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Infinite, sustainable growth ideas and examples for strategic thinking executives every Sunday

THE BLOG

Innovate Africa With Dotun Adeoye Every Sunday

Infinite, sustainable growth ideas and examples for strategic thinking executives every Sunday

What Could Go Wrong In Succession Planing Dotun Adeoye

What can go wrong with leadership transition, and how to avoid It

During a period of leadership transition, the board must be armed with preventive measures and sharpened foresight to tackle any challenges or surprises that could otherwise sabotage the organisation’s progression. By taking all necessary steps ahead of time, these proactive actions will safeguard against turbulence during this crucial transitional phase.

The Board Is Unprepared for an Emergency.

Your board members must be prepared to handle unexpected events. You can help them do this by setting up an emergency meeting process and making sure all the right people are involved.

When an emergency arises, such as a sudden change in leadership or a significant financial problem, you’ll want to call together a small group of directors involved with major decisions in the past year. This group should include members from both sides of any conflicts on your team (if applicable). These directors will be familiar with each other’s perspectives and know how they might approach problems differently than others on your team would–which can come in handy during times of crisis when everyone needs clear thinking more than ever!

The Position Remains Unfilled for Too Long.

The longer the position remains unfilled, the more damage it does to your organisation.

The impact on the organisation and its team:

  • Team members feel lost without a leader. They don’t know what to do or where to go for guidance from their manager. This can lead to a drop in morale and productivity as people become disengaged from work that doesn’t seem relevant anymore because there’s no one around who knows how things should get done or why they matter in the first place!

  • Without decisive management direction, employees can become baffled over the correct execution of best practices across departments. This lack of clarity could lead to missed growth opportunities and a drop in revenue due to subpar service quality. Staff members are resorting solely to trial-and-error methods instead of learning from experienced professionals who aren’t on hand.

The Wrong Person Is Picked as the Next Leader.

Finding the right person to join your team is like searching for a needle in a haystack. To increase the odds of getting it right, ensure they are equipped with both technical prowess and personal attributes that align perfectly with what you need – practical skills, attitude or values!

The Organisation Is Not Ready for a Change in Leadership.

A lack of readiness can be attributed to various factors, including

  • An organisational culture that is not open to change. The leadership team, board of directors and employees may have become comfortable with the status quo and resist change. Or perhaps there’s no clear succession plan for when the current leader retires or leaves the company. In either case, this lack of readiness means that employees aren’t prepared for someone new at the helm–and as a result, they might resist following their new boss’ directives until they prove themselves worthy (or themselves worthy). This can take time and effort on both sides–and time is something you don’t want to waste if you’re trying to impact your organisation’s performance immediately.

Relationships Aren’t Developed with the Leadership Team Before Transitioning.

Building relationships with your new team is one of the essential parts of a leadership transition. Your goal is to ensure that everyone understands their role and how it fits into the organisation’s overall structure, so they can hit the ground running when you’re gone.

Establishing and maintaining relationships with each leadership team member is critical to successful collaboration across departments. Regular meetings will keep everyone informed on an ongoing basis while respecting their work-life balance. Each person should also have insight into how their task feeds into the larger organisational objectives and those set by other groups within IT management or marketing research divisions – ultimately unifying them all under one vision of success!

A Succession Plan Is Not Maintained.

The first step to a successful transition is creating a succession plan. This plan includes identifying the skills and abilities required for future leaders and developing strategies. This allows you to determine which employees have potential so they can be groomed into leadership roles when needed.

It’s also important to consider which members of your organisational culture would be best equipped with these skills and abilities. For example, suppose you want someone with strong communication skills but isn’t particularly creative or innovative in his thinking processes. In that case, you might want him on board before he leaves so he can pick up those traits quickly once promoted into higher positions within the company structure (or maybe even get some training).

Finally, ensure that your board is prepared and ready to transition leadership successfully.

  • Make sure that your board is prepared and ready to transition leadership successfully.

  • Ensure that the board has a succession plan, including identifying potential candidates.

  • Please don’t leave a leadership gap for too long, or you may find yourself with no viable candidates when you finally fill it.

Bottom Line

From the examples above, we can see that many things can go wrong during a leadership transition. Therefore, it’s essential to have a plan in place to avoid these mistakes and ensure that your organisation is ready for change.

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.

 

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