Services - Success Stories
Leadership and Succession in a Closely-Held Family Firm
The Situation
A husband and wife, Co-CEOs, recognized that their present leadership dynamics might be impeding current performance as well as future growth and sustainability of their niche professional services firm. They sought consultation regarding how to better utilize their individual and collective strengths and what factors to consider for leadership succession in the firm.
What We Did
- Conducted an assessment of individual and couple dynamics, and their impact on the firm's functioning. Results indicated:
| Husband |
Wife |
- Charismatic to external audiences
- Seen as the face of the firm in the marketplace
- Strong in decisions regarding market positioning and branding
- Skilled in advocacy
- Founder and culture-bearer
|
- Credible internally
- Seen as the face of the firm to the employees
- Strong in decisions regarding project leadership, client relations, and employees
- Skilled in inquiry and consensus-building
- Professional manager and quality standard-bearer
|
- Identified strategies to strengthen the senior leadership team, including clarification of roles with a focus on broadening skillsets on the team for growth and sustainability
- Formulated strategies to attract and retain top professionals to the firm, including getting current senior people invested, empowering associates, and expanding the theater of participation generally
- Facilitated decision making regarding timing in expanding ownership beyond the husband and wife
The Results
- The assessment results led the couple to realize the husband's strengths were more suitable for the role of Chairman, while the wife's strengths were clearly more appropriate for the role of President/CEO; they chose to make these role changes and clarified areas of responsibilities for themselves and in relation to others in the firm.
- The role changes enabled the wife to formalize and more fully enact a similar but visible role than the one she was already playing and enabled the husband to recognize his strengths could be better leveraged externally in the marketplace rather than internally in the organization.
- A greater emphasis was placed on attracting and retaining top talent, including putting in place new policies that broadened options for ownership and participation as well as future succession planning.
- The new overall leadership model that was adopted was more inclusive and participatory, with the senior leadership team (non-family) included as owners of the firm and fully empowered to participate in key business decisions.
The Outcome
As part of their long-term growth strategy, the firm sought and ultimately achieved acquisition by a larger firm, while retaining key leadership roles for the husband and wife, as well as many of their firm's newly invested senior leaders.
To obtain these results see our Partner Coaching and Organizational Effectiveness Services.
