Succession: Replacing Yourself

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?Lockhart, the little burg outside Austin where I am now headquartered, needs a city manager. The incumbent held the position for a dozen years, with public works service prior to that in Austin. In his published retirement remarks, he said, “...  he didn’t expect to be involved in the search for the next city manager, saying that was up to the council...”

Interesting. Anyway, the recruitment search turned up four candidates, each with a smidgeon of experience in small municipalities. It seems the city council was not satisfied with the results, because none were selected and, to his chagrin, the incumbent has been asked to stay on a bit longer as another search gets underway.

Those of us who have worked for large organizations may be wondering what early efforts had gone into succession planning for this critical position. The city manager, despite his solipsistic remarks, might have shown more initiative and insight, and begun a succession discussion five years ago, or even earlier. Who better to look to the future and take a strategic interest in the long-term needs of the city? We all time out, and we don’t have to wait until our sixties to take an interest in protecting our organizations and preparing them for our departure. We could, of course, have an unplanned departure long before retirement age.

I don’t know all of the history and efforts of the local government concerning this recruitment, and I am not singling the city leaders out for criticism. That is not why I am writing this article. Instead, I want to suggest that all of us should be working on succession planning from the first day we begin a job. Perhaps this is a radical idea, but I submit that this is exactly what a professional should do, and it should be an inherent expectation from the organization and a part of the individual’s salary to do so.

What could the city have done? What every large corporation or public institution should do with key positions. Develop a plan.

This plan should include basic items such as a comprehensive job description that is updated annually; a qualitative candidate profile; the identification of possible internal successors, and the vigorous development of those individuals in preparation to compete for the position; networking within the region to identify potential external candidates; a projection of the possible salary range, evaluation schedules and inducements for recruitment, such as a housing or car allowance, bonuses, or flexible items for negotiation (living outside city limits?).

Your goal should be to have two or more potential internal candidates that you have groomed and mentored and advised who, at a minimum, can temporarily fill the job while you winter in the Bahamas when retirement calls. The last thing you want is to have your personal plans disrupted because you failed to adequately plan for succession within your organization.

What are you doing to develop and advance your staff? Are you sharing the benefit of your years of experience, encouraging staff to obtain advanced degrees, involving others in cross-training opportunities and making a real effort to elevate your subordinates into more versatile and competent professionals? Or are you hoarding your expertise and holding your organization hostage by “protecting” your knowledge?

We’ve all worked for managers who maintain hermetic compartmentalization between disciplines and departments. Can you understand why? I can’t. Whenever I left an organization, I have given extensive notice, held seminars, defined processes, coached individuals and publicly announced I was available for consultation up to and past my final day. All of this in addition to my regular staff meetings and transparent sharing of non-confidential matters with staff and training them in current managerial and entrepreneurial thinking and techniques.

A bad manager is gratified when a section “crashes and burns” after his departure. There, he or she thinks, they can’t do it without me. I’m truly a world-class manager. To the contrary, an exceptional manager can take a vacation without departments melting down or being emailed constantly for direction. When you can leave for a day or longer and everything runs as smooth as silk, you are an excellent manager of people and processes. You should provide for the same seamless transition when you leave an organization or department.

You may think this type of effort requires a specific mandate from on high, or that you will start working in this direction when the company starts treating you right and recognizing your worth. But that’s not how a professional operates. A professional lives up to his or her own standards, regardless of how visionary or myopic the organization he or she serves might be. It’s just the way things should be done. At a minimum, your subordinates are counting on you to leave the department free from chaos and to provide a transition plan so that disorder, stress, and customer impact are controlled, mitigated or eliminated. It’s a matter of professional pride and competency.

Each time I’ve left an organization (or department), I left behind two or three viable candidates with access to relevant information, who have held acting roles in my temporary absences, and who have had on-going specific and general managerial training. What happens in an organization after you leave is beyond your control, and decision-making by inexperienced or agenda-driven executives is a common factor far outside your realm of responsibility. All you can do as a responsible professional is to continuously train and develop employees and set up institutionalized systems of logical processes and documentation that accomplish the goals and strategic mission in the interests of the customer; and thus prepare staff for life without you. And this should begin on day one, not on the day you plan to retire and the organization is caught flat-footed and aghast, apparently expecting you to stay forever.  

Succession planning is not identifying the heir apparent or guaranteeing fiefdoms for future potentates from your field of favorites. It is planning that ensures smooth short-range transition capability and gives an organization choices as to how they wish to proceed. Your mentored and capable candidates may be overlooked in favor of an external candidate after you leave. This should not be shocking or daunting. This is someone else’s prerogative. You should not wish to impose your will in absentia; your role is to assist the organization exercise its will without the distraction of scrambling for resources and personnel in a false emergency situation.

There is no reason to believe you will be rewarded for this far-sighted, exemplary service beyond the satisfaction of doing your job responsibly and properly. It would not be unusual to find that your visionary outlook and fiduciary commitment far outstrip those of the organization you are protecting. Do it anyway. Do this, and you will be a first-rate strategic professional worthy of the pride you feel in your career path and management abilities. And I, for one, will salute you. Find "Public Transit Operations: The Strategic Professional" here.