Run your firms along business lines - Ace Ankomah urges professionals
Sucession is the most critical issue for any professional services firm, whether an accounting firm, law firm, audit firm, medical practice, as a going concern . Succession planning brings a host of tricky issues as partners in these firms begin to age, resign or retire.
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The first question for any professional services firm when it comes to defining their future; do the current business owners want to leave a legacy or do they want their practice to last more than a single generation?
Succession for professional service firms is inherently difficult and the reality is that most thriving practices depend on a handful of dynamic professionals who generate the clients that make them succeed.
In order for firms to still boast of dynamic professionals who will still generate clients and make the firm continue to succeed in the long-term, it is very necessary for an effective succession planning strategy to be in place.
It is for this reason why the Springboard, Your Virtual University, a radio programme on Joy Fm, used this week’s edition to educate firms on how to put in place an effective succession planning strategy.
The show which is hosted by Rev Albert Ocran, had legal practitioner, Mr Ace Ankomah who spoke on the topic “Succession planning guide for professional practices.”
Mr Ankomah urged professional firms to run their professions along business lines if they want the firms to survive even after death.
“You can say to yourself that ‘I don’t want my law practice to survive after death’, it’s a choice so the day you die then your practice folds up, but if you want to leave a legacy, if you want your name to live beyond your life, then you must begin to run that profession along business lines and one of the things you surely must do is to plan for succession,” he stated.
“We must plan well for succession and not die with our practices,” he added.
He said succession planning was beneficial to any firm or the profession even if the succession never took place.
“This is because of the empowerment it gives to people and the building of the structures that will outlive the human beings,” he noted.
“If we do not do that then we personalise the business around one person, once the person leaves in whichever way, either through retirement, resignation or force departure, the business suffers because there have been no plans to fill in the gap,” he added.
How important is succession planning
Underscoring the importance succession planning to every professional firm, Mr Ankomah said “many do not even want to discuss it but the future is unpredictable for all businesses and professions and one thing we are sure of is that every one of your partners will eventually leave. No partner stays forever.”
“Ideally, they may retire after long successful careers but some departures bring surprises because they don’t give any notices and it comes with certain implications. The best thing to do to prepare for such shocks is to have a succession plan in place,” he mentioned.
“If you haven’t prepared for it then it means you have prepared for it to fail. If you do succession planning ahead of time, you begin to empower people who will the successors, you begin to train them until they get into the role and by the time they get into the role they would have acquired certain experiences and skills because you focused on them and have groomed them for the position,” he pointed out.
He said succession planning helped the firm to add value to the people who were working in it “so the succession might not happen in the next 20 years but you have somebody who is being trained and prepared to take care of it.”
“It has to be structured, it’s about structures, it’s about order, it’s about having a structure that exist and that can operate even when the human persons are not there,” he said.
“If you have succession at the back of your mind you must put in place the structures now,” he added.
Festival of ideas
The programme was part of the build up to the “Festival of Ideas” conference which comes off on August 17, under the theme “Succession planning.”
Rev Albert Ocran pointed out that the morning session of the conference would bring together prospective Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), middle managers, those who plan and project or aspire to become CEOs in the next decade.
He said these individuals would be groomed as the conference seeks to put in place the building blocks they would need to assume these positions.
Some CEOs who will be speaking at the conference include the CEO of Enterprise Group, Mr Keli Gadzekpo who will speak on corporate governance and board relations, the Managing Director (MD) of Airtel Ghana, Mrs Lucy Quist will talk about corporate communications and media relations, the MD of Fidelity Bank, Mr Jim will talk about ideas and innovations as growth pillars, while Mr Ace Ankomah talks about succession planning guide for professional practices.
Others include the CEO of Capital Bank, Rev Fitzgerald Odonkor, who will talk about developing the leader in you, the CEO of Reroy Cables Mrs Kate Quartey Papafio will also talk about versatility and adaptability as assets of a leader, the CEO of Rancard will talk about leveraging technology and smart solutions and Mr Moses K Baiden will talk about leadership decision making and risk management. — GB