For many family-owned and small businesses, succession planning is about finding someone capable of taking over. Among the biggest considerations; do they understand the business, do they have the right experience, are they able to keep the ship steady and maintain relationships with customers and employees, and is their decision making financially and strategically sound.

But on top of this, there is another question businesses need to be asking: what problems will the next generation actually have to solve?

The challenges facing a business five or ten years from now may look very different from those that shaped its previous generation of leadership. A business may move from growth to consolidation, product development to product enhancement, face new competitors, adopt new technology, or need to rethink how it operates in its entirety.

The successor may be highly capable, but that does not necessarily mean they will approach those challenges in the same way as the leader before them.

Succession planning needs to look ahead

The way a business solves problems can become deeply embedded in its culture. When one leader has been at the centre of decision-making for years, “the way we do things” can become synonymous with “the way our leader solves problems”.

That can work well until the business encounters a problem that requires a different approach.

Kirton Adaptation-Innovation Theory (KAI) looks at how people prefer to approach problems and change, with individuals placed along a continuum from more adaptive to more innovative.

More adaptive problem-solvers tend to work within existing structures, improving established processes, and strengthening what already works. More innovative problem-solvers are often more comfortable challenging assumptions, redefining problems and exploring approaches outside established structures.

Neither approach is better. The important question is whether the business has the range of approaches it needs for the problems it faces ahead.

Different problems need different approaches

Consider a business moving into rapid growth. It may need greater consistency, stronger systems, and disciplined processes. An adaptive approach could be valuable in strengthening what already works.

Later, those same systems could become restrictive. New technology, changing customer expectations or increased competition might require the business to question established assumptions and consider a completely different approach.

The problem-solving demands have changed.

This is why succession planning should look beyond whether an individual can take over and consider what the organisation will need from its leadership team next.

KAI can help businesses understand individual problem-solving preferences and the cognitive diversity within their leadership and advisory teams. It is not a measure of intelligence, technical competence or personality, nor is it about finding a “perfect” profile for a successor.

Instead, it can highlight potential gaps and blind spots and help organisations consider whether they have the range of thinking needed for future challenges.

A business entering a new market, for example, may benefit from people willing to challenge assumptions and generate new possibilities. Once that strategy has been chosen, it may need people who can establish reliable processes and make the new approach work consistently.

The same business may need both approaches,  just at different stages. Understanding these differences in problem-solving style can also make disagreement more productive, rather than allowing different approaches to be viewed simply as resistance or disruption.

Build the leadership team around what's coming

This is particularly relevant during a leadership transition. If an outgoing leader and successor have very different problem-solving preferences, the change can affect organisational culture as well as strategy. Employees may experience a shift in how decisions are made, how much structure exists, and how willing the organisation is to accept challenges to established practices.

Recognising these differences before a transition allows businesses to prepare for them rather than discovering them after the new leader takes over.

For family businesses, long-standing relationships and shared history can create strong foundations, but they can also mean assumptions go unchallenged. Bringing different perspectives into the leadership or advisory team, including through external advisers where appropriate, can help prevent important decisions from being accepted simply because they are familiar.

Ultimately, succession planning should not just ask: who can take over the business?

It should ask: what problems will the business need to solve next, and does the next leadership team have the range of thinking required to solve them?

KAI cannot predict the future or identify the “right” successor. What it can do is provide a structured way to understand an important dimension of difference between people: how they prefer to solve problems.

The businesses that successfully navigate leadership transitions will be those that understand what the next chapter requires - and make sure their leadership has the capacity to meet it.

Gabrielle Ferguson is a Leadership Facilitator, Organisational Development specialist and KAI Practitioner, helping leaders and organisations strengthen communication, collaboration and leadership capacity.