Successful Execution is the key to consistent results.  You’ve indicated that you may well have a plan in place, but that you are likely behind in executing your plan.  It is common for organizations to recognize the need to prepare for leadership transitions and sometimes they pay large sums in order to have a consulting firm create a plan.  

 

Any plan, poorly executed, will likely fail. Our experience has been that many of these plans sit on a shelf and seldom are implemented due to their complexity and reliance on further consulting costs.  The hard work of leadership transitions involves taking your plan and letting it guide your daily choices.  Soon momentum builds and it becomes easy to execute, bringing about both leadership growth and results.  ​

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What can you do to improve readiness in this area?

• Review your plan.  Take a step back and consider why your plan has not been executed so far.  Is it too complicated?  If so, look for areas of simplification.  Is it too dependent on outside resources?  Assess whether some of the tasks can be assumed by the leaders of teams themselves.  Their active involvement with developing others will demonstrate the importance of transition planning and leadership growth.

• Assign a key leader.  It matters who has the ultimate responsibility of executing your plan.  Leadership transitions have a huge impact on the employee experience, so it may be appropriate for a senior leader, even the CEO, to take on this very valuable role.  This will demonstrate to the rest of the organization the importance of getting it right by increasing visibility and leading from the front.

• Regular updates.   We measure what matters.  Creating a clear set of milestones that you are expected to achieve and reporting on their progress will go a long way.  Regularly show the team what tasks and activities are on time and how people’s news skills and capabilities are developing.  A clear report, focused on these outcomes will see consistent progress.

• Reward success.  Celebrate.  As you reach milestones make a public note of the progress and whenever possible celebrate the team’s success and the growth of individuals.  Make it a fun occasion when you see the progress your team and your organization are achieving.

 

Non-profit Organizations

You indicated you work for a Non-Profit Organization.  Such organizations are seldom flush with the funds to have a broad and highly qualified leadership team.  It is very common for non-profits to be led by a singular head of the organization.  It can be very lonely at the top of such an organization along with all the responsibility and pressure that accompanies the role.  While these leaders often report to a Board, those Boards are likely to agree with most any decision this leader has determined, knowing that they have little choice but to support the primary leader in the organization.  Even when non-profits demonstrate broader leadership and stronger accountability, they can still struggle to develop a deep pool of future leaders, creating stress on the organization to get things done and to address growth opportunities.  The importance of developing an intentional leadership growth plan and executing it in a timely manner cannot be overstated. 

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