Effective Succession Planning for a family business

This case study is an excellent example of the importance of strong leadership skills and effective succession planning in fostering business success. Growing People results in Growing Business

About Panon Plastics Inc.

  • Panon Plastics Inc. is in the mold making and plastics injection industry. Highly specialized, they offer full service CAD, CAM, CNC, Mould Making, and Injection Moulding services to a variety of industries in Canada.

  • Highly successful, Panon Plastics Inc. was already committed to investing in their staff, developing their team and to a program of continuous improvement. Contributing to their track record of success, we identified a number of opportunities for our client – Tomas Suger, son of the Owner and Founder of Panon Plastics – to develop personally and professionally. Working together over the course of one year, we outlined improvement expectations and developed actionable plans& training modules for him to engage in. Further, we also identified the beneficial outcomes to the individual, his team and the company. Our customizable program modules were broken down into manageable chunks of time with clearly defined deliverables.

Executive Summary

Working together with Panon Plastics Inc. a manufacturing facility located in the GTA, we helped facilitate the smooth transition from a family run business entirely dependent upon the father who first opened its doors; to empowering employees to think critically, and enabling the leadership skills of the future management of the company. In the absence of a specific leadership program, we stepped up to offer a fully customized “next generation” leadership development program that resulted in an 23% increase in productivity across the board. Formerly disempowered employees assumed the mantle of responsibility and opportunities for new online business growth were identified.

Over the course of one year the organization was transformed to a future-readycompany, propelled by it’s people., well positioned to take on challenges in the fast-paced industry.

As part of our process we engaged Mr. Suger in one on one:

  • Skills training: Education, technical training and identifying a leadership mindset.
  • Implementation skills: Translating training into actionable behaviours, modifying and adapting as necessary.
  • Accountability Reviews: Discussions centered around opportunities to revise, document and discuss learning outcomes and strategies to ensure behaviour change has taken place and that continuous learning and plans for future development are also in place. 

Challenges

We were challenged to help Panon Plastics Inc.

  • Raise the bar on customer service
  • Address multigenerational concerns between owners and employees, encouraging Earned Trust.
  • Implement a strong Leadership Management Strategy addressing the lack of organizational structure
  • Encourage Strategic Thinking and Workplace Innovation at every level or the company empowering all employees to work as a team
  • Create a Culture of Accountability
  • Foster Mentorship as part of a successful succession planning process.
  • Improve Productivity and Efficiency – through delegating, training and  trusting employees

How M2M Business Solutions Helped

The path to leadership is linear. M2M conducted a pre-assessment, mid point and post training assessment for all candidates with a focus on these ten leadership core competencies:

  1. Drive for results. Through two leadership training modules per month and individual coaching, the leadership skills of Mr. Suger were improved, resulting in an overall growth and more than 70% of his time devoted to management and planning vs. problem solving on the production floor!
  2. Influence others through a more open, approachable communication style where employees were encouraged to share knowledge, ideas and innovative thinking in weekly team meetings.
  3. Encourage excellence by developing positive relationships and building a team of employees who are empowered.
  4. Increase employee retention by identifying strengths and weaknesses, training employees and involving them in the decision making processes.
  5. Foster innovation – in our example, online sales improved within just 05 months.
  6. Understanding the business by learning “from the ground up,” ensuring a solid succession planning strategy for Mr. Suger and for employees.
  7. Execute vision through improved communication between father and son, resulting in a measurable increase in productivity throughout the organization.
  8. Develop customer focus – customer retention went up by significantly following our training.
  9. Improved Efficiency. At the end of our program, Panon Plastics Inc. moved from a two8-hour shifts, five days a week to a four day week of 10-hour shifts. This change resulted in an overall savings of close to $4,000 per week!

Results

With M2M coaching; learned strategies were implemented, evaluated, tested and modified over the course of the 12-month program with an overall success rate that was specifically measurable.

Productivity increased by 23% and there was a 40% leap in improved employee morale.

Not only were Tomas Suger’s personal leadership skills improved, but potential leaders of the future were identified from within the employee team. With an almost immediate increase in online sales, and improved productivity, the end result for Panon Plastics Inc. was  a true, organic and highly profitable example of succession planning for their future success.