Step One for a Successful Succession

The CEO asked to speak with me about succession planning. We talked and got to know each other. While doing so, I asked questions probing for his sense of the future — for the organization and for himself.

The future was…the void. There was nothing. Nada.

He had health issues. He already wasn’t maintaining his previous pace at work. He knew he’d continue to slow down.

He wasn’t at retirement age. Nor did he have an interest in retiring. But he just couldn’t do the job anymore.

That felt frustrating. He resented his circumstance. And, perhaps because of this resentment, he didn’t want to think about his next chapter.

And so he didn’t.

His personal horizon didn’t extend beyond his role within the company. His vision for the company didn’t extend beyond his personal level of energy and aspirations.

He was visionless and adrift.

Which is a luxury reserved for people who aren’t leaders.

His lack of vision meant that the entire organization was directionless. Waiting for him. Waiting on him.

He wanted me to help with succession planning…but there was nothing to plan towards. Nothing to prepare for. His impending departure would be significant. He’d be missed.

But his departure was an event. A change. Not a direction.

When it comes to succession, vision is necessary (usually two visions).

It’s difficult to know how to choose an ideal (or at least acceptable) successor, especially for an executive position, if you aren’t sure what you want them to lead.

Sure, it’s understood you want them to lead the organization. But that’s like telling a ship captain that you want them to take the helm of a ship. Of course, that’s what you want them to do.

Where you want the captain to take the ship matters. Not all bodies of water are the same. A journey up and down a coast is different than a journey across the open sea. A journey through pirate-infested waters (yes, they still exist) takes one set of skills. A journey through sea ice takes another.

Where you want the successor to lead matters for the same reason. If you’ve just come through a period of rapid growth — perhaps you need a leader who can bring about stability and structure. If you are preparing for significant change — perhaps you need a leader who has the ability to provide direction and confidence within uncertainty.

Those are soft considerations. There are also hard or technical considerations. A company preparing to acquire or be acquired will want different kinds of leadership. A company preparing for a new level of contracting or a different kind of service or geography — another.

But here is the point: The vision of the organization needs to extend beyond the vision of the outgoing leader.

Common Challenges that Make It Difficult to “See” a Shared Vision

I was once working with a group of owners to developing a vision for their company. Normally, this is a simple, relatively quick and energizing exercise. But it was none of those things for them.

At first, I didn’t understand why this was presenting such a challenge. Then I realized that part of the problem was that they were approaching their vision as an equation to be solved. They believed there was a “right” answer. And they were wary of arriving at the “wrong” answer.

It was very difficult for them to embrace the concept that their vision was a choice. Not an answer to a problem.

The other thing they were wrestling with was similar to the leader I first described. Many of the owners were nearing retirement. While it is understandable that they may not have had personal vision beyond their tenure — they also resisted the idea of other people developing a vision that extended beyond them.

No one knows the future. You just work with the information you have and decide what you’d like the future to be. Then as you plan and work towards that — you adjust.

For a free guide on how to develop a shared vision, click here.

The Organization of the Future

Based on the vision that you define — what kind of organization will be needed to live into that vision? What will the leadership team need to look like? What kinds of skills will be required to lead it?

The Leader for the Future

Based on that answer — what kind of leader do you need for the organization? What characteristics are non-negotiable? What are preferences but not requirements?

If you’d like a simple tool to explore this, click here.

The Team for the Future

How many people on your current team are near retirement themselves? Who is likely to consider exploring new options when the outgoing leader goes?

What is the team that this leader will likely need? How long will it take to build that team? How much of that work needs to start now?

The answers to all of these questions depend on having a vision.

You don’t have to develop a complete strategic plan. But you do have to take time to develop a sense of where you’d like to go. When you have that, it becomes much easier to align all of your other decisions around it. And this includes succession.

Take good care,

Christian

Originally published at https://www.christianmuntean.com on March 15, 2022.