Succession Planning

At the core of succession planning resides man's natural desire for an orderly transfer of control of the organization to new leadership. Like any form of change, Succession Planning is filled with challenges and opportunities for transforming your organization to greater success.

Succession planning is a journey with many events. We believe that the following priorities are key to the orderly and effective change of leadership in an organization:

Know the Organization - we help you to take an inventory of your organization beginning with its history and how it arrived at its current state.
Next, we assess the current situation (financially, culturally, organizationally, etc.) so that you can properly gauge the level of talent, experience, interest and habits of excellence necessary for success in the next generation of your critical positions.
"From What to What" - once we understand where the company has been and its current situation, we help you to define a concrete future vision for the business.
Then, an understanding and discussion about the right leader to lead the organization in that direction is key.
Selecting the right leader is more than just the sum of the parts (raw talent, experience, habits, and interest) but also a question of their temperament and the work culture.
We help you make the right leadership selection decisions through a combination of science (proven assessment methods) and judgment (wisdom from experience).

In addition to the quality of your organization's decision, we work with you to establish the proper mechanics and process for facilitating a healthy succession planning process and event.

TEAM - the board of directors or ownership must establish the right transition team to help the new leaders take on their new and challenging positions.
PLAN - a detailed plan of action for driving accountability and timing to your succession.
MEASURES - what defines success or failure? Every succession of leadership is a critical part of a broader journey for the organization.
and the EVENT - the actual change of command should be conducted as a formal and participatory event for your employees. We believe that many organizations fail to make the change of leadership the formal event that it should be.

And finally, a good succession plan does not end until the first 100 days have passed successfully. We help your new leaders to establish the proper credibility with their new team. The importance of the first 100 days in a presidency is almost one of mythic proportions. For your business, a disciplined attention to the first 100 days insures that you and your new team get off to the right start.

Election of 1800

"The election of 1800 was divisive. The Federalists, led by then - President John Adams, said the Republicans were radical democrats sympathetic to the violent revolutionaries in France. The Republicans, led by Jefferson, accused the Federalists of favoring monarchy and dictatorial rule.

An electoral tie between the top candidates threw the election to the House of Representatives. After six days of voting and 36 ballots, Jefferson was elected President--some 10 weeks after the initial election. An embittered Adams, and other leaders in his political party, did not attend his successor's inauguration.

But consider what did not happen: Troops were not brought in, legislatures were not dissolved, and the previous leadership was not killed or imprisoned. Indeed, the oath of office was delivered by an archrival, Chief Justice John Marshall (whom the outgoing President had appointed after the election), and the new President solemnly swore before his political enemy to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States."