How can an organization with an upcoming leadership transition best prepare now for business continuity and continued success?
At a Glance
Client:
Technology Services NGO
Goal:
Developing a succession plan for a top executive
Service:
Consulting Project
The Opportunity
A long-tenured executive at an organization informed the Board that he hoped to retire in the next year. The Board needed a strategy for filling the role and preparing the organization for the transition. The planning needed to be handled thoughtfully and confidentially.
The Board needed a strategy for filling the executive role and preparing the organization for the transition.
The Solution
We began by identifying relevant stakeholders (including the departing executive, team members, funders, partners, board members) who would provide important perspective and be important for a smooth transition. We gathered information about strategic priorities, risks, challenges, and opportunities for the organization, as well as anticipated challenges and risks with the leadership change. At the same time, we gathered information about skills, experience, and expertise that would be critical for the future leader of the organization to possess in order to meet these challenges and capitalize on opportunities.
We synthesized this information and presented a plan to the Board that contained:
- Recommended candidate profile including skills, knowledge & experiences, and competencies that would be both important/critical and beneficial/nice to have
- Options with pros/cons/considerations for finding a replacement (e.g., growing current staff, interim replacement, closed search, open search)
- Operational steps with timeline to prepare for the transition (e.g., relationships with partners and funders, documentation and sharing of institutional knowledge, PR plan)
The Impact
The succession plan was presented to the Board and approved unanimously. Both the Board and the current executive had peace of mind that there was a plan in place for future leadership transition. The new leader is set up for future success.
