You will walk away with a comprehensive plan to:

(1) Transition roles and responsibilities immediately in the instance of an emergency short-term or permanent departure;

(2) Transition roles and responsibilities to ensure that executive leaders are able to take family leave without disturbance during their period of leave;

(3) Implement a policy regarding sabbatical;

(4) Strengthen and diversify the organization’s internal leadership pipeline to both deepen the sustainability of the executive leadership position as well as the long term stability of the organization;

(5) Enact a thoughtful and transparent transition plan in the event of a planned executive leadership transition; and

(6) Continuously revisit and revise these plans on an annual basis to ensure that the organization maintains current succession and sustainability plans on an ongoing basis.

We determine the approximate number of sessions that we will hold for your planning process during a 30-minute intake call. During this call, we learn about the work informing your succession and sustainability plans that your organization has already done. We anticipate as few as three and as many as six hour-long sessions. We hold 1:1 sessions with executive and board leaders as needed between sessions.

Usually, although not always, organizations require fewer planning sessions in subsequent years.

You can read about pricing for our entire body of work here. We price on a sliding scale based upon the budget of the entity paying for the services as well as the plans already in place for the participating organization. You can reach out to us here for an estimate for your organization.

From your organization’s staff, generally only the executive leader participates. From the board, we recommend that up to 2-3 members join the planning calls. We will work together during your intake call to determine who from the board can offer the best insights and expertise for the purposes of this planning.

No, you do not. However, executive leaders need to be thoughtful in how they communicate with the board about succession and sustainability planning.

Do you want to stay in your job? Do you have a clear timeframe in mind for the remainder of your tenure or does it feel indefinite right now? Whatever your answer to these questions, it is incumbent upon you to clearly state your preferences to the board members participating in succession and sustainability planning once you understand what they are. In the absence of that clarity, they can only make assumptions and cannot advocate for you.

At a high level, there are two considerations that boards should weigh regarding the risk of losing internal successors:

Any communication about their planned departure timing cannot seem equivocal. This is not to say that executive leaders need to know the exact date of their planned departure years in advance. Rather, leaders risk losing internal successors if they change their mind about the timing—even if it is a broad possible timeframe—once they have shared those plans.

Deepening and diversifying our organization’s internal pipeline: A deep and diverse pipeline of excellent leaders within your organization will not come into existence accidentally. This is the product of proactive and continual reflection, planning, and investment into people. Our planning process holds a space to ensure that your organization is building its pipeline.

Stability through transitions: In the absence of proactive norming conversations about the mechanics of an executive leadership transition, a CEO departure introduces an indefinite period of instability to even the highest-performing organizations.

Preparedness for inevitable unplanned contingencies: Emergencies and unplanned events impacting your leadership team will happen. Your board is responsible for having a plan to respond immediately to ensure continued, clear leadership of the organization in such events.

Racial and gender equity: Cyclical, comprehensive succession and sustainability planning will allow your organization to grow into an increasingly equitable place to work for senior and executive leaders.

Sustainability, reduction of burnout: Part of sustaining excellent leadership at the helm of your organization is making the executive leadership role itself sustainable. Boards usually have myriad untapped opportunities to deepen the sustainability of these roles at their organization—and these inputs have the long-term impact of upholding the standard of excellence for leadership at your organization.

Normalizing the conversation: In the absence of these proactive discussions, leadership sustainability and transitions become avoided topics of conversation. The more uncomfortable an organization is with delving into these topics regularly, the greater a threat they pose to your organization. On the other hand, embracing these questions presents the opportunity to strengthen your organization both now and over the long run.

Yes, you can schedule time here.