By Jackie Ogden
Former Vice President, Animals, Science & Environment, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
As leaders, we know intellectually that succession planning is an important responsibility: the process of strategically identifying, preparing, and positioning the right people to take over the most senior leadership positions in your organization (including your own).
Yet we’ve all heard stories about CEOs departing unexpectedly with no succession plan, making the transition even more difficult than it should have been. Sadly, this is not uncommon.
Yes, succession planning requires time and work. Thoughtful work. The urgent often triumphs over the important in our field. And it can be hard to accept that we are neither immortal nor irreplaceable — so we put it off. But succession planning doesn’t have to be cumbersome if you approach the process with foresight, preparedness, and collaboration.
As some of you know, I had the gift of leading the zoological division of a large entertainment company that happens to have both a zoo and an aquarium. Said company cared about succession planning, which meant that they made sure we did it. Because of this and a generous sprinkling of luck, I managed to successfully identify my eventual replacement (we’ll call him “Mark”), and then coached and positioned him with the decision-makers.
Along the way, I learned some lessons that I believe are universally applicable to nonprofits and cultural organizations:
- Consider the skills and experience you need for the role.
- Look for traits that complement your culture.
- Determine if you have a great internal candidate or if you need to look externally.
- If you’re working with an internal candidate, help them be the best they can be.
- Position your candidate with your governing authority and support a smooth transition process.
Lesson 1: First, think hard about what skills and experience you need for this role.
What KSAs (knowledge/skills/abilities) must the candidate bring? What do you see in CEOs that you admire? Think not of a clone of yourself, but of the perfect candidate. There were plenty of traits that I didn’t have or that could have been stronger, and I looked for those in my replacement.
What do you need as an organization? What are your biggest challenges? External (reputation/brand/public opinion)? Internal (governance/organizational culture)? Fiscal (fiscal oversight, deferred maintenance, philanthropic support, governmental support)?
Consider whether you need someone from your professional field: Is your biggest challenge reputation and brand? That is, do your guests support you and support your mission? Do they think you’re solid in your field (e.g., animal welfare, strength of collection, professional expertise)? What type of relationships do you have with your media partners? Your political leaders? Do you have significant critics? If this is an area of challenge, then this argues for candidates with significant subject matter expertise in your professional field. Candidates from outside the field can certainly learn this over time, but strong professional experience can help the new CEO build immediate credibility.
Challenges with your organizational culture suggest a leader with exceptional emotional intelligence and experience steering cultures. If you have significant governance issues, or if you have interest in privatizing, then hiring someone well-versed in these areas may be desirable. Fiscal challenges may suggest a candidate with connections to the local philanthropic community over someone with deep experience in the profession but lesser fiscal/revenue-based knowledge.
Consider whether your replacement needs to have actual experience in a CEO role, or if they can glean these skills in other ways: Those who know me know I am passionate about growing our internal executive leaders, and we have many successful examples in the zoological world. That said, there obviously are particular skill sets that are harder to get at the CEO level — e.g., fundraising, external relations, managing a governing authority. Again, the key is the challenges you face. A large, complex organization often calls for CEO experience. (But don’t forget that internal candidates likely know the organization and its complexities far better than an external candidate.)
Lesson 2: Consider traits that complement your culture.
I have a friend who is naturally funny and very informal (hence why I like them), but was interviewing with an organization that was very serious and formal. Said serious organization should have known better than to consider someone who would almost certainly not be a good fit. And this works for other traits as well.
That said, know that this has a shadow side. Several years ago I interviewed search firms regarding how they helped clients address DEI, and they shared that the phrase, “Person A would fit so much better in our culture than Person B” can be code for, “Person B makes us uncomfortable.” This is often unintentional, but unconscious bias is something that everyone on your team should be aware of throughout this process.
Lesson 3: Once you know what you need, determine if you have a great internal candidate or if you need to look outside the organization
It was clear that the ideal candidate for my role would be someone from the zoological world with CEO experience. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that person on my team. I was then presented with an “opportunity:” My second in command was offered his dream job and resigned. Although not great news, this enabled me to recruit an incredible leader who was a great fit for the current position and had been the CEO of an aquarium. Wahoo — I now had an internal candidate for my succession plan!
Sometimes there simply isn’t a good internal candidate — nor is developmental assistance likely to get you there, nor do you have the opportunity to bring someone else onto your team. It happens. So what do you do? Well, you still do Lesson #1 and #2. Then you ponder external candidates that you think would be a good fit, and work with your governing authority to get them on board with your reasoning.
Lesson 4: If you’re working with an internal candidate, help them be the best candidate they can be.
The next step is to critically evaluate your candidate and help them address gaps, whether leadership skills or specific functional expertise. Ideally this means an executive coach that can assess their strengths and gaps, create a development plan, and then help them work the plan. There are also many less resource-intensive executive development programs, including some great ones within our own associations. Your role as the leader is then to support the candidate and address gaps that you are best positioned to support.
In my case, I was lucky that “Mark” came to me with strong leadership skills and CEO experience. His biggest gap was in understanding the complexities of our ginormous organization, and that’s where we focused.
Lesson 5: Position your candidate with your governing authority.
The current CEO generally has a limited — or no — role in the actual selection of their replacement. This necessitates a strategic, concerted effort to position your candidate as the obvious choice. I have seen a number of leaders in the zoological world attempt this — some successfully and some not. Here are some things I’ve observed:
- A strong relationship with your governing authority is foundational to your success: whether this is a board of directors, a government official, or corporate leaders. Presumably, you are already viewed as a strong, trusted, and credible resource; if not, fix it.
- Then, use this relationship to shape thinking regarding your candidate. This means positioning your candidate with the decision-makers: putting them out there, encouraging them to build relationships, showing you support them, and giving them opportunities to demonstrate all the reasons you believe they are a strong candidate.
- Help your bosses develop a transition plan, including a strong selection process. While this is their process, you can be a trusted voice in many ways, from sharing your experience with executive search firms in your field to serving as a resource regarding the broader professional community. You may even be able to negotiate some level of involvement in the actual selection process (presumably not a decision-making role, but where you can use your influence).
In my case, I began this process as I was hiring “Mark.” I continually positioned him as “my eventual replacement.” I sang his praises constantly and gave him opportunities to demonstrate his talents. When I then announced my planned retirement, it was effectively a fait accompli that “Mark” would take my role.
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Ultimately I was successful, but I have no illusion that this was all skill. The process includes a huge number of wild cards, and I always knew that this was in no way my decision. The credit for the decision lies completely with my former leaders. And the candidate is obviously responsible for successfully demonstrating their strength and talents.
As the current CEO, you can only do so much — but I also know that without a succession planning process in place, this might not have happened.
Oh — in case you’re wondering, Mark has done an amazing job, and is highly respected within the broader organization and the professional community. He has been much more effective than I in a number of key areas. As I knew he would be.
— Jackie
If you’re looking for succession planning support, Canopy can help. Send us a message.
