Our VP of Operations plans to retire at the same time I exit, and the two of us hold all major operational decisions. How do we decentralize that operational authority across the rest of the leadership team over a three-year runway?
When both the owner and a key operational leader plan to walk out the door together, buyers see catastrophic execution risk. They do not just discount your multiple; they restructure the entire deal into an earn-out or walk away entirely. You cannot fix this six months before market. You need a deliberate multi-year delegation runway.
Start by opening your Accountability Chart. Map every seat, role, and process currently owned by your VP of Operations. In most companies, this leader is quietly occupying three distinct functional seats: supply chain oversight, quality control, and people management. You must unbundle those responsibilities into separate, well-defined seats with clear five-role descriptions.
Next, evaluate your existing tier-two managers using GWC: do they Get it, Want it, and have the Capacity to do it? If you have internal talent that fits the seats, begin handing off functional ownership through quarterly Rocks. If not, make recruiting replacements your top strategic Rock for the upcoming year.
Do not transfer everything overnight. Use a three-stage handoff across your remaining runway. In year one, the successor shadows and documents the core processes. In year two, the successor runs the seat while your VP of Operations mentors and observes during weekly Level 10 Meetings. In year three, your VP steps completely out of the operational line and serves purely as an internal advisor.
By the time you open your virtual data room, your leadership team must demonstrate four consecutive quarters of hitting measurable Scorecard goals without you or your VP intervening in daily issues. When prospective buyers interview your managers and realize the company hits its numbers independently, key-person risk vanishes and your enterprise value stays intact.
Category: Exit Planning