A couple of nights ago, to celebrate their 80th birthdays this year, we took my parents to see the Lion King musical. As I watched the superb performance, I saw a picture of what can happen in our organisations if we aren’t careful.
For those that don’t know the storyline – here’s a brief summary. The beginning shows Mufasa, the Lion King who rules over the land which is lush and green and full of food, presenting his new cub Simba, with his wife, to the other animals. Simba would be the future king. Mufasa’s jealous brother Scar entices Simba to the more dangerous parts of the land and when Mufasa comes to rescue him, Scar kills him but makes Simba think he is responsible for his death and that he should run away. Scar takes over as king but it isn’t long before the land is desolate and rundown and there is little food. Simba is found by his childhood sweetheart Nala, is persuaded to return, overthrows Scar and takes his rightful place as the Lion King. The lushness of the land is restored and it finishes with Simba and Nala presenting their newly born cub to the other animals. The circle of life!!
So how does this relate to our organisations? What can a story of lions and other animals teach us? Well, it showed me a picture of how important our succession planning is.
In an established organisation, everything may be going well under current leader. The systems may be working well with regular volunteers and a good spirit of harmony amongst those connected to the group. However, there will come a time when that leader will move on – either to another role, to retirement – or maybe more suddenly with illness or under a cloud! What do you do now? Have you prepared for this occasion? Is there somebody within the organisation that has been prepared to take over? Is it right to take this action to maintain things – or should you look for a fresh person from outside the organisation with fresh ideas and looking to make changes? You need to be constantly thinking about this to be prepared when this time comes. You may have a good period to plan and prepare – or you may need to take action more suddenly.
When a new leader comes in, the big question is “are they the right person”? You may not find out quickly. You can prepare as well as possible for advertising, interviewing, asking the right questions, but you don’t know even when you appoint. The organisation will either move forward and grow, or it could go into decline.
The easiest option is to promote the no. 2 to the main role, thinking that they know the people and how everything works – but this can bring dangers. Can they make the step up? I have seen organisations where good leaders have moved on and deputies have moved up – some have gone on to flourish under the new leader as they are able to express and implement ideas that had been kept at bay for years, others have declined and languished and they obviously couldn’t do the top job.
It is the Trustees that must take these decisions and if the organisation flies with the new leader, that’s great! However, if the organisation falls into decline, the Trustees must act swiftly to make changes before it is too late. No matter how difficult these decisions are, or how well they know the new incumbent, the Trustees are responsible and must take the actions necessary to halt the problem – training and support, sharing workload with others or removing their appointee.
In order for the organisation to return its focus to what it can do well, action must be taken. You need to find the person who can turn it around and restore the good times. So it is important to think about succession planning – and talk about it regularly. It is something that won’t go away, may need to be dealt with swiftly, and is part of the circle of life in your organisation! If you need any advice from outside, I would be happy to help!