My mother always said to me, “A good leader is one who develops their people so well that when it is time for her to move on or retire, the team, department or organization does not miss a beat, in fact, things should even get better.” At the time when my mom first shared this with me, I did not realize how powerful and difficult this is to do. To my dismay, I have found that many leaders do not take the time to develop others. There are even those who want it to be a challenge for the organization when they leave…. they want there to be a void without them. I have heard leaders say, “They are going to be hurting real bad when I leave…. They will finally know how much I really did”. This is not pure leadership. This is selfish leadership.
Human nature says, “I want to be valued, needed and missed.” As leaders, we should be valued, needed and missed. If we are not, we are not doing our job. However, if things fall apart when we leave, we have not lead well. It is the responsibility of the leader to develop their people, so when he is ready to move on, move up or move out, someone is waiting in the wings already groomed, developed and ready to step in. This is how to create a legacy and a succession plan.
Another one of my favorite sayings is, “your ceiling should be their floor”. When you are developing someone, you cannot be intimidated if they are better than you at something. In fact, just the opposite is true. You want the next person to step in at your highest level and then continue to go up from there. Many people find this easy with their children, but a challenge with people that work for and with them.
Are you willing to train and develop your people? Sometimes it is easier to do work yourself, but that is not how you create a succession plan and prepare the organization to move forward.
Below are the 10 steps you can take to make yourself completely replaceable:
- Make a list of what you do and the value it brings to your organization. Be sure to include the unwritten rules, company politics you have learned to navigate, who you network with, how to communicate, the importance of “presence”, etc.
- Begin to open your eyes for talent – who in your organization (and not just on your team or in your department) stands out to you? Who shows the leadership qualities as well as business acumen to take on the role that you perform?
- Once you have identified 3 or 4 people, begin to observe them closely.
- Take each of them to lunch or coffee and get to know them better. Find out if their values within the organization and outside of the organization align with the role that you fill. Assess whether they have the potential to step into your shoes and then go above where you have gone (remember your ceiling should be their floor). This may take 5 to 6 one-on-one meetings, as well as continued observations at work.
- Time to narrow again… after you have gotten to know each of these leadership candidates well, pick 2 that you will work closely with.
- Dedicate one hour a week to each leadership candidate to develop, mentor and coach them based upon what you identified in the first step of this process.
- Begin using them to fill your roles… give them opportunities to run your meetings and projects, give you feedback, deal with difficult situations, attend board meetings and important dinners, etc. If you are out of the office, rotate the leader that is in charge.
- Personally observe how the candidates perform, and receive feedback of their performance from their colleagues, direct reports, stakeholders, board members and even your boss (if you have one).
- Identify their areas of talent, and help grow those talents into strengths through work opportunities and education.
- If there are areas of weakness that would be detrimental to their career, have the difficult conversations with them, and have them work with you or a coach to improve in this area.
The list could certainly keep going. However, my goal was to give you 10 foundational steps to get you moving in the right direction so you can help to develop leaders, create your succession plan and make yourself a replaceable leader! If you have additional suggestions, please write us. We always love your feedback.