‘Stepping up’ and ‘stepping aside’ – the challenges of succession

This article was initially published in the Banff Centre's Leadership Compass and a PDF version can be found here. As a part of our work, we have been exploring the challenges of executing succession in our Alberta partners. Across industries, sectors and geographies we have seen patterns of challenges that make developing succession pools a difficult task.

Leadership Compass - 2011

One of the most complicated issues facing leaders and organizations today is how to identify, develop, and retain the next generation of leaders. In order to examine how the leadership of organizations is changing and how organizations need to adapt, we hosted a workshop, Leadership Fitness: Succession and Readiness to Lead, at The Banff Centre. The intent of the workshop was to hear directly from those responsible for supporting succession, and to see where The Banff Centre can play a role in advancing readiness in our partners.

In conversations with partners and in our applied research, succession consistently emerges as a critical concern. Organizations are seeing a profound demographic shift with mass retirements of middle- and senior-managing baby boomers, and as intense poaching of talent and richer incentives lure leaders to healthy sectors and organizations. According to Statistics Canada, by 2015 one in five workers will be aged 55 to 64, which brings succession to the forefront of organizational challenges.

According to research, “growing talent within organizations yields leaders who, through their historical knowledge and experience in the organization, have earned the trust of the organization and are more likely to be accepted as knowledgeable, capable leaders”.

Although definitions of succession differ broadly, participants in the workshop agreed on the need to carefully consider succession for roles, recruitment, leadership capacity, and organizational integrity. But how? We assume that organizational members will deliberately volunteer their strengths to the team. What we found in exploring stories of succession during the workshop, however, was that empathy, respect, and trust play critical roles in the willingness of leaders to ‘step up’ and existing leaders to ‘step to the side’.

We often focus on the ‘planning’ of succession, and there is a thriving industry in consulting and advising on succession strategies. However, people responsible for implementing succession realize that implementing the plan requires different tools and a different mindset. Throughout the 2-day workshop, participants surfaced two dimensions to successional issues within organizations, regardless of industry or type.

• The ‘planning’ components of succession were defined in terms of processes, activities, and culture. 
• The ‘doing’ components of succession asked participants to explore respect, trust, and empathy as critical components of building organizational futures. 

The reality is that succession can only succeed when the ‘planning’ components are supported by a deep connection to those we want to lead and be led by. Our workshop dialogue revealed that leaders are concerned with employees who don’t leave but refuse to ‘step up’, so they lose interest in the changes happening around them. Additionally, current senior leaders are unable to appreciate the ideas and energy of a new working generation, so they never find the courage to ‘step to the side’.

Not surprisingly, we discovered that succession is hard. The structural challenges are known, and planning can ensure that new challenges are met. However, effective planning requires the commitment and energy of those who currently lead, as well as future leaders. This is where individual acts of trust, respect, and empathy can support the succession vision.

Another imposing issue that surfaced during the workshop was the changing reality of organizational life, shifting demographics, and the need to understand succession in the context of larger systems of value creation. Some lament the loss of loyalty as employees move from role to role, although others believe that loyalty is adopting a new face. Participants believed that the needs of future leaders are complex and tied to larger conversations than organizations alone can support.

According to author William J. Rothwell, succession “rules, procedures, and techniques used in the past appear to be growing increasingly outmoded and inappropriate”. According to our workshop group, the skills and resiliency required to support succession are of a different character than the skills necessary to plan the succession. Ultimately, trust, respect, and a shared sense of purpose will allow leaders the comfort to ‘step up’ when required and ‘step to the side’ when a new response is needed.

[1]American Society for Training and Development, Oct 2006


[2]Rothwell, William J. Effective Succession Planning: Ensuring Leadership Continuity and Building Talent From Within: 4th Revised edition. Amacon. Toronto. April 29, 2010.

by Jerrold McGrath