Imagine you won the biggest lottery in history. However, in order to collect your winnings, there are two requirements.
First, you have to leave your current position or company in one week.
Second, you must create a comprehensive list of things you have been working on as well as those things you haven’t yet started but you know need to be addressed to take your team or company to where you want it to be in 3-5 years. This will help your successor take over more effectively and quickly. (Note: You’d never met your successor before, but given the initial conversation you just had with her, she is exactly the type of leader who can and will accomplish what you’ve always wanted to do.)
If this were to happen to you – and you wanted to collect the lottery payout – what would you include on your list? What needs to happen?
What needs to happen?
I anticipate that once you were over the initial shock of winning the lottery, it’d be fairly easy to create a list of projects, personnel issues, and systemic fixes currently in play. Then, you might even add a longer list of things you haven’t yet done but you’ve wanted to do in the next 3-5 years. Create your list.
Knowing your successor is amazing, you realize she’s going to work quickly and efficiently. She’s probably going to complete your list in half the time you’d been planning. Given that, what would your successor change? What would she:
- Immediately delete
- Add
- Restructure
- Change
- Reschedule / adjust the timing of
- Change regarding your products or services
- Address with select staff
- Address with all staff
- Change in your staffing structure
- Address with your board of directors
- Etc
What would your successor do?
Why would she make these changes? Why is it easier for her to make these changes in timing, priorities, and taking action than it has been for you?
Because she’s not you. She doesn’t have the emotional baggage and bias you do. She doesn’t have the history and relationships you do. She’s not trying to keep a product alive because your father introduced it 35 years ago. She’s not trying to appease your accountant who has been with the company for 25 years and plans to retire in three years, but argues with everyone. And she’s not married to your pet project that just isn’t working. She’s not you and therefore her decisions aren’t shaded with the emotions and biases you’ve been dealing with. She’ll ask, “Is this the best decision for the company” and not what’s been holding you back, “How can I make this as pain-free as possible?”
The best leaders I work with care deeply about their teams, companies, customers, and business partners. They hurt deeply when tough decisions are made. However, growth is never easy. When something needs to happen, it often helps by taking a look at what’s holding you back when you look at what’s in front of you more objectively. If you’re facing a tough decision or need to act, ask yourself, “What would my successor do?”
Copyright MMXXVI – Liz Weber, CMC, CSP – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com +1.717.597.8890 Liz Weber is an advisor to boards of directors, business owners, and C-Suite leaders. She’s a leadership, strategic and succession planning consultant, keynote speaker, and author. Learn more on LinkedIn.
