Information Webinar Fully Funded by IHF Skillnet
Download the webinar brochure HERE.
Date:
Wednesday 11th November 2026 | 10:00am – 11:30am | Online
Who should attend:
- Hotel owners and family business owners
- General managers and deputy managers
- Department heads and senior team members
- Anyone responsible for developing people or planning for the future
Overview:
Hotels across Ireland are built on people, and on the knowledge, relationships and standards those people carry in their heads. But what happens when a long-serving general manager retires, a family owner steps back, or a key member of your team moves on?
Too often, that knowledge walks out the door with them.
This webinar introduces succession planning as a practical, everyday leadership skill, not a legal or financial exercise, but as a way of protecting your business, your people and the legacy you are building. It is designed for hotel owners, general managers, department heads and senior teams, whatever the size of your property.
What the session covers:
The heart of the session is 7 Steps to Effective Succession Planning — a straightforward framework you can begin using the very next day:
- Know where you stand — take an honest look at the roles and relationships your business depends on.
- Map your critical roles — identify where key-person risk sits, from the front desk to the kitchen to the owner’s office.
- Capture the knowledge — record the experience, contacts and know-how that live only in people’s heads.
- Grow your pipeline — develop the people who could step up, at every level.
- Prepare for the unexpected — build readiness for illness, accident or sudden departure, not just planned retirements.
- Plan your transitions — move people into new roles smoothly, with time and support.
- Put it in writing — turn good intentions into a living plan your whole team understands.
We will walk through each step to show how small, consistent actions now prevent crises later.
What you will take away:
- A clear understanding of why succession planning is a strategic act of leadership, not just something for retirements
- The 7 Steps to Effective Succession Planning, a practical process you can start immediately
- The ability to spot key-person risk and critical knowledge that could walk out your door
- Ideas for building your people and leadership pipeline, whatever the size of your property
- A complimentary E-Book with templates and steps to follow, for every participant
Where this leads:
The webinar is also your introduction to the full 12-week Succession Planning Programme, beginning in February 2027. Over twelve weeks, participants take each of the 7 Steps further — working through their own business, with guidance, templates and support — so that by the end they hold a complete, practical succession plan tailored to their property.
Places on the programme will be limited. Joining the webinar is the best way to see how the process works and whether it is right for your business.
Trainer:
Jennifer McConnell, Webinar Facilitator
Jennifer McConnell is an advance planning and succession planning specialist with over 25 years of senior leadership and HR experience across Ireland and internationally. As Founder of Living Legacy, she works with family businesses, associations, and organisations to build structured, practical succession plans that protect what has been built and prepare the next generation of leadership, as well as support families and individuals with advance planning to protect their personal and professional legacy through practical guidance to getting plans in place.
Before moving into HR and consultancy, Jennifer spent over a decade working in hospitality, from local restaurants and event catering to corporate hotels. That grounding gives her a first-hand understanding of the rhythms of the industry: the long hours, the family ownership dynamics, the seasonal pressures, and the deep personal investment owners and managers bring to their work. She knows that succession in hospitality is rarely just a business question; it is often a deeply personal one.
Jennifer has delivered succession planning programmes for businesses and organisations across Ireland and internationally, and holds qualifications in HR management, mentoring, project management, and end-of-life planning. She is EMCC-accredited as a coach and mentor.
Her work with IHF Skillnet brings together her hospitality roots and her specialist succession planning expertise, offering members a practical, grounded, and genuinely relevant pathway to securing the future of their businesses.
Cost:
Free for IHF Skillnet members.
Booking:
Places are limited to 100 people.
Book Online, or email Dervla O’Neill at oneilld@ihf.ie or call 086 083 6626 for more information.
