As companies around the world wake up to the fact that their CEO won’t be around forever, they are beginning to realize that talent for the successor chairperson is critical. But those with leadership talent are often reluctant to take on a role as leader of a big company. With challenges such as shareholder pressure, technological disruption and financial crises, how can companies attract and retain these talented people? You’ll find out in this insightful article about succession wars.
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Leadership Talent: Winning The Succession Wars is written by James Carleton-Smith and is published by The Leadership Institute Ltd. All rights are reserved and reproduction is forbidden without the written consent of The Leadership Institute Ltd.
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1. What is a Succession War?
A Succession War is all-out competition for leadership talent that occurs when one leader wants to hand over the reins to a new individual because he/she thinks them to be superior. It can be an internal or external promotion depending on whether they are promoting their own successor or searching externally for impressive talent.
2. Why Do Leadership Roles Collide?
As mentioned above, it is not just the CEO that competes for succession talent, so do the other senior roles in an organization. For example, in a global company, if the COO wants to hand over to their successor and the CFO also has a strong candidate they are also likely to take leadership talent into consideration when selecting their successor.
3. What Happens When There Are Few Successful Successors?
If companies have very few successful successors and there is a lot of competition for talent this can create friction within an organization because there is not room for all people to implement their own projects without harming others.
4. Are There Any Repercussions For Weak Successors?
When a succession war occurs internally, the new leader is likely to appoint their own team into senior management positions. A lot of the original team will be removed, which can have a disruptive effect on the organization if it is based on personal relationships rather than competencies. When there are external candidates and they are not selected they may leave the organization to seek employment elsewhere, this leaves a void in the organization so suddenly it has "holes" in its structure. So weak successors who do not work out as leaders may have a detrimental impact on an organization.
5. What Types Of People Are In A Succession War?
There are usually two types of people in a succession war. The first is someone who is an impressive and competent senior executive who has the skills to do the job, so they don’t need much persuasion to take it on. Next we have someone who is not so capable, but they know that if they win the succession war then it will propel them into a more senior position within the company. They have no other place to go so are willing to take on this challenge and are going to fight for it, but may not necessarily be equipped for taking on this role as leader.
6. How Can Succession Wars Be Avoided?
There are three things that can help to avoid succession wars; firstly, to ensure the successor is ready for the role. Secondly, have a succession process in place so that there is a succession route in place if the individual is not successful at being a CEO. Thirdly, keep your competitors guessing as to who will succeed as they will want to position themselves so they are ready when that person quits.
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