Every leader faces transition sooner or later.? And every church and ministry and business faces changes in leadership.? Transitions especially at the top can be very successful or extremely volatile.
I hope you listen to my newest podcast on pulling off successful leadership transitions.
Contents of the Show:
- A brief summary of my own transition after 20 years.
- The Ten Tips for Making it work well – applies to a lot of leadership transitions
- Barriers to successful transitions
- A few final applications for you to prepare for your eventual exit
Why do we need to do it right?
What happens to organizations when a leader abruptly leaves and there is no obvious
successor?
The potential harm done to churches and organizations:
- ? ? ?Broken trust that is transferred to the new leader.
- ? ? ?Loss of respect for leadership in general.
- ? ? ?Doubt about the board of directors.
- ? ? ?Organizational drift.
- ? ? ?Lost momentum–many initiatives come to a stand still.
- ? ? ?Lost membership–people leave.
- ? ? ?Lost staff and employees–no one wants to work in a leaderless quagmire.
- ? ? ?Wasted money and other resources.
- ? ? ?Discouragement and despair for the rank and file who choose to stay
- ? ? ?General uncertainly for the troop, members and employees.
Top Ten Tips for Making Leadership Transitions Work Well
Lesson # 1:? The longer the seasoned leader has been in place, the more there is to lose and the more danger there is in the handover of power.
Lesson # 2: Leaders do more damage staying too long that by leaving too soon.
Lesson # 3: In order for it to work, there must be a three way partnership between the outgoing leader, the board and the leadership team committed to making it work.
Lesson # 4: Honor the departing leader as much as the incoming one.
Lesson # 5: Recognize that it will take time for the troops to transfer their loyalty to the new leader
Lesson # 6:? Spend the money and take the time to do a good search for the new leader.
Lesson #7:? Pray, pray?and then pray more about the search process.
Lesson #8: Over communicate about the process to the troops.
Lesson #9: Honor your successor and your predecessor (Everyone has one of each)
Lesson #10:? If at all possible, have a baton passing ceremony.
BARRIERS TO SUCCESSFUL SUCCESSORS
There are as many unsuccessful leadership transitions as there are successful ones. I imagine that everyone has witnessed firsthand a leadership transfer that went wrong. The reasons for such fiascos vary but most often include one or more of the following:
The organization doesn?t like the new person.
The new person doesn?t like the organization.
The new person?s family can?t adjust to the new city they?moved to.
There is a corporate culture conflict: Values and beliefs?don?t match.
The leader fails miserably in his newly assigned responsibilities: He lacks the ability, capacity, experience, or?knowledge to do the job well.
The old guard sabotages the efforts of the new leader. T The old leader sabotages the efforts of the new leader. T The old leader fails to leave, or reappears.
The new leader lacks persistence in implementing changes. T The new leader is recruited away by a better offer or challenge.
The new leader fails to win a following because of poor?interpersonal skills.
A few real world applications
- If you are looking for a new leader – time is the variable and the right candidate is the constant!
- I recognize that many times churches and groups have a gap between leaders. ?In that case, a baton passing and some of these other things don’t apply.
- Do your homework – develop a profile of what you are looking for and stick with it!
- Honor and care for those who have poured themselves out for you – they might just be spent and burned out due to serving you. ?They deserve a lot of love and grace on the way out!
- IF you are the leader – insist that your board has a succession plan for WHEN the time comes.
Book of the show to recommend: Tommy Thomas – The Perfect Search ?(Credo House)
Quote of the show: Success without a successor is failure. ?(Hans Finzel)
