Leaders can’t or don’t always want to stay with a company forever. Sometimes, fresh blood makes sense. But how do you make the transition from one leader to another? Find out in Episode 29 of the Faithful on the Clock podcast. 

Timestamps:

[00:04] - Intro

[00:32] - Why changes in leadership are necessary

[01:18] - Moses was a phenomenal leader but made an error and didn’t trust God enough

[02:08] - Moses was proactive about finding a successor

[02:47] - Don’t bury your head in the sand about the need for a leadership change

[03:27] - Make your choice of a successor clear 

[03:59] - Get the old and new leader on the same page and have the board prevent duality

[04:48] - Clarify the limits for the old leader in terms of roles they’ll have after the transition

[05:51] - Clarify the transition timeline

[06:04] - Changes in leadership can be difficult not because of a poor leader choice, but because of loyalty to the old leader

[07:09] - The concepts of transparency, time to adjust, avoiding infighting, etc. are applicable at all levels when a leadership change happens.

[07:32] - Prayer

[08:24] - Outro/What’s coming up next

Key takeaways:

• Changes in leadership can be necessary both because of poor performance or just because the company has scaled and needs someone with skills the current leader doesn’t have.
• Moses is an example of leadership transition in the way he acknowledged his leadership limit, was proactive about finding a successor, and made the vote of confidence visible to the public. 
• The company has to see the new leader and old leader operating on the same page if the transition is going to be successful. The board can take an active role in ensuring that there is no infighting. 
• Old leaders need clearly defined new roles and boundaries.
• Transparency about the transition timeline will help people logistically and mentally prepare.
• Resistance to a change in leadership can signal loyalty to the old leader, rather than that the new leader is a poor choice.
• You can approach changes to leadership with the same tips regardless of the leadership level involved.

Relevant Links:

CTAs:

• Take steps to let everyone in your company see the new and old leader working together under a joint vision.
• Engage your board to assist with keeping the leadership transition smooth. 
• Clarify the responsibilities the new and old leaders will have through and after the transition so people know when it’s appropriate to go to each person.

What’s coming up next:

More and more people are leaving their jobs, leading to staffing shortages across industries. Why are people leaving, what does the mass resignation mean for the future of business, and how should Christian leaders respond? That’s up next week in Episode 30 of the Faithful on the Clock podcast.

Hello, everybody, you have just tuned into the Faithful on the Clock podcast, where the whole goal is getting your faith and work aligned. I’m your host, Wanda Thibodeaux–you’re stuck with me for the whole episode, and today, we’re covering a problem a lot of companies run into, and that’s how to change leaders effectively. Let’s get the party started.

All right, so changing leadership in a company, that can happen or be necessary for a lot of reasons. Sometimes you run into situations where the CEO or other leaders, you know, they’re just not bringing the company in the right direction. But a lot of the time, it’s just because the business has scaled. I think a lot of founders, they put so much work into their companies, they want to think that they can be everything at every stage. But the reality I think is that the skills necessary for being a founder aren’t always the ones you need to manage or expand the company. We all have different God-given gifts, and it’s totally OK to be better at starting companies than managing them later, or vise versa.

But I want to focus first on the story of Moses. Moses, you remember, he was the guy who led the Israelites out of Egypt. And if you read Exodus, you go into Numbers, you’ll see that his leadership was just phenomenal. Time and time again, he set people straight. That’s not to say the people liked the discipline, per se, they grumbled a lot. But in Numbers 20, God tells Moses to speak to a rock to make water come out of it for the people. And because he doesn’t quite follow those directions, God tells him in verse 12, “because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

So Moses knew, he was very aware that he was not going to lead forever. But his whole life’s mission was to get the people to this land that God had promised. And so he was really proactive about getting the ball rolling and finding a successor. He wanted to make sure there was someone in place to make that mission succeed. Numbers 27:15-17 says that Moses prayed and asked God to, quote “appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

So right there, my first message to you is, a change of leadership, don’t bury your head in the sand about the need to do it. You know, things are gonna change, and even if you lead the company for decades, there will come a point where you want to retire and the physical demands that come along with the job are just, they’re just too much. So you have to acknowledge that in your heart and come to terms with that. And you know, Moses, he realized that the mission was bigger than he was. And in the same way, you need to think about what’s best for the company and not just for you. And you can go to God and ask Him for someone who’s capable and worthy of taking over.

But then the next thing Moses did, in Numbers 27:22-23, Moses did an amazing job of making the choice of successor very clear. He ordained Joshua as the leader and laid hands on him in front of everybody so that they knew that Joshua had approval and authority. And not only that, but he blesses Joshua. And so everybody including Joshua, they see the confidence that Moses has in this choice, and everything is incredibly respectful.

And so the second message is, you have to do everything in your power to get the old leader and the new leader on the same page. The company, everybody has to see that there’s agreement on the transition. The old leader and the new one, they can’t be arguing and trying to undermine each other, because that kind of situation just makes people feel like none of the leadership is trustworthy. They don’t know which side to take, who to follow. So once you know who’s going to take over, you make a conscious effort to get out on the floor together, you let people see the old and new leader having civil conversations and making decisions together. And your board, it’s their job to make sure that there’s no duality going on, and to stop arguments before they start.

Now, once you’ve shown that there’s good rapport, the next thing you have to do is clarify your limits. And what that means is, there has to be clear boundaries about the new roles, if any, the old leader is going to have. You know, sometimes, a leader, they’ll stay on as a consultant, they’ll sit on the board, whatever, but it has to be clear to your team what the old leader’s new roles are. That way, people know exactly who to go to, what’s appropriate in terms of expectations. You don’t get people still trying to go to the old leader when they shouldn’t.

Related to that, you’ve got to clarify your timeline. I totally understand sometimes life throws curveballs, but your team needs to know when the new leader is going to come on board, how long the transition is going to take, be transparent about all of that. This is partly just so they logistically can move things over if they have to. But it’s also so they can mentally prepare and just get used to the idea of the change. You know, it’s hard to leave things that are familiar to you. It’s hard to face learning new things sometimes. And you have to acknowledge that and give people the leeway to discuss it and get support through it and adjust.

So those are the biggest things. But the last thing I want to share is, a change in leadership, no matter how great the new leader is, no matter how awesome their experience is or their ideas are, business–and you should have this burned in your brain by now, OK–but business is about people. And if a leader has done a good job, then the team’s gonna be pretty loyal. So if you meet with resistance, it’s not necessarily the new leader they’re resisting. You absolutely could have the ideal choice in front of you, and the team’s gonna hesitate, not because there’s a problem with your choice, but because they feel so strongly connected to the leader they know. That’s why it’s so critical for the old leader to get behind the new one 100 percent and give their stamp of approval. It sets the new leader up for success in a way they’d just really have a hard time achieving alone and just makes the transition loads easier.

To kind of wrap up, I am approaching this more from the idea of high-level leadership, you know, the C-suite. But the concepts really apply at any level. The ideas of just being transparent, giving people time to adjust, making sure there’s no infighting going on, you can nail those down any time you’re bringing someone in who’s gonna have other people reporting to them.

So if you’re facing a transition in leadership, or you anticipate you will be, I just want to pray for you for a second.

Dear Father in Heaven, we do NOT deal well with change well most of the time. But sometimes in our companies, that’s exactly what we need to serve you better. Give us clarity about when it’s time to make those kinds of shifts, because they have such huge influences on what we do and achieve. Keep our egos out of the way when they need to happen, point out the people who are ideal, and help us to cooperate toward the mission you have for us. And I just pray that anybody going through a leadership change right now gets through it smoothly, Lord, let them be successful in it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

And behold, there was in your ears, the sound of the episode coming to an end. Next week, we’ll be diving into the Great Resignation and dissecting how Christians should handle the exodus from jobs that we’re seeing. As you wait for that, I have a mission for you, OK. Go to Twitter, look us up, the handle is @FaithfulOTC, and I want you to just leave me a note with things that are on your mind, things for your business you need advice on and want me to cover. This whole show, I do it for you all, OK. You can give us a follow while you’re there, but until next time, be blessed.