Succession Planning Doesn't Need to Be Drastic: Take a Step-by-Step Approach Instead

In the International Journal of Managerial Studies and Research, James Siambi wrote, “During times of transition, strategic leadership succession planning, in conjunction with leadership development policies, provides an organization with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to retain its best and brightest employees, leaders, and talent.” Washington County, Minnesota is capitalizing on this opportunity by taking a promotion from within approach to leadership transitions. “We can typically find an internal candidate to take open leadership roles,” said Rick Roy, Workforce & Veteran Services Division Manager for the Washington County Community Services Department.

At the County, they are focused on retaining institutional knowledge through employee transitions - a critical component to successful succession planning. “I had one staff member retire last year and she had someone shadow her for six months,” said Rick Roy, Workforce & Veteran Services Division Manager for the Washington County Community Services Department. “When someone announces they are leaving, our team does a great job of putting the plan together. We try to hire from within so people have the opportunity to accept a new position and shadow the person they are replacing, potentially even doing some of their work in a transitional period before they leave.”

Washington County’s approach is a “step-by-step” process to employee transitions. This focus provides the most opportunity for sharing institutional knowledge and preventing information and relationships from being lost in the transition.  Rick described this process for us. “I have another senior staff member who is retiring and a newer employee is taking her place. Our team is working with the person who is advancing - training and preparing her for the role. In fact, she will assume the position from a classification perspective before my senior team member leaves.”

Brittany Ashby, President & Managing Director of the Align Team had a similar experience. When former-President Kathy Carthcart decided to retire, Kathy moved into the role of Chief Transition Officer, something that allows for client transitions over time while Brittany runs the organization as its President. Though different from the Washington County approach, this process of leadership change is intentionally less drastic and allows for a smoother transition.

John Ugoani wrote in the International Journal of Economics and Business Administration, “...in order to achieve leadership continuity and smooth handover systems from predecessors to successors, policies, procedures, practices, and programs that are grounded in generational organizational transition must be implemented.” Economic development organizations may want to consider this when an Executive Director retires. Asking them to stay on board and help manage the transition while deferring daily operational decisions to the new Executive Director could allow for the transitioning of relationships and processes, not just the job title.

An added advantage of taking a gradual approach to leadership transition is it allows current leaders time to form a new role identity and thrive, rather than survive retirement. Researcher Prashant Bordia wrote of the transition’s ability to … “facilitate agentic coping in which retirees shed old and adopt new identities.” Avoiding a dramatic change allows leaders to develop a new identity without a level of angst. In other words, the step-by-step approach to succession transitions can be beneficial to current and future leaders alike.