Services - Success Stories

Planning for a CEO Succession

The Situation

The International division of a Fortune 500 company shifting into a new phase of growth recognized the need to identify and groom a future CEO with distinctly different skills than those of the division's current leader. Our goal was design and implement an objective process to identify the competencies and skills that a future CEO would need for success and identify the strengths and challenges of the division's current leadership team in order to determine if there were viable internal candidates for the position.

What We Did

Through completion of Behavioral Event Interviews (BEI's) on the effectiveness of the current CEO with select internal leaders and individuals, as well as group interviews with key leaders in the company, we conducted a comprehensive CEO succession profiling process that allowed us to:

• Create a profile of the current CEO-leadership strengths, challenges, and style
• Create a CEO SUCCESSION PROFILE-a summary of the competencies, skills, and characteristics that would be needed to lead the division through its next phase of growth
• Review internal leader profiles to identify potential candidates for the CEO role
• Provide guidelines for altering search processes for considering external candidates
• Create a SUCCESSION MATRIX against which candidates could be mapped for comparison/consideration
• Establish a SUCCESSION PLANNING TIMELINE - a one- to three-year framework for implementing the succession plan
• Advise leaders on key communications regarding the succession process to the broader firm, to potential candidates, and to an identified successor

The Results

Taking decisive action in several ways, the company:

• Established an approach to succession planning that was visibly objective, well-conceived, and data-driven-and therefore eagerly anticipated and accepted by the organization
• Identified potential internal candidates and partnered with each to craft interim developmental roles
• Actively involved the current CEO in succession planning and implementation, allowing him to coordinate the timing and communications to ensure a smooth transition-thus gaining his willing commitment to a rigorous process and outcome
• Modified the CEO SUCCESSION PROFILE to assess externally sourced candidates
• Altered success criteria and selection processes to find the CEO candidate most likely to succeed in the role, after having surfaced cultural differences in leadership qualities and competencies and gained a better understanding of the ways in which different leadership styles are effective/ineffective in different cultures
• Drafted and communicated to the broader organization a detailed succession plan with a clearly defined strategy/profile and timeframes for communications, milestones, and anticipated date for transition

The Outcome

Ultimately these actions resulted in one of the most successful CEO transitions within the company's history and created a succession planning process that became the model for all future senior leader transitions within the company.

To obtain these results see our Executive "Onboarding" and Leadership Succession Consultation Services.