Managing Organisational Leadership Changes

Once an organisation has indicated its intention to change its CEO it must move quickly to do so as performance can be adversely affected by the distractions that occur during the interim period. This applies even to organisations with clear succession policies. Whether the change is mutual or not, the time frame from the time the decision is made known to current incumbent to implementation must be as minimal as possible, i.e. allow new successor to take control within a very short space of time.
I would argue that there is no hand-over-take-over necessary at this level. In fact. By having a quick  transition, an organisation is saved from the  distractions of the "off the ball incidences" that affect performance. The performance downturn, if allowed to set in, can take new CEO almost three years to turnaround.

If a board is not ready with a successor, no discussions should take place with the incumbent, to avoid the negative scenario discussed above.

My management consultancy firm, Northen Consulting Services, is available to assist organisations with succession planning and the selection process in a very confidential manner. I can be contacted on jshoniwa@nppsrecruit.com.

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