Taking over from a successful leader is often more challenging than replacing a failed one

Straight-talking, common sense from the front line of management

Jurgen Klopp’s departure from Liverpool holds many questions for the club – chief of all, who will replace him? All the coverage has made me wonder how difficult succession can be in business. We can see from

Manchester United’s disastrous decade since Sir Alex Ferguson called it a day how badly wrong it can go. How can business get it right?

Liverpool face an unusual problem. Most football clubs look for a new manager to change their fortunes, avoid relegation and give disgruntled fans a winning team. The new appointment usually leads to sweeping changes, with the next manager bringing in a new back-room team. But the Liverpool board will want to find a manager who will enhance the culture of success that Klopp has established For he is a rare talent.

Managers of football clubs need a range of skills that extend well beyond the training ground and the dugout.

Fans judge them on results and how well they deal with the press and their talents must also include dealing with the board and handling routine management of the coaching staff and players in the dressing room.

It was never going to be easy to follow Sir Alex’s long spell at Manchester United. David Moyes came from Everton after a highly regarded 11-year stint, but faced higher expectations. Mid-table in the Premier League may have satisfied Everton fans, but 7th place was failure for the Old Trafford faithful. Moyes, unable to replicate the magic of his predecessor, was sacked after little more than a year.

The most seamless succession from one legendary manager to another happened at Liverpool when Bill Shankly handed over to his head coach, Bob Paisley. Paisley joined Liverpool as a player in 1940, so had 34 years of experience at the club before becoming the manager. In nine years he won 13 trophies including three European Cups and six Division 1 Championships. Paisley’s success shows the potential of an internal candidate who can naturally harness the culture of the club. I believe the same is true in business.

Most new chief executives are selected from candidates outside the organisation. This route was followed by Manchester United, who discovered that high achievers from elsewhere can find it difficult to adapt their successful formula to a new culture.

Even if Liverpool pick a highly rated manager from a Premiership or European club, they will be taking a

risk. The new boss will probably bring a new handpicked back-room team with their own ideas of how things should be run. Klopp’s tactics and culture could soon become a distant memory.

At Timpson, we only appoint outsiders to specialist roles, but only homegrown talent joins our field management team and I can’t imagine a new chief executive coming from outside. In the past, managers recruited from elsewhere struggled to take on board our upside down management culture. It is much better to promote colleagues who know, and believe in, our special company culture.

So, with us, succession planning starts whenever we appoint a new recruit. They have to have a positive personality and if they fail to learn our basic skills within four months or don’t win the respect of their immediate colleagues we help them find another

job somewhere else. We help new colleagues to progress on a clear career path from branch colleague to area manager and beyond.

We look for talent every step of the way, encouraging superstars to make rapid progress but being kind to those who are promoted into a job too far. There is no stigma in taking a step back to a previous role. Anyone can apply for one of our vacancies as long as they are on our payroll. It’s a tough process, an interview panel is convened to select candidates from assistant area manager and beyond.

We have been developing our team like this for more than 20 years, but during that time have yet to appoint a new chief executive. When the time comes, I am confident the successful candidate will already be working for our business.