Issue No. 464 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting cautions: Don’t fumble your leadership succession baton pass. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for my recent review of 30 Days Unplugged: How a Catholic Priest Turned Off His iPhone and Took a Call From God.
Worst baton pass ever? Click here to view the NBC Sports two-minute YouTube video of China's catastrophic 4x100 relay handoff in the 2019 World Athletics Championship.
Worst Baton Pass Ever!
Years ago, over lunch in Dallas with Dan Bolin, we were discussing the possibility of his serving on the board of Christian Management Association (now CLA). We were good friends and I wanted an honest answer from him. If he were on the board and sensed that it was time for me to exit—would he have the guts to…?
Dan interrupted before I finished my question. “You’re asking, John, could I fire you—if needed? No problem!”
We both laughed—and I believed him! Gratefully, I was privileged to serve 11 years (without a pink slip) as the CEO of CMA before moving on to consulting in 2006, but I’ll never forget that succession conversation!
“No matter how hard we try to fight it or forget it, we all have an expiration date in our leadership,” warn the authors of Succession: Seven Practices to Navigate Mission-Critical Leadership Transitions.
If this COVID marathon has prompted you to reflect more frequently about your current position (or your current CEO), authors Peter Greer and Doug Fagerstrom remind us, “If you’re thinking about succession at the moment when you need a successor, you’re too late!” This short, fast-reading book, is another must-read on my list. Here’s why:
1 WORD. After 35 years as pastor at Wooddale Church in the Minneapolis suburbs, Leith Anderson was contemplating his exit. “Shortly after he had developed a succession plan for the board to engage in and follow, he called his mentor, Lyle Schaller, and asked what he should do next. Lyle gave him one word: ‘Leave.’”
2 LETTERS. “This might be slightly macabre,” writes Greer, president and CEO of HOPE International. He keeps two letters in his desk drawer. “My resignation letter reminds me that one day I will leave my role, and my eulogy reminds me to live today in light of what matters most.”
3 BATONS. The authors collected in-the-trenches transition stories (the good, the bad, and the ugly) from ministry and business leaders—and passed them along to us, with the reminder (and the metaphor) that the baton pass between leaders is oh-so-challenging, but possible.
• The Good Baton Pass. When Chris Crane passed the CEO baton to Tiger Dawson at Edify, the two co-founders used an actual runner’s baton. My suggestion to CEOs: buy the baton now—click here for Amazon—and keep it on your desk to remind yourself that “Every CEO Is an Interim CEO” per ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4: Succession Planning.
• The Bad Baton Pass. One new CEO asked a former CEO if he wanted the baton passed back to him! When asked why, the new CEO said, “Because you are meddling in the ministry.” Apparently the previous CEO wouldn’t let go of the baton. Yikes.
• The Ugly Baton Pass. The authors describe what’s been called “The Worst Baton Pass Ever.” It’s painful to watch, but click here to view NBC Sports’ two-minute YouTube video of China's catastrophic 4x100 women’s relay handoff (actually, bungled handoff) in the 2019 World Athletics Championship.
4 PRIORITIES. Transition, timing, building, and communicating. Those are the phases and priorities for the new leader, according to McKinsey and Company. Before you arrive in the transition phase, read the wisdom in The First 90 Days and Managing Transitions.
4 WORDS. The authors ask, “What does it mean to steward a mission [and your succession] well? Russ Crosson says it’s the fundamental punchline and it’s just four words “It’s not about you.”
5 MISTAKES. Don’t make the mistake of skipping Appendix 8 on the five mistakes that boards must avoid. Mistake #2: You should never commit the role, in advance, to an internal person. “The board should not be restricted to a choice of one, as circumstances and board members change.”
6 QUESTIONS. Actually, there are 12 helpful questions to ask yourself: stay or go? My six favorite:
• 2. Am I more nostalgic about the past or energized by where the organization is going?
• 3. Am I more focused on my own security and status or the needs of staff and stakeholders?
• 6. Am I still committed to active learning and excellence? Is the organization?
• 8. Is the board more committed to me as the leader or to the mission? Is there any significant misalignment with the board?
• 9. Are there difficult conversations that the board or management are avoiding?
• 10. Am I asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’ or ‘What’s best for the organization?’
7 PRACTICES. The meat of the book builds on seven specific practices in a successful succession—framed from the best practices of successful relay races. Four cheers (with my mask on) for the fourth best practice, “Listen to the coach!” The authors warn, “We ignore the advice of coaches to our own peril.”
• “Coaching isn’t just for athletics; it’s for each of us. In succession planning, why would we skip the coaching and try to figure it all out on our own?”
• “There may be no time that mentorship is more important than in succession planning.”
8 COPIES. Buy at least eight copies for your CEO, senior leaders, and the executive committee of your board.
9 INSIGHTS. Addressing three leadership myths on successions (#1: “I’m indispensable”), the chart on page 55 (I love charts!) lists three key attributes (pride, busyness, and insecurity), three truths (“There are people who will do this job well—and even better”), and three corrective pursuits (“…make it an annual conversation with the board”).
THERE’S MORE! I can’t quote the entire book here, but I’m tempted. The nuances down little side alleys are extraordinary and memorable. You’ll rarely find this practical wisdom (and mini-case studies) in the succession literature. Examples:
• Humility. The book’s “humility” theme is stunning (emphasized 20 times!)—unlike any succession book I’ve read. That heart of humility, in my calculation, said I could learn from this book.
• Secret Sauce. This warning for outgoing leaders who naively believe that everything they did is part of the organization’s “secret sauce”—and consequently, from a distance, then resist or bad mouth even minor changes: Don’t!
• The Power of Symbols. The use of an actual baton to create a moment reminds me of my pick for the 2017 book-of-the-year, The Power of Moments.
ACTION STEPS. Each chapter includes action steps for four segments: Outgoing Leader, Incoming Leader, Board, and Staff. For the outgoing leader: “Annually, give the board the names of five people who could do your job well.” And for the incoming leader, this counsel from Steve Douglass, then president of Cru, to Doug Fagerstrom on how to prepare for his new role as CEO of Marketplace Chaplains. “Just one thing, Doug: Pray like you’ve never prayed before.”
• Unique Successions. Read the short insights for four unique succession scenarios: founder, family member, successful leader, and unsuccessful leader. “We celebrate success stories, but it may be tough to follow one.”
• Lose/Lose. The authors quote Mario Zandstra: “If you plan a succession well, you might lose your job early. But if you plan too late, you might lose the organization.”
• Heart Surgery! “Before beginning the practices of succession planning, we must undergo heart surgery.” Early in his leadership years, Greer, with three kids under age five and huge organizational challenges, confessed that he was “doing an exceptionally poor job keeping my priorities in place. I had been away more than a hundred nights that year.” He explored other positions, but soon realized that the duo sins of pride and fear would undermine a healthy succession. “While a job change wasn’t needed, a heart change certainly was.”
3 MORE QUESTIONS. “Every three years in the executive evaluation, Jack Crowley asks himself and his team to consider the following questions:
• What kind of organization are we in this season?
• What type of leader do we need now?
• Is it still me?”
Finally, this from Fred Smith: “How you leave is what people remember the most—even more than what you did while you were there.”
To order from Amazon, click on the title for Succession: Seven Practices to Navigate Mission-Critical Leadership Transitions, by Peter Greer and Doug Fagerstrom, with Brianna Lapp. Read more from the authors: The Volunteer (Fagerstrom), Mission Drift (Greer), and Rooting for Rivals (Greer).
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In their book, The Talent Masters, Bill Conaty and Ram Charan write, “Only one competency lasts. It is the ability to create a steady, self-renewing stream of leaders.” (Read my review.) How deep and fresh is our leadership pipeline?
2) Greer and Fagerstrom admonish outgoing CEOs: Clean up the mess before you leave! The authors quote McKinsey and Company: “Departing chief executives can leave their companies in the best possible shape by embracing tough decisions rather than leaving them for the incoming CEO.” No need to wait for the actual succession event—what mess (or messes) should be cleaned up this quarter?
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“He took his shoes with him!”
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
Speaking of shoes…order your own St. Ignatius of Loyola high tops from the Soulwalk Series, or Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” from the Art Series at Saints and Sneakers, created by Jason Pearson. Click here.
Randy Frazee received the leadership baton from Max Lucado at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. In their book, Next: Pastoral Succession That Works, William Vanderbloemen and Warren Bird describe Frazee’s “humorous visual picture” one Sunday morning. “Visiting the church shortly before it hired him, Randy publicly addressed what many recognized as the elephant in the room. Six inches shorter than Max Lucado, Randy asked him to come on stage. The two tried on each other’s shoes, to no avail. Point made. A standing ovation ensured.”
Dale Burke followed Chuck Swindoll as pastor of Fullerton Free in Fullerton, Calif. Burke quipped when asked what it was like to fill Swindoll’s shoes: “He is a wise leader, and took his shoes with him.”
The Next authors remind all pastors (and leaders): “Every arriving pastor will one day be a departing pastor. It’s not a question of if, but when.” (Note: Frazee and Burke have both departed those pastorates.) I encourage you to get ready for your next leadership succession (planned or unplanned).
READ MORE:
• Next: Pastoral Succession That Works (Expanded and Updated, 2020), by William Vanderbloemen and Warren Bird (Order from Amazon)
• ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4 - Succession Planning: Eleven Principles for Successful Successions. Download here. To read my series of 11 blogs on the 11 principles, click here.
• The Hero’s Farewell: What Happens When CEOs Retire, by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, describes four types of CEO retirement transitions: the monarch, the general, the ambassador, the governor. (Read my review.)
For more insights on succession, and the board's role, check out the resources in the Board Bucket.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Do have some media messes that need to be cleaned up? “We ignore the advice of coaches to our own peril.” Check in with Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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