How does a company successfully transition from one generation to the next? For many teams, just the term “succession planning” can be overwhelming. All the details of buying/selling and ownership transition are daunting, but beyond all that is one question plaguing business owners: "Even if we had all the legal details worked out, how does my business practically transition to the new ownership so that I can step away?"

Here’s the story of one team that successfully transitioned to new ownership within the EOS Process™.

One of my favorite Gino Wickman quotations describes the goal of strengthening the Process Component™ in an entrepreneurial company. According to Gino, you must “systemize the predictable so you can humanize the exceptional.”

Breaking that quotation down gets right to the heart of why strengthening the Process Component is so important, and why it’s different in an entrepreneurial company than it might be in a big corporation. If you’re implementing EOS^® right now and you’ve been less than enthusiastic about strengthening the Process Component, I think it might also re-energize you.

In his book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, Marshall Goldsmith points out that the fundamental beliefs that drive our success can also make us resistant to change. We overestimate our contributions and sometimes take credit for things that others have accomplished while often ignoring our own shortcomings. These delusions are the result of success, not failure.

During a recent Annual Planning season, one of my clients was moved to tears while reflecting on the past year. He was recounting a “personal great,” and filled with pride for his daughter while sharing a few of her significant accomplishments. He struggled to finish the story, and ultimately needed to take a short break to compose himself. Throughout this touching, heartfelt moment, he kept apologizing to his team for being so emotional.

A few years ago, one of my clients was planning to step down as CEO within a couple of years and wanted to appoint his successor from inside the company. What made this tricky was that there wasn't a single, obvious candidate. Recognizing that whomever he chose would need some time to grow into the role, he wanted to get an early start. The first step was finding out who was interested and how the rest of the team felt about them.

Rather than bury this issue in a series of secretive one-on-one conversations, he asked his team a simple question: “Who among you is interested in becoming our next CEO?” Three hands went up. What happened next was remarkable.