Do you need a perpetuation plan?

I am not much of a gambling man, but if I had to place a bet on Peyton Manning's future, I would be pretty confident that he will be retiring after winning his second Super Bowl ring.  The wave captured in this picture says to me it is a goodbye or final curtain call for his great NFL career.

Now in regular business life, one seldom gets a chance to casually wave goodbye, take a few days off to contemplate a decision, and then finally come out with an announcement of resignation or retirement.  So as a company with many employees and moving parts, what can you do to prepare for a workforce that may have a contingent of employees that could walk out your door one day and never come back?

The first thing you should do is review the demographics of your team.  Do you have anyone that is a key employee that could be approaching retirement in the next 5-7 years?  Do you have a great training program that attracts young employees, only to see them leave after a short tenure?  Do you have any pending management changes that could impact shifting of employees to a new team and possibly create some turnover?  By simply answering these questions honestly and assessing the situation, you might be able to at least predict when some of the changes occur and try to stay ahead of them.

The second thing you need to do is have honest conversations with anyone who might fit into a category of a departing employee for any reason.  If someone is approaching retirement, begin asking early what the plan may be.  It will benefit all parties involved.  Or if you sense someone might be looking for another job, see if you can determine what their motivation is to leave.  Maybe you can put together a plan to keep them.  Or if you do believe you might lose a valued employee, you will be able to plan for replacement.  Sometimes it has nothing to do with job satisfaction.  Someone may need to move back home for personal reasons.  Someone may have a health issue that prevents them from doing their job duties.  Maybe someone wants to pursue an additional degree and take a few years off from work.  I've seen many reasons why people leave over the years, and the more you can do to see them coming, the better prepared you will be with a perpetuation plan.

Lastly, you should ALWAYS plan on some turnover, regardless of the reason.  My best clients ALWAYS want to know about good talent when it becomes available.  To build a winning team, you always need to be looking for that next good employee.  When the Broncos lost their last Super Bowl, John Elway went out to find some good defensive players to complement what they already had.  Most casual fans thought they had a pretty solid defense already, but John was looking for that next piece that could possibly fit.  I bet he spoke to dozens of players, agents, GMs, and more to find that key piece or two that propelled them to this last Super Bowl victory.

The bottom line is that your competition is likely thinking about their perpetuation plan.  If you wait until it is too late and someone leaves, you are already behind the eight ball and it could delay growth, create too much of a sense of urgency that leads to a bad hire, or even indecision where you do nothing and it creates more pressure, stress, and workload for the rest of your team.  As John Elway did before, I guarantee you already this morning, a few hours removed from celebrating a Super Bowl victory, he is reviewing notes on available QBs for next year and creating a perpetuation plan for if, and more likely, when Peyton Manning announces his retirement.