Exploring Strategies for Leadership in Small Businesses

Small businesses face challenges in maintaining leadership continuity. Unstable leadership transitions can jeopardize business survival. Business leaders are concerned with selecting qualified succession leadership to avoid increased business costs and operational disruptions. Grounded in replacement planning theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry project was to identify and explore successful strategies used by business leaders in small Oklahoma enterprises to select qualified leadership successors. The participants were six leaders of small businesses in the U.S. state of Oklahoma who had successful strategies for selecting qualified leadership successors. Data were sourced from semistructured interviews and publicly available organizational documents. Thematic analysis revealed four themes: (a) hiring of the right employees, (b) employee training, (c) dispelling skepticism about succession planning, and (d) reliance on replacement planning characteristics. A key recommendation for small business leaders is to proactively develop internal talent pipelines that prioritize mentorship and skill-based development, rather than relying on reactive replacement decisions. The implications for positive social change include the potential to strengthen leadership continuity in small businesses in Oklahoma, promote job stability for employees and their families, and contribute to long-term economic resilience in local communities.