Alice Frazier: Redefining Succession as Legacy

In my experience, community banks sell for one of the following reasons: Board succession has not been strategically planned, executive staff and leadership succession have not been strategically planned, or the market has taken a turn. Two of the three focus on preparing bank leaders for the future, making succession planning a critical component of a community bank’s long-term viability. 

But to do it well, succession planning takes work. It requires hard, transparent discussions with the board and executive staff. It relies on open conversations about retirement horizons, and it means the careful cultivation of the next generation of community bankers. 

A speaker at last year’s Independent Community Bankers Association of New Mexico annual meeting summed up this concept with a visual: the quarterback backup chart. It showed Patrick Mahomes, the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, and three different backup quarterbacks, along with what skills were necessary for them to cultivate to replace Mahomes.

Bank Leadership Legacy Development

It’s that level of transparency and thoughtful work that needs to go into succession planning for community banks. We need to equip our teams with the experiences they need to get to the next level. Succession planning is about investing in others, because what we invest in others is the legacy we leave our banks. 

When we redefine succession planning as creating a legacy in people, it changes how we view it. Our work in cultivating the next generation means that we are building our bench and preparing our backup quarterbacks to get in the game. It’s about being open and strategic in how we ensure the future is secured. 

The root word of succession is success, which explicitly tells us that it’s our job as leaders to ensure our banks continue to thrive. So, as you read this month’s issue and peruse the community bank leaders honored as our 40 Under 40 winners, consider ways you can empower your teams. Get them engaged with ICBA Advocacy activities. Expose them to the sessions offered by ICBA Innovation. Use ICBA Education to support career development planning. Each of these efforts helps to shore up the future of your bank through its people. 

At the end of the day, instead of thinking about succession planning as a chore, let’s look at it in the context of the legacies we’re leaving. Our job is to develop the people who make our banks flourish today and will ensure our legacy into the future.