employee.

What constitutes leadership ability

Leading others requires certain skills and characteristics: A love of humanity, empathy, honesty, the ability to motivate, a sense of the common good, the ability to deal with conflict and make decisions, loyalty, knowledge of human nature, integrity.

After all, the supreme discipline of managers and entrepreneurs is to put together high-performance and innovative teams, to promote them, motivate them and inspire them. And to give them the opportunity to grow together, take off and deliver sensational results.

But what does it mean when the next career step is: boss?

Is it enough to succeed you if, for example, your master electroplater knows the chemical formulas? The right voltage and the dwell time in the baths? The suppliers? Good foundations have already been laid here.

The job description also states: "You carry out commercial tasks, manage employees and are also responsible for in-company training."

In addition to technical knowledge, a good dose of management experience, business know-how and, above all, the ability to lead a team are also important.

Here are some concrete suggestions on what further training from employee to manager should include:

• Learning to listen: to understand people, to read between the words, to find out what the other person is really trying to say.
• Training attentiveness: good employees are not a given in companies today and are retained in the company in the long term through a good working atmosphere and appreciation on the part of management.
• Be open to new ideas: Good impulses come from the workforce. Utilizing them and being open to change is what makes a good boss.
• Develop into a role model: This means working on your own personality, reflecting and being honest with yourself. This is about becoming a better version of yourself every day.