Leadership changes can be difficult and disruptive to organisational performance. Whatever the scenario – voluntary or involuntary, redundancy, resignation, retirement, or letting a key senior employee go – it can cause significant stress to a business and to employee happiness and productivity. Your goal as a change manager in this scenario is to communicate significant leadership transitions in the right way, in order to reduce negative impact and help to stabilise the business, reducing the risk of further attrition. Here are my top tips for leaders and change managers dealing with this scenario:
Understand the context
The specific conditions of the leadership change will play a large part in your decision of how to deal with it. Hopefully the outgoing leader has been treated fairly and holds no grievance against the business and will thus be cooperative with your planning. Even if this change does not appear huge, key individuals will normally have formed strong relationships with others in the business and their absence can cause a negative ripple effect if not handled correctly. If the individual is a C-level executive or founder of the business then that is likely to have more impact. Similarly, the impact of an individual leaving in a smaller business will likely have more of an impact than in a bigger one, as that person’s reach and influence will be wider.
It is worth conducting a thorough impact assessment covering systems, processes, people and information, to understand the scale of the change management activities you’ll need to undertake. This way you’ll understand in advance specific systems and process related changes that need to be made – think about things like approvals, POAs etc. This tends only to be a problem in smaller companies, where off-boarding processes and process controls are less defined and rigorous. The outgoing individual may hold key information about the running of the business that you will need to hand over. They may also have a significant network of influence, so it’s worth doing an impact analysis on personnel too, in order to construct a more nuanced communications plan.
Acknowledge the past with gratitude
Depending on the circumstances surrounding the outgoing employee, this may be more or less appropriate. Unless the person’s employment has been terminated under negative circumstances, it’s normally appropriate to celebrate their time at the company and thank them for their contribution. Consider that management and employees may also have a different opinion of the person and that, even if the person is not judged to be a high performer by fellow managers, they may be very popular with colleagues and their team.
Try to put yourself in the shoes of the wider business and judge how this change will be received. It’s important to maintain a balance between gratitude and well wishing for the person’s future career, with excitement about the new incoming leader and the opportunities they will have for contributions.
Tailor your communications
Communications in these scenarios have to be incredibly nuanced. If a leader has been generally well liked and respected, it is best that the incoming leader doesn’t talk about their predecessor’s shortcomings. In some cases of course, if there has been an obvious performance gap, then it would be more advisable to acknowledge this in order to be more transparent with staff.
If you are lucky enough to have both incoming and outgoing leader cooperation, then try to show the two together as much as possible in order to demonstrate synergy and alignment. Mutual respect between the two individuals, publicly demonstrated, can help ease the transition as staff will look to the outgoing leader to understand how they should respond. Especially if a leader is well liked and respected, colleagues will be keen to see that they have been treated well and that they are happy and excited about the change.
“Humanise” new leadership as soon as possible!
When you announce the change – whether in writing or verbal – it can be helpful to include some information about the incoming leader that is a little personal. Once the initial shock of the news has worn off, people will be naturally curious about their new leader and the more you can supply them, the more control you have over the narrative and the more they will be reassured.
Once the new leader starts, make sure they have time dedicated to speak with employees more than usual – hold Q+As or open office hours, perhaps hold drinks receptions or dinner where the team can network with their new leader. Face time is incredibly important in the early days, especially between the new leader and their direct reports.
Keep feedback channels open
It’s natural that leadership changes can be some of the most disruptive, because they involve people and personal relationships. In many cases, senior executives direct the strategy and vision for the business, so their loss may be even more keenly felt if a strong and confident replacement is not found quickly. If you know you will be losing a key senior leader and you have no replacement lined up, it might be worth considering investing in an interim.
Make sure that feedback channels are available for employees, both directly to the new leader but also via other more familiar executives, and watch out for any signs of genuine disruption. During the months following a leadership change, it’s worth paying particular care and attention to those closest to the person, and making sure they feel valued and engaged.
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