9 Tips for Successfully Navigating Leadership Transitions
Leadership transitions are a fact of life in all organizations. Those transitions carry risk – and they can create a deep sense of uncertainty for all involved. Some changes in leadership are well thought out, planned for, and relatively smooth. Others are abrupt, chaotic, and rocky. In reality, even the most intentional transitions include their share of instability. How you manage that instability depends on whether you are the one leaving, the one coming in, or one of those staying.
I’ve been each of these people. I’ve been the employee left behind wondering what happens next when a new boss enters the room. I’ve been the tenured individual departing a leadership role concerned about both my own future and that of those I’m leaving behind. And I’ve been the new voice coming in with new ideas in a new space, hoping to succeed and move an agency or team forward effectively. Each of those spaces are challenging, and making mistakes is inevitable. No matter which space you might find yourself in, here are three things you can do in each role to create stability during leadership transitions.
If you’re the one leaving
What you do as you walk out the door matters. It is your opportunity to set the organization and yourself up for future success. It’s also your chance to cement your legacy and demonstrate a different set of leadership skills – ones that support others in times of change.
There are myriad reasons that leaders leave. You might be leaving entirely on your own terms after a long and distinguished career. You might be leaving to pursue the next big opportunity after a relatively brief pit stop in your current role. Or, you might be leaving because someone else decided your fate for you. No matter the reason, here are three things you can do to create stability for yourself and for the organization:
Let go. No matter who replaces you, they won’t be you. They will make different choices, prioritize different things, and bring different perspectives. Ultimately, that is good for teams and organizations. Don’t cling to your idea of what needs to happen next, how future decisions should be made, or the way things are being done. Embrace the idea that change can be good. If you are unwilling to let go of your ideas of how things should work, your people will struggle with any changes new leaders might want to make. Critically, this also gives you the opportunity to delegate new things to others so they have growth opportunities during the transition period.
Create a transition document. Sharing information is critical to help the new person succeed. It also helps the organization and its personnel succeed. While it may not be feasible to give your successor a complete picture of what they’re walking into, preparing a transition document provides them with a starting point to hit the ground running. It’s also a good way to assess your accomplishments should you need it for your next role and a good opportunity to reassure the organization and its people that their roles and knowledge will continue to matter.
Here are some things it makes sense to include in such a document:
Organizational overview including roles, responsibilities, and structure - especially if the new leader is coming in from the outside
Current strategic priorities and projects underway in support of those priorities. The new leader might seek to shift a strategic plan or the priorities, but knowing what the current state is can help inform those decisions.
Current challenges, high-profile issues, and items that might need immediate attention.
Contact list that includes those both inside and outside the organization you communicate with on at least a semi-regular basis about your team, your field, and/or your organization.
Standing meetings, both internal and external, that you attend regularly including a description of purpose and general information about who else attends as part of a specific group.
Keep moving forward. The fact that you are leaving doesn’t change the work that needs doing. If you are leaving well, which you can do no matter the reason for your departure, you will make sure that strategic initiatives keep going and that the everyday work of your team and organization continues. Part of how you accomplish this task stems from your success at the previous two tips. If you let go by delegating and affording others opportunities to lead, you will have kept the organization moving toward its strategic goals. If you share information about what you know, what you don’t, and what comes next, you will have prepared your teams and organization to move through the uncertainty that comes with leadership change.
If you’re the one coming in
First impressions matter. When you first walk in the door is your opportunity to immediately demonstrate the type of leader you plan to be. How approachable are you? How willing are you to engage in collaborative decision-making? Those initial interactions will inform your new colleagues’ opinions. They will pay attention to how you respond, to the kinds of questions you ask, to how present you are, to when you say no, and to what you’re prioritizing. They want to know if you are deeply committed to the organization and in it for the long haul, or if this is just a stepping stone towards the next rung on your career ladder.
The answers to those questions can help you tailor your approach to big pictures things like broad organizational change. They also might help you identify the right leadership style for this particular role. No matter what your answers to those questions may be, there are three concrete things you can do to create stability for the organization and for yourself:
Ask questions. Asking questions isn’t just about learning. It’s about understanding and acknowledging that you don’t have all the answers or know everything there is to know about your role, the organization, or your staff. It’s about connecting with your staff as individuals and as teams. And it’s about demonstrating your willingness to learn and to listen. It’s also an important opportunity to observe organizational and team dynamics by paying attention to what isn’t being said as much as what is, who is and isn’t willing to speak up, and who will talk with you one on one but goes silent in group settings. Asking questions gets you a whole lot more than just the answers to those specific questions.
Some good questions to start with include:
What are the current barriers to success for you/your team/the organization?
What are the landmines I should be aware of in your area?
What things are working well, and what things need improvement?
What opportunities exist for meaningful change now and in the future?
What should I have top of mind as I take on this new role?
What does support from a leader look like for you?
2. Slow down. Sometimes, a new leader is brought in specifically to make change related to culture, employee performance, or organizational risk. Occasionally, a situation calls for immediate action. Most often, however, immediate action is not only unnecessary, but also potentially detrimental to both the organization and its people. As a new leader, take your time. I have made the mistake of making change too quickly, when it wasn’t necessary to move quickly or even at all, only to find myself having to undo the change I had made. Moving too quickly creates additional instability. Instead, slow down, listen, and trust that you’ll put your stamp on the organization in due time.
3. Explain your why. In my experience as a leader, the most common complaint I heard didn’t have anything to do with people disagreeing with my decisions. Rather, they were frustrated by the fact that I hadn’t explained why I made a particular decision. Our job as leaders is to make decisions based on the available information for the good of the organization or team as a whole. Inevitably, that means there will be individuals who are negatively impacted. That impact is a lot easier to accept if it is acknowledged and you are willing to explain why you made the decision you did. As a new leader, those whys are particularly important in part because they make you predictable. If people understand your thought processes, your decisions become less surprising over time. That predictability provides stability.
If you’re the one staying
What you do as leaders come and go also matters. Those who work above, beside, and for the position in transition are all vitality important to the organization and its people. Leadership isn’t about positional authority. It’s about how you approach your work, support your colleagues, help others learn and grow, and collaborate across and within teams. When positional leaders leave and new ones come in, you have an opportunity to demonstrate your own leadership chops and create stability during challenging moments.
Those adjacent to leadership transitions can have lots of complicated feelings about the change. You might be struggling with the departure of a deeply trusted leader and sceptical that the successor can fill their shoes. On the other hand, you might be celebrating the departure of the leader you never agreed with or respected. Most likely, you will be somewhere in the middle, anxious about the instability and potential for change. No matter where you fall on the concern-o-meter, here are three things you can do to create stability for yourself and your co-workers:
Focus. As humans, change can be uncomfortable. We tend to find comfort in what we know. Take advantage of that. Your work matters and you likely know it very well; focus on it. Spend time deliberately focusing on the things you can control rather than the ones you can’t. It can help you maintain your own sense of stability as well as providing an example for others who may be struggling to do the same. Write down the questions you have for your new leader and work to get those questions answered. Focus on the answers you know, not on the ones you don’t and the speculation that sometimes sucks us into cycles of rumor and uncertainty.
Focus, too, on balance. Work is a large part of our lives, but it is not everything. If you find yourself struggling to focus on what you know and can control, take the time to step away and focus elsewhere. When the workday is over, start that show you want to binge; take the long walk through a state park; or plan quality time with your partner, children, family, or friends. By shifting your focus to things outside of work, you can manage the temporary internal feelings of instability and return to a productive headspace.
Stay open-minded. Change is good. Change is necessary. Change is adaptation. You can increase your own resiliency by concentrating on the ways change has made your work easier, more effective, or more meaningful. One of the most challenging pitfalls organizations face is the “but that’s the way we’ve always done it” mentality. Leadership change creates opportunity for a fresh set of eyes with different experiences and new ways of thinking that might help you and your colleagues grow and thrive.
Build your own leadership skills. With each change comes opportunity. In the case of a leadership change, you have the opportunity not only to provide support to colleagues who are struggling, but to grow your own leadership skills. Be intentional about getting to know the new leader, identify the leadership qualities that are most impactful to you, and reflect on how you do and don’t want to lead. Don’t be afraid to suggest changes that would make your work more effective or remove barriers to success. By being open to the opportunities that come with leadership change, you can create a sense of excitement and expand your own skillsets.
For everyone
Leadership transitions are trying times for all involved. But they happen, and they happen frequently for a wide variety of reasons. How we manage those changes and the uncertainty that accompanies them can help determine our future success and our own well-being. The truth is that how you lead matters, no matter where you are leading from. So here are three things all leaders can do to help organizations and their people thrive, not just in times of change or uncertainty, but all the time:
Listen. Listening to others offers perspectives you might not have and the ability to see differently, more broadly, and more effectively.
Communicate. Be honest and authentic. People can tell and it matters. Communicating effectively builds trust in your leadership abilities, strengthens relationships organizationally and individually, and helps you create leadership capital that you can rely on when things go awry.
Care. Demonstrate your support of both the people and the organization. Be present in ways that work for those around you. Take time to care for yourself with the things that energize you both at work and away from it. To care about others is also to care for oneself. Both matter.
Leadership is both art and skill. When a leadership transition occurs, we are presented with challenges and opportunities. With the right skills, you can artfully manage through the leadership transition no matter your role.
