At the 2023 NGFA Country Elevator Conference, succession planning was the hot topic. Everyone was talking about it – the panels, the hallway conversations, the concerns keeping leaders up at night.
I went back in 2025. Guess what was still the hot topic? Succession planning.
Same conversations. Same concerns. Same leaders still figuring out how to solve it.
Here’s why: everyone knows they need a succession plan. They know who they think should step into leadership roles. They might even have it written down somewhere.
If you’re serious about building leadership bench strength in your ag business, here are five questions that will tell you whether you have a real succession plan or just succession hope.
1. Have You Identified and Defined Your Key Roles Based on Where Your Business Is Going?
Be honest: Are you planning to replace the roles you have today, or are you defining the roles your business will actually need in the future? Just because someone held a title for 20 years doesn’t mean that exact role is what you need moving forward.
What to do instead:
- Start with your business strategy: Where is your business headed in the next 3-5 years? What will success require?
- Ask: “What leadership capabilities will we need to get there?” not “Who did what in the past?”
- Consider how the industry is changing: consolidation, technology, customer expectations, regulatory environment.
- Define roles based on future demands: Maybe you need less hands-on operational management and more strategic thinking. Maybe you need better customer relationship management. Maybe you need stronger financial acumen.
- Be willing to restructure: The org chart that got you here might not be the one that gets you where you’re going
Action step: This week, write down your top 3-5 strategic priorities for the next 3 years. Then list the leadership capabilities required to execute on those priorities. Do your current key roles align with those needs, or are you just planning to refill old positions?
2. Have You Identified Successors for Those Key Roles?
Can you name at least two potential successors for each critical leadership position? Not just the GM or general manager role – every key leadership position. If someone got hit by a bus tomorrow, do you know who could step in?
What to do instead:
- Identify each key leadership role in your organization.
- Identify at least one, ideally two, potential successors for each.
- Look beyond tenure – your best future leader might not be your longest-serving employee.
- If you can’t name two people, that role becomes your immediate development priority.
- Consider external hiring as a realistic backup option and know what you’d need to do to make that successful.
Action step: This week, create a simple chart listing each key leadership role and at least two names next to each. If you have blank spaces, you’ve found your gaps.
3. Do You Know What Those Named Individuals Actually Want?
Have you asked if they even want the role you have them pegged for? Maybe they love the technical work and have zero interest in managing people. Maybe they’re planning to leave in two years. Maybe they’re interested but terrified. You won’t know until you ask.
What to do instead:
- Have a direct conversation: “I see you as a potential successor for [role]. Is that something you’re interested in pursuing?”
- Define the role based on your planning in the previous steps, not based on who is currently in the role.
- Understand their hesitations and concerns – they’re usually legitimate and need addressing.
- Ask what they’d need to see, learn, or have in place to feel ready.
- Find out what motivates them – it might not be what you assume.
Action step: Schedule a conversation with each identified successor. Ask directly: “Are you interested in moving into a leadership role here? What would make that appealing or concerning for you?”
4. Have You Told Them Whether or Not You Think They’re Ready, and Why?
Even if they want the role, have you told them the truth about their current readiness? Are you avoiding the hard feedback because it’s uncomfortable? Do they think they’re ready when they’re not? Are you hoping they’ll just improve without knowing what to work on?
What to do instead:
- Be direct about current gaps: “Here’s what you’re doing well. Here’s specifically what needs to develop before you’re ready for this role.”
- Create transparency about the timeline: “If we’re on track, I see this happening in 18 months. Here’s what has to be true for that to happen.”
- Give concrete examples, not vague feedback: “You need to get more comfortable having difficult conversations. Here’s what I mean by that…”
- Check in regularly on their progress – not just operational performance, but leadership capability.
- Be honest with yourself: Is this person going to make it, or are you avoiding a difficult reality?
Action step: Give specific feedback this month on one leadership gap your successor needs to close, with clear examples of what “ready” looks like in that area.
5. Do You Have Development Plans in Place for Named Successors?
Is there a written plan with specific milestones, or are you just assuming they’ll figure it out through osmosis? That technical expert who’s great at agronomy or grain merchandising won’t magically know how to handle difficult conversations, make strategic decisions, or manage conflict just because they get a new title.
What to do instead:
Build individual development:
- Map out the specific leadership competencies they need: difficult conversations, strategic thinking, conflict management, team building
- Create a 12-18 month development roadmap with clear milestones
- Assign stretch projects that build these muscles while they still have support
- Give them exposure to strategic decisions now – invite them into budget reviews, strategic planning sessions, tough personnel decisions (as observers first)
- Debrief after key meetings: “What did you notice? What questions do you have? What would you have done differently?”
- Schedule monthly check-ins specifically focused on leadership development, separate from operational updates
Action step: When you identify a successor and know they are interested (because you asked), work with them to create their 90-day development plan this week. Include three specific leadership experiences they need, one system/infrastructure gap you need to fix, and monthly check-in dates.
One More Critical Piece: Technical vs. Leadership Transition
Don’t confuse these two things. You might be focused on who will carry the technical knowledge – the agronomy expertise, the market relationships, the operational know-how. But leadership capability is different.
Technical knowledge can be documented and transferred. Leadership capability must be built over time.
Ask yourself: “Who will people follow? Who will make the hard decisions? Who will build culture and grow others?” These might be different questions than “Who knows the most?”
Stop Hoping. Start Building.
Succession planning fails when you:
- Identify people but don’t develop them
- Develop people without building the infrastructure to support them
- Avoid the hard conversations about readiness and interest
- Assume your best technical person will automatically be your best leader
Your ag business is too important to leave succession to hope.
Go back through these five questions. Be brutally honest about where you are versus where you need to be. Then pick one action step and do it this week.
Your future leaders – and your business – are counting on you to do more than talk about it at the next conference.
Need help building a real succession plan that prepares both your people and your organization? That’s exactly what we do at People Spark Consulting. Let’s talk about what intentional leadership development looks like in your ag business.