Human Resources

GEAPS Exchange 2025: Three Steps to Succession Planning Success

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Speaker: Erin Mies

Session Description

The numbers are shocking (and a bit scary). Many clients and agribusiness leaders are sharing their concerns about the percentage of their employee populations that are eligible for retirement in the next five years. In some cases, 1/3 of their leaders may retire. With the number of long-term employees with the deep expertise in the business, it’s hard to think about how to replace them.

In this session we will discuss 3 steps to take as you lead your organization to transition from the past and focus on the future. The steps include:

• How to address a legacy employee who may not be ready to retire, may not performing at the level needed, or has not shared their retirement plans with you (when you want to honor the employee AND make plans for the future).

• How to define the role based on where the business needs to go (rather than how the role was defined based on the incumbent or previous incumbent).

• How to develop high potential employees for these identified roles so we can set them up to be successful.

Meet The Speaker

Erin Mies

Co-Founder

People Spark Consulting

Erin Mies co-founded People Spark Consulting with business partner Kristen Ireland in 2018. People Spark is a business and human resources consulting company that works with small to mid-size businesses in the ag industry to achieve their goals through their HR strategies.
Mies has more than 20 years of experience consulting and coaching executives, leaders and managers in human resources and leadership development, specifically in the agricultural and food industries. In addition to her work experience, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Music (Harp) from Wittenberg University in Ohio and her Master of Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mies resides in Minnesota.