Janine Vanderburg, CEO JVA Consulting

Last week, my husband and I helped move our daughter Jackie from the house in Tacoma, Washington, that has been her home for the last few years while she attended the University of Puget Sound. We’re doing what many of our boomer-age friends are doing these days—helping our kids launch into the next phase of their lives.

I watched as she and friends quickly carried boxes from the bungalow into the Uhaul attached to our Subaru, and she welcomed those moving in.

She smiled broadly as we stopped at the coffee shop a few blocks away, saying bye to the barista who one last time made Jackie’s favorite drink: an iced vanilla latte without the ice.

Then she and her former housemates hugged each other, took a last photo in front of the house, and we were off—Jackie still smiling broadly and asking: How long to San Diego?

I contrasted that with my last pack up and move endeavor, when my siblings packed up my parents’ house, the house we had “gone home to” with our children. It felt both painful and time consuming to sort through the items, and I was beyond morose as we drove away for the last time, although we knew and liked the people we had sold the house to—our former neighbors from across the street.

It occurred to me that there is a lesson here for all of us boomers who are thinking about succession planning in our organizations, be they nonprofit organizations or businesses.

In packing up her house, Jackie is saying goodbye to some terrific memories and also looking forward to her move to San Diego, where she is starting her post-college life. A new city, new apartment, new job and old/new friends beckon.

In developing a succession plan, if you’re entirely focused on the packing up and leaving, it is hard to do—so much of your identity has been involved with the organization and team you’ve built and grown, the causes you’ve fought for, the hard-earned gains for the communities you’ve served. How do you find the right leadership to take it on? How do you leave the organization in the right condition?

Suppose on the other hand that you looked at those questions while simultaneously defining what you were going to do next? Developed a plan for the next phase of your life while you’re working on the succession plan for your organization? So that while saying goodbye to one phase, you have something amazing to look towards next? Might it be easier to hand over the key to the next occupant?

Would love to hear your thoughts.

If you’d like to consider a new approach to succession planning—one that focuses equally on you and your organization’s next phase—contact us today. We’d be happy to chat with you.