Preparing Successors For Top Jobs: Too Little, Too Late?

Something predictable happens in my work coaching and advising senior leaders. It’s the moment when they say, “I can’t believe nobody told me this,” or, “I wish I had known this earlier.” You have to wonder why these comments get raised so often by highly experienced executives. After all, these are often the leaders who are at the top of their professions, they have accumulated years of experience, and most were identified as key successors in their companies. In other words, they have spent years preparing for their roles, so what gives?

It comes down to this: When it comes to preparing senior executives to take on the highest roles inside organizations, we’re still leaving too much out of the conversation. It’s why you’ll hear comments like:

• I wish I had known how much of a voice the board expects to have in my management decisions
• I wish I had the full picture of how we were performing as a business before I took the job
• I wish I had recognized how much resistance there would be to my project or initiative
• I wish I had recognized the dynamics on the executive team before becoming a member
• I wish I had done more to appreciate how much time and access I would have to my CEO
• I wish more people had been candid with me about my leadership style before I took the role

Good leaders appreciate the need to ask questions and learn as they go, but executives who step into major roles with too many surprises or missing pieces of information create risk for themselves and their organizations. The good news is there are simple steps senior leaders and organizations can take to close the knowledge gap when it is time to take on a top role. For instance:

Have a future-back perspective. Executives taking on a top job might ask: A year from now, what will I know that I don’t know today? Consider the types of questions to ask sooner rather than later to uncover blind spots or address gaps in knowledge. For example, you might ask for examples of the role the board played in making recent company decisions. You could ask trusted colleagues to share what their typical interactions with the CEO look like. You could assess your own team to get better visibility into strengths or gaps. Asking questions that get at specific examples and real scenarios is what helps leaders address the unknown unknowns that come with the territory of a new role.

Candid conversations. A strong succession process is a rigorous one, yet too often, we work with senior leaders feel they were not given the full picture of the role until after the fact. Consider one new CEO who put it bluntly: “I was told our strategy was strong when I took on the job. Turns out, it isn’t in good shape. I feel like this was a bait-and-switch.” This is where organizations have an important part to play, starting with bringing more frank conversation and candor to their succession process. As a regular practice, companies would be well-served to check in with leaders a year into the role and ask them for feedback about what they wish they had been told prior to taking on the job, and deliberately weave that input into the succession process going forward.

A strong succession process can’t happen without candid conversation and frank discussion by all parties. When that happens, companies, boards, and executives grow trust with each other and set the right tone and foundation to create a strong future together.