The most successful organisations have a clear plan for transitioning leadership. As an executive or board member, consider your organisation’s future and prepare for the next generation of leaders. Organisational transitions can be challenging, but planning for them early will make the process smoother and ensure that your organisation continues to thrive after you’re gone. Here are some tips on preparing yourself and your organisation for this inevitable change:
The most successful organisations have a clear plan for transitioning leadership.
The most successful organisations have a clear plan for transitioning leadership.
Plan for the future, not just today. Seeing how you want your organisation to look in five years will help you identify candidates ready to take on that role now and who can grow into it as they gain experience.
Ensure everyone knows roles and responsibilities are changing so employees aren’t caught off guard when new leaders step in (or out). Your team needs time and space to adjust their expectations of each other’s performance, too—and if there are any changes, then communicate them. Hence, no one feels like they’re being let down or neglected by another person’s absence from meetings or projects.
Plan for critical roles and employees to make your organisation more reliant on the team instead of any single individual.
Establishing a team-driven leadership structure is essential for ensuring an organisation’s continuity and resilience in uncertainty. It provides redundancy, allowing roles to be filled by other members if one leaves unexpectedly – ideal when succession planning! Consider which employees or positions are most critical: CFO? CTO? Head Chef/Owner? The answers will vary depending on your industry, but these essential functions help guarantee operations remain intact.
The Board should take primary responsibility for planning leadership transitions.
The Board should take primary responsibility for planning leadership transitions. The Board is the ultimate authority and should be responsible for maintaining the organisation’s mission, including ensuring that it holds its culture and values.
The Board should also be responsible for planning for transitions to ensure that there are no gaps between what was agreed upon at transition meetings and any other vital roles or responsibilities (e.g., finance) that need to be attended to by someone else before their departure date arrives.
Make sure there is a formalised process to train and mentor new leaders as they are identified.
As new leaders are identified, it is essential to have a formalised process in place to prepare them for their roles. This can include training sessions, mentorship relationships and other activities designed to help people grow into new responsibilities. A good plan should ensure that the information is communicated clearly and consistently, so everyone involved knows what’s happening. It should also be flexible enough that if changes arise after starting the process, you can adapt accordingly without starting over from scratch. Finally, keep things simple! The more complicated your plan becomes, the more likely it is that someone will forget some critical step or get confused about exactly what needs to be done next—and then look bad when they don’t know how to get it done correctly.
Begin the transition process early.
Begin the transition process early.
Why it’s essential to start early: The earlier you begin, the more time you will have for planning and preparing the organisation for your departure. While some organisations may not be ready to change until their CEO announces their intention to retire, others may be more willing to start thinking about succession planning even before they think they need it. Therefore, your organisation should begin working on succession plans while you are still there and leave because this will give them time to adjust their leadership structure and hire new staff. However, remember that once your announcement has been made (and most often by word-of-mouth), it will become public knowledge which could influence how people behave towards each other within workplace relationships where there may be tension between some employees due.
Don’t be afraid of change.
Embrace change and don’t let fear stop you – after all, it’s only through testing different approaches that we find out what works best! Make sure to plan so that changes can be made quickly. If something doesn’t go as expected initially, try not to get discouraged; instead, use these experiences as learning opportunities for the next round of improvements.
Begin by using your current leaders as resources for identifying and developing future leaders, and build a culture that emphasises ongoing training and education.
It would help if you first used your current leaders as resources for identifying and developing future leaders. Next, build a culture that emphasises ongoing training and education—part of that will include encouraging people to take advantage of learning opportunities outside your organisation, such as attending conferences or classes offered by local universities.
Be sure not to be afraid of change! Starting the process of transitioning leadership requires courage on the part of all involved parties: those who are leaving, those who are staying behind and those who are taking their place. The best way forward may not be apparent initially; approaching this transition strategically will help ensure it goes smoothly.
Planning for leadership transitions early is essential to ensuring the continued success of your organisation.
Transitions are a natural part of organisational life. The good news is that they can also be an opportunity to build a more sustainable organisation.
With this in mind, you should start thinking about leadership transitions early, especially if you plan to retire in the next few years. Planning for changes early will help ensure that your organisation continues to thrive after you leave and provides an opportunity for the new leader to gain experience working with board members, staff, and volunteers before taking over completely.
Bottom Line
While there is no way to predict or control the future entirely, the good news is that you can now do some key things to prepare for leadership transitions. To start with, your organisation needs to have a clear plan for transitioning its leaders and critical roles by planning early and involving all stakeholders in this process. This will ensure that both internal and external stakeholders know their role when someone leaves or retires from their position at some point in the future.
Who am I?
I am Dotun Adeoye, a Business Growth Strategist & Author of the 5 Pillars of Business Growth.
I’ve built up my experience via serial entrepreneurship, consulting leadership roles in business growth, business development and product innovation in large companies worldwide in the last 30 years.
Today, I consult with large businesses on how to sustainably grow their businesses, sustain infinite growth, and ensure business continuity irrespective of the business climate.
Hire Dotun Adeoye to Speak Virtually or In – Person at your company’s event to cover this or other topics. You can also get in touch via +44 203 097 1718 or dotun at dotunadeoye.com.
