Working to Replace Yourself: 4 Strategies to Creating a Legacy Business

By Dr. Nels Lindberg, Production Animal Consultation

If you are reading this, you are likely involved in or working in some sort of business. It could be a feedyard, ranch, backgrounder, or farming operation, or some combination of all of these. The business you are in is a living breathing thing. It has a life of its own that has ups and downs with good years and tough years. Just like your life, a business is either growing or dying, and there isn’t a lot in between.

Growing may not be rapid growth or even the slow accumulation of ground, cows, or bunk space. It may be that you have a mindset for growth and stewardship of your blessings. Each year you make decisions to ensure facilities are continually upgraded so that in 20 years you do not have a dilapidated, worn-out physical operation. We often think about the hard assets of the business and making sure they are operational for the future, but are we also thinking about the human capital operational future or legacy?

I would like to focus on the growth mindset of creating a legacy operation. To me it is, “How am I going to continue the legacy of this business, so it can go on past me when I am gone?” I hope you have the same mindset for your feedyard, farm, or ranch, because there are real, living, breathing people that depend on that operation to be there beyond you! A veterinary clinic is no different than any agriculture operation. When I bought a veterinary clinic in 2005, my goal was to grow it and ensure that it survived and thrived so it could provide best-in-class veterinary care for years beyond me. What I did not know at that point was truly what it would take and the sacrifices it would require of me to achieve my goal. Through trials and tribulations, failures and successes, I began and continue to learn the process of creating a legacy business.

The following are four strategies to replacing yourself and creating a legacy business. I have learned these strategies over many years as the practice grew and I spent less time at the practice from day to day. It has been a high-speed crash course in creating a legacy, and it could still fail but the pieces are in place. Only time will tell.

1. Creating a culture

Creating a culture of “It’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s about the business.” I remember the first time I said this in a meeting with our clinic team quite a few years ago. I wanted to convey to our team that what we were working towards was not for my personal benefit, but it was for the sustainability of the clinic. It was about deciding to change how we did things for the good of the clinic.

If we do not communicate to our team, they can routinely have the mindset of, “Well, that’s fine. I will do it, but he (or she) is just all about himself (or herself).” To end that line of thinking, just let your people know, “It’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s about the operation.” Doing this also begins to build a mindset that is less self-centered and more outward-centered. People begin to think less of what they think is best and instead ask, “What do we all think is best?”

2. Working to replace yourself

Working to replace yourself as you lead an operation will be difficult in the beginning, as you must first understand your role. Over time, you get pretty good at what you are doing by making enough mistakes. You begin to understand how the different seasons go, the ebbs and flows, and the do’s and don’ts of your operation. Your mindset will move from being reactive to anticipating. Then as time goes on, you can share that with your team to help them anticipate what is coming next.

Over time, we often get comfortable, as we love the work we do, we like that we have full control, our souls are fulfilled, and so we don’t look beyond that. However, if we are to create a legacy business, we must be able to humbly look forward and let our ego go to work to replace ourselves. Letting go of the control and letting go of our ego, my friends, is the toughest part of the process. If we do not do it, we are writing a recipe for some sort of failure or at least limiting the full capacity of success that could be seen after we are gone. We have to be looking to replace ourselves and grooming the next person in line, similar to the “next man up” mentality of any successful football team.

3. Intentionally turning the reins over

Intentionally turning the reins over to our successor is the next step. This isn’t a one-time grand event, where you say, “Now it’s yours. You’ve been named the leader. Take it and run!” Successfully turning over the reins is a methodical process that can take years. You may not have years, but for best long-term sustainable outcomes, years is best. You led an operation for 10, 20, or 30 years, and you cannot expect to pass over all that knowledge on in a month, 6 months, or even a year. Your knowledge was built up over decades, through repeated seasonal events and screw-ups, and then more screw-ups.

The true goal is to take a person that meets your behavioral value set, personal code of conduct, and core values, and coach them into a legacy leader over time. Metaphorically, we start by showing them how to brush the horse before saddling the horse. As more time passes, we show them how to successfully pad the horse, saddle the horse, ride the horse, and so on. You get the picture. It is a process of slowly but surely giving them more responsibility and decision-making authority. We coach them every step of the way, talking to them and asking them, “What do you think?” We ask them to be patient, humble, and respectful and to ask us the same question, “What do you think?”

Our biggest challenge in this process, as the leader, is letting go of the control and letting go of our ego. We have been successful at what we have done so we sometimes think “I don’t need their input!” or We know what we are doing!” or “They just need to do what they are told and stop asking questions!”. But we must remember they have great ideas, and some of them may be better than ours! The key is for both parties to be open minded, able to communicate through difficult or crucial decisions, and focused on doing what is best for the operation rather than fulfilling personal agendas, ideas, or biases.

The biggest challenge for the “next man up” is patience and respect. They must relax and be patient in the long process because replacing a leader takes time. It is an emotional journey for the leader because they are “giving up their baby”. They can show respect by asking the leader, “What do you think?” when they face difficult decisions or new challenges.

Ultimately, successful transitions require the leader to lose their ego and be willing to give up pieces of control over time and the successor to be patient and respectful by routinely asking the leader for their thoughts and input.

4. Being an advisor

Being an advisor is the final step after you have accomplished the prior steps in this journey. By this point in the process of replacing yourself, you have done your homework, you have done the work, and you can be 100% absent. The operation not only goes on successfully but often more successfully than when you were in charge! The reins have been completely handed over and the operation is running like they are competing at the Kentucky Derby. You are simply the cheerleader, the consultant, or the chair of the board. Your job is to be there some, sit back and absorb what is going on (sometimes up close, sometimes from a distance), offer advice as you see big waves coming, be counsel when called upon, give crucial advice if you see it is needed, and be the cheerleader.

This article does not do this whole process justice but provides a glimpse into an area of opportunity I see for many operations and businesses. As I went through this process of replacing myself at my clinic, I made a lot of mistakes and experienced a wide range of emotions. Throughout the process, I continued to reflect on and then verbalize it.

Again, the toughest challenge for a leader replacing himself or herself is giving up the ego and the control. This can eat a person alive, but if you truly have the mindset of creating a legacy operation that goes on after you are gone, you must do this over time. We can all think of operations that did not do this and did not survive. This is a brutal question, but is that what you want? I don’t think so! If it is not what you want, then please take these steps! If you want to dig more into the process, please reach out to me. I would be glad to help you because we need your operation to be a legacy operation!

Dr. Nels Lindberg is a people coach, team coach, business coach, and keynote speaker, all virtually or in person. If you have any interest in these opportunities, please reach out to his office at 620-792-1265 and visit with his right-hand lady, Jill.