A practical guide for owners of Swiss SMEs who want to build a solid succession plan and train tomorrow's key employees.
Sooner or later, every SME owner must face the issue of management continuity. A well-structured succession plan allows you to identify promising people early, prepare them gradually and reduce the risks linked to a sudden change at the top. It's not just about naming an heir or a new director, but about building a shared path that values internal skills and strengthens the organisation's stability over the medium and long term.
Why a succession plan protects your SME
Many small and medium Swiss businesses eventually face the departure of a key manager without having prepared anyone to replace them. This kind of gap can slow down ongoing projects, weaken relationships with clients and suppliers, and create uncertainty among employees.
A succession plan allows you to anticipate these scenarios, turning a potential crisis moment into a transition managed with method. It doesn't only concern general management: it can apply to department heads, project leaders or technical figures who are hard to replace quickly on the market.
Investing time in planning today means having room to manoeuvre tomorrow, avoiding rushed decisions when pressure is already high.
How to identify internal talent with leadership potential
The first step is to map the company's key positions and ask, for each one, who could fill it in case of a prolonged absence or permanent departure. This exercise helps bring out both the most critical roles and the people already partly ready to take on greater responsibilities.
Observe who spontaneously volunteers for cross-functional projects or coordination tasks Assess the ability to make autonomous decisions under pressure Gather the opinion of direct managers about employees with potential Also consider less visible profiles with solid technical skills Take into account the person's real motivation to grow within the company
It's important to avoid relying only on seniority or personal sympathy: a good succession plan is built on objective criteria, shared and periodically reviewed with management.
Building a structured succession plan
Once profiles with potential have been identified, intuitions need to be turned into a concrete path. This means defining stages, responsibilities and realistic timelines, avoiding leaving everything to improvisation.
Define at least one possible internal successor for each key role Identify which skills are still missing and how to fill them Progressively assign real, not just formal, responsibilities Schedule periodic review points on progress Plan a backup option in case the designated successor changes path
An effective succession plan is not a static document kept in a drawer, but a living tool that guides daily decisions on training, promotions and work organisation.
Training and supporting future managers
Identifying a potential successor is only the beginning. The most delicate phase concerns support: mentoring from the current role holder, progressive delegation of decision-making tasks, participation in strategic meetings even before holding the official title.
Internal mentoring, when practised consistently, allows the transfer not only of technical knowledge but also of company culture, relationships with long-standing clients and the way important decisions are made. This kind of informal transmission is often more valuable than any external training course.
It is also useful to expose future managers to real situations involving staff management, negotiation or problem-solving, to test their resilience before the handover becomes final.
The role of external recruitment in supporting succession
However, it's not always the case that someone ready to fill a key role within the required timeframe is already on staff. In these cases, it can be useful to combine the succession plan with a targeted external hire, choosing a person capable of temporarily supporting the outgoing owner or manager before taking on the role independently.
JobCourier supports Swiss companies precisely in these delicate moments, helping to identify candidates with the profile and professional maturity suited to supporting an already-started succession path. Posting a targeted ad on JobCourier allows you to reach people genuinely interested in a position of responsibility, reducing search time and widening the pool of available candidates compared to relying solely on internal contacts.
Combining internal growth with openness to the outside makes the succession plan more solid, because it doesn't depend on a single person or a single solution.
Monitoring and updating the plan over time
A succession plan should not be designed once and then forgotten. Priorities, people and the market context change, and the plan must evolve accordingly.
Periodically review the list of critical roles and possible successors Update the plan after any significant organisational change Gather feedback from employees involved in the growth path Check whether the skills developed still match actual needs
Keeping the plan updated prevents it from becoming an outdated document, and allows the owner to always have a clear view of who could support the company during transition phases.