The Key to Leadership Transition is Collaboration

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Hey Founder,

So, you’ve decided to step back from running the business you raised from infancy and hand it over to someone else, eh? I’m sure you’ve thought this through and talked it out until you (and others) were blue in the face.

So, congratulations! 

Now, I know there’s a part of you that is absolutely terrified of the coming weeks and months—the transition period when you and the new leader have to figure out how you’re going to make all this happen. This isn’t easy for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which is that you’ve devoted 15 years of your life to raising this little superstar to adolescence. The last you want is for someone to come in and muck it all up, right?

I’ve known quite a few founders like you and work with them all the time, including right now. And one thing I can say without hesitation is that there is a way to enjoy this transition quite a lot and in spite of any apprehension you (and your team!) have. In fact, there is a way you can use the transition to rediscover the old excitement and passion you used to feel for your project.

The secret is to keep breathing and onboard your replacement with a minimum of drama and a maximum of collaborative goodwill. Fortunately, I’ve helped founders like you with some of the practicalities of executing this handoff. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the things we at ScalePassion excel at. So, let’s assume you have identified your replacement and are negotiating roles, goals and responsibilities. How should you proceed?

First, I suggest you set aside a good four hours to meet, just the two of you, to talk about this company you love and how you’re going to work together—the word “together” can’t come up too often—to set up the new leader for success. I always advocate having a context, purpose and result established for any meeting. I wrote about CPR here. 

But basically your CPR context would be to drive clarity around leadership roles, responsibilities, and agreements to ensure smooth decision-making and execution for an amazing company where growth is the focus. The purpose of the discussion is to explore and clarify the working relationship between founder and new leader. And the result of the meeting should be a clear list of agreements and go-forward expectations about company leadership.

Include next steps and timeframes if you can. Time frame is important to transition power but also trust. So, don’t be shy about setting 90- or 180-day “trust” milestones to give both the founder and new leader room to grow confident of one another.

But the most important aspect of the meeting is your frame of mind. In short: come to the discussion in a spirit of exploration and even fun. Leave your biases from the past in the past, or better still, show a little vulnerability and lay them on the table. At the very least, it will help the two of you avoid having to dance around them. In other words, really get to know each other, not just the company. No matter how well you think you know your baby, remind yourself that two brains are better than one.

Take a page out of conscious leadership and tell yourself that you’d rather be curious than right!

With integrity intact and vulnerability on the table, work through the key leadership buckets including personal goals, strategic vision, governance, team dynamics and culture, and time frame for the full handoff to take place. As a founder, you might be thinking, “I want to be out in a year, tops!” Or, maybe it’s three or five years out? Well, the new leader may have her own ideas of how long she wants you around, in spite of how much she loves your experience and passion for your business, not to mention your full support. 

Now is the time to convey your hopes for the company’s future, its big picture and KPIs, alike; but it’s also time to hear what the new leader thinks about this, what her experiences have taught her about transitions and so on.

And then there is the matter of who does what, right? 

Where do you (the founder) want to focus your energy? 

Where does the new leader want to focus hers? 

Say “yes” often and compromise, remembering it was you (the founder) who decided to hand off your baby. Respect the special talents and gifts and perspectives the new leader brings but be sure she knows that she’s not walking into a vacuum either. Talk culture. 

The four-hour meeting should go a long way to setting you on a course that will work for both you and your new leader, but don’t depend on just one discussion. Set up times you will meet to discuss tactics and strategy and communicate with your team. Build in a regular rhythm of such conversations. Maybe you think best over coffee or lunch … or something stronger? Maybe you think better on a monthly basis? Or quarterly? 

I have written here about establishing a corporate rhythm using various weekly, monthly and quarterly meetings that might fit the bill for you and your new president. Use this time to reinforce clarity on agreements, roles, rhythm, governance, and so on. Empower one another to hold each other accountable to the agreements because you will slip out of them. 

Give each other grace to course correct as needed. And you will need it.

When ScalePassion leads companies through leadership transitions, we want the founder and new president to come together around the feelings of excitement and purposefulness that drew both of you to the business in the first place. And yes, the organization that emerges from this collaborative process will not be entirely like it was, nor will it be entirely different, either. 

But it will be cool. And I am always here to support you in your awesome adventure.

Sincerely,

Rob Craven, ScalePassion

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All credit to my ghostwriting partner, Dave Moore, who is instrumental in getting my thoughts out in a coherent manner & into these blogs. Thanks Dave!