What is Succession Planning? Early on after I launched SPL Consulting, LLC., I often heard clients say they had “never heard of” or “thought about” Succession Planning. It is singularly one of the most critical efforts necessary to ensure a successful transition from current to future leadership. Statistically, only 30% of family-owned businesses survive the first transition, and only 12% survive the third.

 

The effects of not planning for succession are not limited to family-owned businesses but are ever-present in publicly held businesses as well. The failed outcome doesn’t result in closure rates as high as family, but the impact is deeply felt, very similar to family businesses. Without planning, direction of the business, culture, and undue stress are often trickle-down effects resulting from a different leadership approach compared to the current.

 

SPL was working with a non-family-run business on Lean initiatives (not succession) when the CEO announced retirement. They hired a person who checked all the boxes of financial acumen and proven leadership success. It was pretty evident early on that his behavioral style was more abrupt and autocratic than the previous, long-tenured CEO, and it was creating uncertainty for team members. It led to early retirement of a key leader, and two other aspiring middle managers left the company. This all occurred in the first few months and led to the termination of the new CEO within six months.

 

SPL is currently working with another privately held business covering Strategic and Succession Planning, Lean Enterprise, and Talent Development. We have been actively executing a plan to identify and develop a leader from within to take on the role of CEO by mid-2028. There were two senior leaders the CEO felt could be his replacement, and we embarked on the evaluation and development process. As I worked with them, some concerns began to arise. The VP of Sales was absorbing and acting on the coaching direction I was providing, but two things became obvious as we worked together. First, he didn’t really like managing people, and second, he lacked the visionary and strategic perspective necessary to lead the company in the future. The CEO recognized that although he is very successful in his current role, he is not what is needed from the future CEO.

 

The second potential was the Director of Manufacturing. He was very intelligent and successful as a hands-on department manager before being promoted to Director. This role required more leading and less “doing” to be successful. As part of the process, we conducted a 360-degree review and uncovered constructive feedback that he was micromanaging, and he would listen to input from others but ultimately stick with his plan. He reacted negatively to this feedback and didn’t believe it was accurate or indicative of how his style. Through the process, we also discovered that although his decision making in the moment was strong, his weakness in bigger picture strategic decision making was not consistent. As such, it was determined he was not a strong candidate to succeed the current CEO.

 

All was not lost. As I work with clients, I am always on the lookout for team members with that special “something” that exists with good leaders. As I continued to work with them, I recognized potential in another member of the leadership team that had not really been considered. For those of you who have read the book Good to Great by Jim Collins, I saw potential Level 5 Leadership (I won’t expand on this concept here) in their CFO. He had never managed more than a couple of people and had limited exposure beyond the accounting side of the business. But through participating in the Strategic Planning Process and a number of Kaizen events, I saw his leadership capability. He is now the leader we are focusing on developing as the future CEO. We have expanded his role to include managing project management and continuing to expose him to other facets of the business.

 

What does all this teach us? Not planning for how to smoothly transition to the next leader often delivers less than desirable, if not catastrophic, results. It also leads us to recognize that successful performance in a current role with an internal candidate or past success from an outside person does not always mean they fit the culture or have the capability to lead at the next level. Although I didn’t reference a specific example of a family-owned to family member case study, allowing the next generation family member to assume the senior role based on their last name, without truly assessing their competency necessary for that role, is what ultimately drives the 70% failure statistic I began this article with.

 

Referencing Good to Great and the window and the mirror again, if this prompts you to pause and consider where your Succession Planning may benefit from further discussion, let’s plan to meet.

 

Brian Van de Water
CEO
SPL Consulting, LLC.
brian@splconsultingllc.com

Nicholas Ritchie, Recruiter, The Workplace Advisors

 

The interview may seem like an informal chat, a way to get to know each candidate beyond their résumé. And to some extent, it is. But it is also one of the most high-risk, compliance-sensitive phases of the hiring process. A single poorly worded question can create significant legal exposure for the organization.

Often, these questions arise from good intentions in an attempt to build rapport, keep the conversation relaxed, or ease a candidate’s nervousness. But when casual conversation drifts into personal territory, it can quickly touch on characteristics that are legally protected and unrelated to the role.

 

The Legal Landscape

 

A wide range of federal, state, and local laws dictate what employers may ask during the hiring process. Taken together, they protect candidates from questions that could reveal, or that appear designed to reveal personal characteristics unrelated to job performance. At the federal level, protected categories include race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, and military or veteran status, among others. State and local laws often expand these protections, covering areas such as criminal history, salary history, and additional categories that vary by jurisdiction.

 

Interview questions must never directly or indirectly probe into these areas. Even questions that seem casual or well intentioned: those about a candidate’s family, hometown, or personal beliefs, can overlap with protected categories and be interpreted as evidence of discriminatory intent.

 

The clearest rule: if a question does not directly relate to a candidate’s ability to perform the essential functions of the role, it should not be asked.

 

Disability and Medical Inquiries: Prior to a conditional offer, employers may not ask about a candidate’s disability or medical history, even when a condition is visible. Interviewers should describe the essential functions of the job and ask whether the candidate can perform them, with or without reasonable accommodation. After a conditional offer has been made, disability-related questions and medical exams are permitted, provided they are applied consistently to all candidates in the same job category. Once employment begins, such inquiries are permitted only when job-related and consistent with business necessity. Employers are also prohibited from asking about genetic information or family medical history, including mental health history or genetic testing. If the question is not relevant to the job, it isn’t a question that belongs in the interview.

 

Common Mistakes

 

Most compliance violations in interviews don’t come from bad intent. Instead, they come from bad habits and patterns that create risk. These include:

 

• Rapport-building that goes too far. Asking “Where are you from originally?” or “Do you have kids?” feels friendly, but both questions touch protected categories.
• Assumptions based on appearance. Commenting on or asking about a visible condition, accent, apparent age, or physical trait, even with good intentions, can be interpreted as discriminatory.
• Engaging with volunteered personal information. When a candidate shares personal details unprompted, interviewers sometimes ask follow up questions that can compound the exposure. Acknowledge and redirect.
• Off-script small talk. Unstructured time before or after the formal interview is where many violations occur. Legal exposure doesn’t pause because the formal interview hasn’t yet started.

 

Questions to Avoid and What to Ask Instead

 

Any question that could reveal a protected characteristic, directly or indirectly, should not be asked. The most common problem categories and permitted alternatives follow.

 

Avoid:

 

• Age, year of graduation, or retirement plans
• Marital status, family plans, or living arrangements
• National origin, ancestry, race, or anything that implies where someone’s family is from
• Religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation
• Physical traits, medical history, disability status, or workers’ compensation
• Substance use habits, union membership, or military veteran status/discharge type

 

When presented appropriately, you can ask:

 

• What is your name?
• What is your address?
• Are there any factors that would make it difficult for you to work the required schedule?
• What educational institutions did you attend, and what degrees or certifications did you earn? (Avoid asking for dates of completion.)
• Are you legally authorized to work in the United States?
• What languages are you fluent in (speaking, reading, and writing)?
• Are you able to perform the essential functions of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation?
• Are you over 18 years of age?
• Are you a military veteran?
• What military skills or experience are you able to bring to this position?
• This position requires a security clearance and/or a clean criminal background. Do you anticipate any issues meeting this requirement?

 

Building a Solid Interview Process

 

Start with structure: A structured interview, one where every candidate is asked the same predetermined, job-relevant questions in the same order, is an extremely effective tool for keeping the process both compliant and defensible. When interviewers go off script, risk and exposure go up. When they follow a consistent format, it becomes much easier to compare candidates fairly, support hiring decisions, and demonstrate that the process was free from bias.

Use Behavioral Questions: Behavioral questions anchor the conversation to job performance rather than personal characteristics. Past behavior is the best available predictor of future performance. Possible behavioral prompts include:

 

• “Tell me about a time you had to manage competing deadlines.”
• “Describe a situation where you had to resolve a difficult customer issue.”
• “Give an example of how you handled a challenge while working as part of a team.”

 

This approach also reduces unconscious bias: when every candidate answers the same questions, evaluators are comparing performance on a level playing field rather than reacting to personal impressions.

 

The Rule of Thirds: This candidate evaluation framework weighs three inputs equally: experience and background, behavioral assessment data, and soft skills; how the candidate communicates, fits within the team, and shows up in the room.

 

The Role of Assessments: Behavioral assessments are not a replacement for an interview; they are a validation tool. When used alongside structured interviews, assessments help confirm what you’re observing in conversation, surface patterns that a single conversation might miss, and reduce the risk of decisions driven by first impressions. The interview is one data point and the assessment is another. Together, they provide a more thorough and more defensible picture of the candidate.

 

The Goal: A Process Worth Defending

Compliance and candidate quality are not mutually exclusive; they reinforce each other. An interview process built on consistent, job-relevant questions, behavioral prompts, and objective evaluation tools is not just legally defensible. It is also more likely to uncover the right candidate.

 

The organizations that get this right don’t simply avoid bad questions. They build a process so clear and well-structured that good questions are the only ones anyone thinks to ask.

 

Their knowledge doesn’t stop here. Click to explore more about The Workplace Advisors.

By: Brian Van de Water, CEO, SPL Consulting

 

A significant part of exit planning includes developing internal talent for a seamless transition along with capitalizing on valuation improvement opportunities sooner before you sell. In a recent M&A Conference I spoke at, it highlighted four equity firms evaluation of the same business and factors determining whether they prepared an offer.  This year all four declined to pursue a deal. Two important themes were mentioned that ultimately drove their decisions to walk away. First, the deal was significantly hampered by senior leadership (multiple) planning to exit upon the sale without a clear line to next-generation leadership. This left an insurmountable gap for risk of continuity. The second was future opportunities the seller said were there for buyer upside. A sentiment of skepticism was shared by the sharks; “If they knew the opportunity was there, why didn’t they do it?”  These two key concerns prevented the sale and resulted in a much lower valuation than the sellers thought their business was worth.

 

One of SPL Consulting, LLC’s clients had not given serious thought to succession planning.  In fact, during the initial Assessment, we uncovered their daughter, Lindsey, who they assumed would take over the business, didn’t think she wanted to run it! The CEO, Karen, shared that “Through SPL’s Strategic Business Assessment System we created the development path for key members of the team and achieved vast improvement.  Kevin is now the Director of Operations partnering with Lindsey, and between the two they oversee nearly every aspect of the business.” Karen also stated “SPL’s process showed us a way to look at each area of our business.  We reviewed section by section what was working and what wasn’t. Lasting improvement was made by implementing the Strategic Plan. Not only did Brian help us create our plan, but he taught us how to instill a culture of discipline to follow through and execute.”  This preparation, should they decide to sell, ensures continuity of leadership will not be a reason a buyer steps away.

 

About the second concern the equity firms shared, SPL Consulting, LLC’s experience has found most companies know where they are lacking in many instances, but just don’t have methodologies, know-how or resources to manage the change effort and sustain it.  One of our clients shared “We knew we had issues and what the big problems were, we just didn’t know how to go about making the change. We had a culture of frustration and spinning our wheels.  We were good at identifying problem areas, talking about them, and not being able to improve them. SPL brought the “how” to do it. This included not only how to implement change but also gave us processes to drive follow-up and verify plans were working and being followed.  Most importantly, he showed us how to hold ourselves accountable for execution.”

 

SPL was honored to speak at this conference on the topic of using a lean concept called the Waste Walk as a foundational methodology to help companies “see” wasted time, motion, waiting, etc. The concept is to physically go into your business to observe and watch for the 8 lean wastes.  I use this tool as part of every Lean Leadership Training we conduct. On average in a 30-minute observation, we observe 25 wastes.  The COO was so moved by a waste he observed during the Waste Walk, that after the training he immediately went back to the work area to help eliminate the waste.  This process is now something that all of their leaders regularly do as a requirement of their jobs. These observations shed light on the hidden profit being lost in your business every day.

SPL Consulting, LLC. has the experience and methodology to help your company navigate these challenges. Whether succession planning in preparation to sell or maintain privately, developing true Strategic Action Plans, helping build a culture of execution, or identifying how you can capture improvements to drive up your own valuation and profits, we can be the partner you need. Be your own hero and begin your journey to increased valuation and explore the possibilities!

By: Paige McAllister, Vice President of Compliance, The Workplace Advisors

 

First, a quick disclaimer: I am an HR professional, not an IT expert. When it comes to the technical aspects of your computer infrastructure, including integrating AI, please consult with people knowledgeable with that technology and who you trust to help you determine what is right for you.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere, whether you want it to be or not. In the short time AI has been part of the public domain, its uses and access have increased exponentially. A large number of software programs and platforms automatically offer their users some sort of AI assistance. During the course of writing this article, my email offered to draft my reply to the request to write it, my internet browser summarized its findings from my search inquiry before listing some of the links for me to read myself, and my word processing program offered to draft the whole article for me based on whatever prompts I entered in (good news, bad news – I opted to write it all myself). All of this was available to me without my downloading or accessing any AI-specific programs; these functions are just part of the programs I have been using for years.

 

Since the issue is no longer if you want AI to be part of your day, you need to assess when and how the people in your company will use it. In most cases, AI does not replace people. Instead, when done right, AI allows employees to work smarter by eliminating mindless, repetitive tasks and improving their performance by supporting them with their job tasks.

 

AI can be used in management, operations, finance, IT, HR, marketing, administration, research, etc. There are very few jobs that could not recognize a benefit from using AI. Therefore, I recommend every company include an initiative in their 2026 planning to explore AI implementation and usage.

 

However, it is critical to realize AI’s limitations and know it is just one tool in your toolbox. For example, we have researched and experimented with how AI can help with various HR functions, including drafting a handbook, doing research, and screening candidates, with the following results:

 

• Handbooks – After entering specific criteria, we use them to develop handbooks. The AI-developed handbook did not include all recommended policies or required state laws and was written in a way that would be hard for many employees to understand.
• Research – While gathering information on a topic, the AI-generated summary conflicted with the actual state law, even though it provided it as a reference.
• Screening – After inputting a job description, the results of the AI-based screening of applicants eliminated some very qualified candidates and included some that did not meet the basic criteria. Additionally, when used to select candidates, any AI tool must be properly vetted and tested to ensure it is not generating discriminatory results.

 

How to use AI: Here are just a few of the unlimited examples of how AI can help your employees (and therefore your company) perform better.

 

Productivity: Help employees use their work time more constructively, freeing them up to focus on more strategic and profitable responsibilities.

• Task management – Pull action items from emails, virtual meetings and recorded meetings and track their progress.
• Time management – Plan the time it takes to complete tasks or projects while planning an optimized workday to get everything done.
• Team coordination – Develop team boards for better collaboration and communication.

Caution: Every employee has different ways they work so make sure all tools support, not restrict, how they work best.

 

Writing: Help employees, especially those having issues, draft better communication.

• Save time – Create an initial draft using basic information and parameters.
• Improve readability – Polish up an employee’s first draft and make it suitable for the target audience.
• Correct grammar – Clean up tricky formatting such as citations to avoid plagiarism.

Caution: Be sure to review and refine any AI-drafted communication to ensure it is accurate, on message, and has a personal tone and style.

 

Research: Help employees find improved topics and sources and to better understand the content.

• Brainstorming – Generate new ideas and refine topics from broad concepts to determine your next course of action.
• Find more sources – Find different and more on-target resources for material.
• Analysis – Have complex documents summarized or specific information extracted to match topic.

Caution: Verify all sources before relying on the information and be sure all references are properly cited.

 

How to get started: Regardless of how you plan to use AI in your company, you should include the following steps in your implementation plan.

• Determine how you want or may want AI used to meet the needs of applicable departments, positions, and/or employees.
• Designate a person or, preferably, a team with IT, operational, legal, and financial responsibilities to investigate valid options which will perform the tasks needed at the budgeted price without compromising network security.
• Research the laws and regulations in your state, if applicable, to ensure you are using AI properly and compliantly. More states are passing such legislation so stay up-to-date on any changes.
• Ensure your options protect the confidentiality of private and proprietary information.

• Assess the skill and aptitude of the individuals who will be using AI to ensure they can use the selected tools. DO NOT make assumptions based on protected groups (i.e., age, gender, national origin, disability) as to who will and will not be able to use AI effectively.

• Explain what AI is meant to do (i.e., save time by reducing repetitive tasks) and not do (i.e., replace your human capital).
• Find opportunities to train employees in how they can and are expected to use AI in their jobs and then have them relay what they learn to others.
• Encourage employees to safely experiment with AI to find other ways to improve productivity, clarity, profitability, etc.

 

How to protect yourself: When implementing a new structure in the workplace, especially an emerging technology, it is critical to create a solid foundation which includes the following:

• Until you have a defined company-approved usage, issue a clear policy to all employees prohibiting them to use AI without specific management approval.
• Set guidelines for what tools can and cannot be used and who can use them for what tasks.
• Draft and publish policies and procedures covering tools that are and are not selected by the company.

• Monitor employee use and consistently enforce your policies to ensure proper usage but, more importantly, to ensure confidentiality is not violated.
• Experiment safely using a well-trained group to determine what works before rolling out to everyone.
• Keep communication open so employees know they can ask questions.
• Reassure employees that AI is being used as a tool to enhance their performance, not to replace them.
• Keep your other protocols since AI is not perfect – check for mistakes, do your own research, proofread the document, and ensure message is what you want and tone is personal/not artificial.

 

While AI can seem intimidating, every company needs to accept that AI is impacting every aspect of our lives in some way. Companies that refuse to address how AI can help them will be outpaced by their competitors who do.

 

The Workplace Advisors can help you move from AI curiosity to AI clarity. We offer a customizable “Use of AI” policy template to help you set guardrails, protect your organization, and give employees clear guidance. Email us at hello@theworkplaceadvisors.com to request a copy.

 

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