Discover the four essential steps HR leaders need to implement for a successful executive transition. Learn how to plan, adapt, search, and onboard senior leaders effectively.

Why Executive Transition Planning Matters

Successful executive transitions are critical for companies to continue meeting their business objectives. Effective preparation includes anticipating that leaders will leave, planning in advance, adapting at the moment of departure, and fully supporting comprehensive onboarding of both interim and replacement leaders.

We all know that change is constant or at least right around the corner. When transitions happen at the senior executive level, it’s not only stressful for the people coming and going, it also affects the entire enterprise. Research shows that successful transitions lead to business benefits for organizations, whereas ineffective transitions hinder results. To reach optimal outcomes, the best you can do is prepare for change at the top. There are four aspects to developing an effective Executive Transition Plan for your organization:

1. Plan in advance
2. Adapt as needed
3. Search for a replacement
4. Support the onboarding of the replacement

Change at the top reaches all levels of an organization. If it goes well, the company can continue to succeed. If not, the enterprise is less likely to reach its measures of success. McKinsey research^[1] shows that when a senior executive transition is seen as a success, there is a “90% higher likelihood that teams will meet their 3-year performance goals,” and teams have a “13% lower attrition risk.” For unsuccessful transitions, teams can face “20% less engagement,” and “15% lower performance.” The research also shows that almost half of executive transitions are deemed failures.

What leads to this high rate of failed leadership change? “…[L]eaders are typically underprepared for—and undersupported during—the transition to new roles.” Onboarding comprised of one sole event or completely self-directed activities are recipes for disaster. Systematic transition processes anticipate needs and requirements, prepare for departures, and plan for new arrivals. Transition teams, 30-60-90-180 day plans, onboarding and executive coaching, and more will help plan for and successfully conduct effective senior leadership transitions.  

In general, senior leaders leave organizations for three primary reasons:

1. A personal emergency demands their full attention and they leave immediately
2. They decide to leave or retire and schedule their last day sometime in the future
3. The enterprise removes them, either for cause or due to restructuring, immediately or by an agreed upon date

The transition plan for all of these scenarios is the same:

1. Plan in advance for potential transitions
2. Adapt the plan when a transition happens and put an internal interim in place
3. Search for a replacement (who might be the interim)
4. Onboard and support the replacement

The Four Pillars of Executive Transition Success

The difference among the leaving scenarios is whether there is any warning (e.g., a retirement) or not (e.g., emergency). To be ready for any of them, the organization must anticipate, plan ahead, and develop processes. Below are details of how to layout a comprehensive Executive Transition Plan.

Step 1: Plan in advance for potential transitions

Before anyone announces that they are leaving, the only way to prepare is to anticipate that it will happen one day by a member of the senior leadership team and make plans accordingly. Steps include:

• A. Develop a Transition Team
  • It will take a team of people from different functional areas of the business to conduct the tasks laid out below. Broad representation will also create buy-in across the company for actions taken.
• B. Appoint a Transition Manager
  • There needs to be a point person; someone ultimately accountable and in charge of the Transition Team. Some companies choose to contract with a transition coach or consultant to lead them through the process.
• C. Define which executive roles to make plans for
  • Which leaders will the Transition Team focus on? Which executives are in roles that are important enough that if they left without warning, the organization would need someone to cover their functions immediately?
• D. Develop clear and accurate job descriptions for each senior leadership role
  • It will be impossible to fill a role effectively or get someone to cover it well if there is not an accurate understanding of the position, so create or update job descriptions and have the leaders in each role review and edit them. Include general responsibilities based on an aligned vision of the position either between the senior leadership team (SLT) and the Board, or just among the SLT, depending on the level of the role. Clarify the priorities and expectations.
• E. Create a plan with the organization’s future in mind, not just the current state
  • The Transition Team, in coordination with the SLT and the Board, develops a transition action plan to manage the process and support the interim. The action plan will include elements such as developing internal and external announcements about the change, how to onboard the internal interim, how to guide them to unearth critical and timely issues, how to help them integrate with and lead the team, and how they should prepare for eventually bringing a permanent replacement up to speed.
• F. Identify and cultivate potential internal interims
  • Create the list of internal go-to candidates who could take over ASAP. Then start training them to be ready. Put them in touch with the leader they would take over for. Have them establish periodic check-ins to keep updated about how the role evolves.

Step 2: Adapt the plan when a transition happens and put the internal interim in place

When it’s clear that a senior leader is actually going to leave, it’s equivalent to a stating gun going off. It’s time to jump into action; the clock is now ticking:

• A. Tap the appointed interim immediately
  • Notify the interim as soon as possible so they can start getting up to speed. Have them review the job description and transition action plan. Also, check-in with the SLT and the Board for any changes to strategic direction, company objectives, etc. that may shift either the responsibilities or objectives of the role.
• B. If there is some warning and time to ramp up
  • Have the person who will be leaving document their current responsibilities, priorities (including critical issues), daily tasks, etc. – anything that will help transition the work to the interim. Develop an agenda for a hand-off meeting between the person leaving and the interim.
• C. Have the interim develop a plan and get started
  • Put the interim in place and request that they put together their own action plan including identifying critical and timely issues, integrating with and leading the team, cultivating ongoing projects and strategic initiatives, and preparing for bringing in a permanent replacement.

Step 3: Search for a replacement

Develop a search committee and have them review the company strategic plans, priorities, objectives, etc. to develop a prioritized list of what’s most important in a replacement. Then work through the usual search steps such as creating the job posting, identifying compensation, recruiting, screening, interviewing candidates, and ultimately presenting recommended candidates to the SLT or Board, whichever is appropriate.

Step 4: Onboard and support the replacement

• A. Assign at least a mentor if not an executive coach with experience in executive transitions
  • As written in Forbes[2], a new executive has twice the chance of success in the role if they work with an executive coach. The leader coming in needs to do the usual analysis of the culture, team, stakeholders and strategy, but what is usually neglected is conducting an inner analysis of what they need to be successful and what leadership style will be effective. An executive coach has the techniques to help focus the new executive’s inner investigation, as well as what information they can collect to help them identify how to be successful. The leader will gain a clear understanding of their executive values, leadership philosophy, purpose, and success factors.
• B. Design an effective onboarding plan
  • Take the new executive through an overview of what onboarding will involve. Develop a schedule for the new leader to meet other senior leaders, team members, and stakeholders. Provide information to read and review. Remember that some of these activities can begin before their first day.
• C. Help them develop a 30-60-90-180-day plan
  • Coordinate on building their own 30-60-90-180-day plan for integrating into the team, beginning to add value and ultimately having impact. The plan will go out as far as 180 days because according to McKinsey, “Stakeholders typically expect a new CEO [or C-Suite executive] to propose a new strategic vision within the first eight months, not the first 100 days.”
  • Their 30-60-90-180-day plan should emphasize dealing with immediately critical issues, assessing the team and the business, identifying changes to make and initiatives to pursue, and detailing how to implement the changes and initiatives. It will focus on assessing, then acting. McKinsey identified five areas to focus on to “take stock” and then “take action”: their business function, the company culture, the team, themself, and other stakeholders. In general, in the first 30 days, observe, ask questions, assess, meet people, identify fires to put out and potential early wins. During the second 30 days, build a vision and change management plan, start to set direction. In the third 30 days, implement the plan and start executing. Days 91-180, focus on strategic planning for operations, finance, and people, as well as to meet overall company objectives.
  • Help the new leader build the plan. Have them identify what they will start doing, continue to do, and stop doing. Ask them to identify what can be delayed or terminated. Have them stop projects as they introduce new projects, or ask where they will expand resources. Ultimately, they are building a blueprint to assume leadership of the team, build alignment and relationships with stakeholders, join the company culture, and focus on a strategic vision and plan.
• D. Set them free
  • Give them the autonomy and independence to excel. At the same time, support them as needed as they work their plan.

Next Steps for HR Leaders

Being ready for an executive transition will support the success of your company when it happens. By conducting preliminary work, adapting as needed, being ready to search for a replacement, and supporting the interim and replacement executives as they get started, you can prevent the pitfalls of an area of your business being rudderless.

Are you preparing for potential senior leader transitions? Ensure that the replacement will be supported as they onboard. Contact us today to learn how we can help with executive coaching and leadership development.

[1] Scott Keller, “Successfully Transitioning to New Leadership Roles,” People & Organizational Performance, 5/23/2018, https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/successfully-transitioning-to-new-leadership-roles#/

[2] Marina Cvetkovic, “Why Many Executive Transitions Fail and How to Help Ensure Success,” Forbes > Leadership, 4/5/2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/04/05/why-many-executive-transitions-fail-and-how-to-help-ensure-success/

Introduction

It seems that artificial intelligence is affecting everything. Since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT late last year, “generative AI” has been all the buzz, which is artificial intelligence that can generate previously nonexistent content. The accounting and consulting firm PwC recently pledged to spend $1B in generative AI to improve the automation within their U.S. tax, audit, and consulting practices.

Advances are happening fast. The next big generative AI milestone, Auto-GPT, was released on March 30^th, just four months after ChatGPT. Auto-GPT offers much richer output by bringing the “thinking” of many AI “agents” together.

All of this is affecting the job seeking process. The potential impact is hard to believe. Therefore, understanding and harnessing this evolving technology will be essential to conducting an effective and efficient search going forward.

Technology and Job Searching

Internet technology was a transformational milestone in job searching. Before the internet, there was no – or limited – search capability to find a job. The process in general was to scan the Want Ads in the newspaper, contact your local trade association, talk to companies individually, collaborate with your connections, and work with recruiters. With the advent of the first internet search engines in the early 1990’s, you could actively search the internet for specific posted roles.

Eventually, LinkedIn, Monster, and Indeed were born to provide more and better targeted results. In 2017, Google added a job search function to its search engine. Job searching on the internet had become about as broad and comprehensive as possible. What also came with search engines and websites was the ability to find examples and samples of cover letters, resumes, what questions interviewers might ask, and so much more.

The Introduction of Mainstream AI

Cue the ChatGPT launch in November 2022. ChatGPT is AI software, known as a chatbot, that runs automated tasks based on instructions provided in natural language by the user. For example, “Hi ChatGPT. What are 10 questions a Vice President of Development might ask me for the following Software Developer job posting [copy and paste job description].” Job seekers are already using chatbots to create resumes and cover letters, as well as to optimize them for keywords compared to job descriptions (with questionable results that require review and editing).

Now Auto-GPT has joined the party, launching in March 2023. What Auto-GPT brings is the ability for the AI technology to create a project plan for the objective that you define, execute the items on that project plan, check data sources for accuracy, revise the project steps as needed, and deliver the ultimate result. Think, “Hi Auto-GPT. Land me an interview in software development at a company fitting these criteria [input criteria] that matches my skills [input resume and additional information about experience, interests, and background].”

Auto-GPT is known as “autonomous AI,” which means that it has the ability to devise tasks and complete them. It completes the tasks by interacting with other “AI agents” (other AI software programs) to gather information, check itself, revise its steps, and develop a result. Note that the Auto-GPT interface and user experience (UX) is currently not yet very user-friendly and takes some technical knowledge to set up and use.

A Real-Time Example

When Auto-GPT is more user-friendly, it will be very helpful for doing research on companies, industries, and job searching in general. As an example of its power for creating reports, recently @SullyOmarr shared the following Auto-GPT test on Twitter: “I pretended to be a fake shoe company and gave AutoGPT [sic] a simple objective:

• Do market research for waterproof shoes
• Get the top 5 competitors and give me a report of their pros & cons”

Auto-GPT found the top waterproof shoes, analyzed the available information, updated the queries it was using, and validated the reviewers. It created sub tasks to analyze the websites it was reviewing. When it got stuck, it figured it out by itself and fixed the issue in its process. It developed a “…pretty detailed report of the top 5 waterproof shoe companies, with their pros, cons, and a nice conclusion summarizing the report. Oh, and it only took 8 minutes, at a cost of 10 cents.”

How Job Seeking Will Change

Although Auto-GPT and similar technologies will probably have the potential to land you a job at some point in the distant future, in the more immediate future, it will probably be able to land interviews for you. To illustrate, I prompted ChatGPT for a list of the fundamental steps of a job search, and it responded with the following:

• Self-assessment
• Job search strategy
• Resume and cover letter
• Job applications
• Networking
• Interviews
• Follow-up

You could input to Auto-GPT the results of your self-assessments, your resume, and additional interests, skills, and background information, and it can develop a job search strategy and execute the initial part of it. It can develop a resume and cover letters and find appropriate job postings. (Note that AI-generated resumes and cover letters currently have documented quality issues.) I don’t believe that the interface between Auto-GPT and Indeed, LinkedIn, and individual company websites is there yet for it to apply to the jobs for you, but I can only imagine that it’s coming.

Where could this technology be leading us?

• Candidates will apply to a huge number of jobs! Just like online applications led to a huge increase in job application submissions, this could make that number explode
• With that explosion, companies will utilize additional software and AI to screen applications and resumes, so it will be even more difficult than it already is for candidates to get through
• Networking and working with recruiters will become even more important for candidates to break through the noise
• LinkedIn, Indeed, and other platforms will go far past job alerts and proactively provide a daily list of scheduled interview options
• The AI technology will misinterpret either vague or synonymous candidate information and apply to irrelevant jobs, such as:
  • Architect – houses or data networks?
  • Engineer – software, mechanical, industrial, etc.?
• The AI will work from erroneous information and not flag it
• Eventually (somehow) the interview process could go away and all the job matching will be automated so after you input your job requirements to AI, you will receive a message a few moments later saying, “Welcome to ABC company! How about starting on Monday?”

How realistic is this one-step job searching? Some form of it is coming. The specific predictions above may or may not come true, but a major shift is underway. It’s going to be up to all job seekers to understand the changes and adapt their job search strategies accordingly.

Networking is by far the most effective activity to engage in when seeking a new job. As such, as career consultants and experts, we are consistently speaking with clients about it. Typically, we like to start the conversation by asking, “When I say networking, do you get excited and want to say, ‘Let’s go!’ Or, do you want to find anything else you could do first?” Most of our clients tend to fall somewhere in the middle, leaning toward doing anything else first.

A common impression of “networking” conjures up thoughts of being a pain, begging, using people, and getting rejected or ghosted.

However, it does not have to be that way! Reframing the narrative around networking to collaborating changes it to be associated with helping each other, sharing, and building relationships. That’s it! When we (career consultants) talk about networking, that’s what we mean.

How Do You Make the Switch? 

Start by focusing on what is important to the person you’re reaching out to and thinking about how you can help them. Chances are you have already fulfilled some things that are important to the people you’re looking to network with without even realizing it, which means you have already been collaborating.

Intrinsic Interests 

Everyone has intrinsic interests. These could include:

• Respect
• Acknowledgement
• Convenience
• Affiliation
• Appreciation

When people feel that they are respected or appreciated, it makes them feel good. As such, by conducting your communication with a potential connection in a way that fulfills these interests, you are giving them something. For example:

• When reaching out by email, mention that you understand that they are busy [respect]
• In speaking with a potential connection:
• Offer to help with something -I once offered to review a marketing flyer that someone I had just met was about to send out 
• Thank them for their time [appreciation]
• Confirm the amount of time that you have together [respect]
• And most importantly, ask about them [acknowledgement]

Starting a meeting with someone you don’t know by asking something relevant about them pulls them into the interaction; something as simple as, “Why did you join XYZ Company?” or, “How did you get from your first job to your current position?” By doing this, you will gather some important information about the individual that will be helpful to you while also communicating that you are interested in them and are grateful for their time.

Extrinsic Needs 

In addition to intrinsic interests, we all have extrinsic needs as well. These could include:

• Relevant or transferable information about your industry
• Insights into their industry from your other meetings
• Finding potential talent for future needs (you!)

You may feel that you have nothing to offer the people you want to meet with, but that is not the case -everyone brings something to the table! For instance, let’s say you are looking to pivot from healthcare to biotech, and are conducting informational interviews with biotech companies to learn how financial planning and analysis (FP&A) works in the industry. When you meet with someone who is in FP&A in biotech you could:

• Offer best practices from the healthcare industry and compare them with those of biotech
• Share your overall impression of what you have learned about FP&A across the biotech organizations you have met with
• Share any good industry gossip you may have overheard during your previous meetings

All of this information can be of interest to potential connections and could be extremely valuable to them.

Practical Implementation 

When I was a manager in yield management and pricing trying to pivot from the airline industry to hospitality, I looked up the head of yield management on the website of a target company. I found the individual’s email address and sent them a note explaining that I saw that they were leading yield management at the hotel chain [acknowledgement] and I was interested in learning about their industry-leading organization [acknowledgement].

I said that I would also enjoy comparing notes on how yield management worked in the hospitality industry and similarly, I would be glad to share best practices (that were not proprietary or trade secrets) in the airline industry [interesting/helpful information]. From there, I asked, if they were interested, when would be convenient for us to speak, and offered some potential dates [convenience – so they didn’t have to comb through their entire calendar looking for a potential time to meet].

I thanked them for considering having the conversation [appreciation] and we eventually had a great dialogue. After connecting, the individual introduced me to a vice president that was hiring a new role, and I landed the job.

More Traditional Methods 

Although the above example was not the most conventional approach, you may also be able to find out how you can help new connections by researching their online presence to review their LinkedIn profile, watch videos by them or interviews with them, read blog posts and articles by or about them, etc. You may find:

• Affiliation -grew up in the same town, went to the same school, worked at the same company, played the same sport, ran the same marathon, etc.
• You could then offer an update about your hometown or school, or share the way your running team raises money for the marathon
• Something important to them that resonates with you -sustainability, architecture, travel, etc.
• You could forward notes that you took at a recent sustainability conference you attended

Recently, we had an executive-level client preparing for an informational interview. During his preparation, he noticed that the contact’s location was listed as the same area that the client and his wife had a second home [affiliation]. He took note of it because it was many states away from the location of the company. At the beginning of their meeting he mentioned it, sparking a lively discussion on their ties to the area. They even pinpointed that their houses were practically across the street from each other! This broke the ice and built the contact’s interest in helping the client.

Let’s Put Your Networking Skills to Practice  

Focusing on what is important to the person you are meeting with can make you comfortable and effective when it comes to networking. Paying attention to their intrinsic interests while identifying and addressing their extrinsic needs will influence them to want to:

• Engage in the conversation
• Get to know you
• Ultimately help you

The career consultants at Keystone Partners help our clients do this every day through discussion, guidance, role-playing, and checking-in on progress and results. Are you preparing for a reduction in force? Whether it is a large-scale layoff involving hundreds or thousands of people or just one individual, we are here to help. Ensure your people are taken care of after they leave your organization and safeguard your brand internally and externally. Contact us today to learn how we can help with all of your outplacement needs.