SUCCESSION PLANNING, ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE & INSTITUTIONAL SUSTAINABILITY

Last week, I was privileged to be invited for an installation ceremony of my brother in law, Stephen Walangaire, as the President, Lions Club of Mukono Host. First of all, I take the opportunity to congratulate Stephen and his new leadership team upon taking on this responsibility. As a life-time student of organisational leadership and corporate governance, my interest in such events is what I can learn that would inform how to improve leadership and corporate governance in any organisational set up.

My first reflection was the fact that LIONS International is based in Chicago, but has scaled across the whole world. What are some of the key enablers of its global scale, yet organisations fail to scale even out of a district of operation, later on a country? What are they doing right that is enabling their global scale? What can we learn from entities that are operating at a global scale, in terms of the systems, structures, and very importantly, organisational culture necessary for global scale? How do you scale your vision as a founder of a mission-driven organisation, from yourself to a million other individuals who might never meet up with you? How do you have your mission and vision survive and thrive beyond your lifetime as a founder?

Which brings me to my second reflection-culture. The tagline of the LIONS International is ‘WE SERVE’. This directly impacts how they do what they do-they serve. As a result, the morning before their leadership team installation, the club members first did community service in some neighbouring communities that have socio-economic challenges, among others, a children’s home that hosts children with disabilities, and supporting a neighbouring rural public school where learners have challenges with access to scholastic materials. They actually started the installation ceremony late, because they were engaged in ‘WE SERVE’ activities. What is the connection between your vision, mission, and organisational tagline with the actual day today activities of your organisation? What is your level of prioritisation between the core business activities and the others? Are you willing to be late for a ‘suits and drinks’ event because you are in the trenches, serving your community? When people remember you, is it for the service or the suits and 4X4s?

My third reflection is on succession planning. First of all, it is a rule that every person who is in a leadership position serves for only 1 year and moves on, and if possible, ahead. And so, you have a scenario where former club presidents have moved up to become Governors of entire ‘districts’. These older and more senior LIONS don’t exit the entity, but rather keep around to serve, even in higher positions in the country and the global LIONS International. Sometimes, they don’t even get higher positions, but are recognised as Past President, Immediate Past President etc. The gentleman who presided over the swearing in event was LION Robert Munanura, who was once a Club President, moved up the leadership ladder to become a District President (country level leadership role) and is now serving at the Global LIONS International level. His coming to preside over the event is therefore because of his huge experience in LIONS that a young club like Mukono Host would certainly benefit from, because he has served LIONS from being a member to participating in global leadership of LIONS International. Which systems do we have in organisations to ensure succession planning? Do we have systems for coaching and mentorship of more experienced staff to new entrants? Do we have structures where the old and new members meet up and share challenges and experiences? Do we have systems for keeping older members and leaders relevant and useful in our member driven organisations or do we discard them as the new and young take over, which by implication means that the new will make the same mistakes that the old did because there is no meeting and experience sharing between the two groups?

Also, whereas there are the LIONS Clubs all over the world, there are also LEOs clubs, which is the younger version of the LIONS. These are mainly university students and young corporates who buy into the ‘WE SERVE’ culture, but are still younger and haven’t been admitted as LIONS. In this installation of new leaders for the LIONS Club, there was representation from the LEO’s club of Uganda Christian University (UCU). They are young, but they are observing how the older LIONS are handling their activities, and they take the learnings to their University LEO’s chapter, and will use this experience when their time comes to be admitted in the LIONS clubs. ?This again feeds into the earlier questions on succession planning and senior members coaching the young. Do we have a system where the GEN-Z generation in our organisations is consciously under-studying the older generations so that there is continuity in our organisations?

When the event ended, LION Munanura gave the attendees a box of chocolates to share because he had just returned from a LIONS event in Sydney, Australia and thought it important to bring something small to share with whoever would be attending this installation. This might look like a normal thing, but it is a whole course unit in leadership and corporate management. What is the role of leadership in creating a safe working environment and collegial relations at work? Do you only show collegial relations with your team at the end of year party? Do you do the small things on a daily that bond you with your team, or you are waiting to distribute Christmas hampers to all staff to show you are a caring manager? Is the image of the CEO that of mentor and coach, or is it the chief whip?

My other learning is about structures and culture. I was surprised to find out that in every LIONS Club, there is a specific leadership role whose job is to ensure that all members are happy. In the swearing in ceremony, the Presiding officer LION Munanura took this officer through swearing that he would ensure that all LIONS meetings are lively and all members, including those who have personal challenges can enjoy their time while in the LIONS fellowships. What is the level of prioritisation of the social emotional wellbeing of your team members? Is the HR Manager still in charge of team culture and welfare, or he/she is incharge of contracts, and disciplinary hearings? Are the line managers in charge of the team’s wellbeing, or it is targets, targets, targets? Very importantly, for whichever organisational culture you envision, do you have specific people in the organisational structure who are in charge of ensuring it is achieved? How does your culture and structures relate?

The other learning was the fact that we had members of the other neighboring LIONS Club chapters. These were from LIONS Clubs of Seeta, Kampala and others. All these participated in the event like it was theirs, including the fundraising activity to raise funds for the younger chapter (the LIONS Club of Mukono Host is just 4 years old, making it one of the youngest in the region). The question is how do we as organisations relate with our peers? Do you see other organisations as competitors or partners? Do you engage in their events and activities? Are you on their call list when they are organising events, or are they on yours? Internally, do the branch offices collaborate or compete on the best performing branch? Have you institutionalised peer learning and continuous improvement?

Learning is a continuous process, and I loved these leadership and corporate governance lessons from the LIONS Club of Mukono Host. I look forward to following their activities and impact in the greater Mukono area, and hopefully, soon join LIONS. So that WE SERVE.

Lions Clubs International