Situation: The CEO of a small technical company is in the process of handing off responsibilities to a new President who lives in another state. The CEO and President have known each other for a long time and have a strong relationship. The CEO will hand off several key responsibilities immediately, while retaining financial and HR because of the President’s location. How do you transition to new management?
Advice from the CEOs:
- Most of the current hand-off plan concerns non-technical areas. The next logical area to delegate is Customer Support.
- Establish a trigger process for new requests for support that keeps key parties informed and meets customer needs on a timely basis.
- Think about bumping up Customer Support to a more proactive Customer Relations function. This is important during economic downturns when trade show attendance is low.
- Next in line are Installation and Installation Planning, since the new President will already have Installation Support.
- Think about Technical Support. This could be combined with Customer Support and makes sense because many customer support questions come through technical support.
- Beef up the financial function to support future growth. Growth brings new complexities into the picture. Consider handing this off to a part time professional who can provide regular updates of the company’s financials. A professional can also look at the structure of the books and suggest changes that will provide more insight into company operations, opportunities for savings, and sources of funding to support planned growth.
[like]
