From one leader to the next: Election year learnings for successful succession planning

I don’t have to tell you that it’s election season. Commercials, signs—they are everywhere. If you’re tired of thinking about your candidate, then let me give you something else to ponder as your swamped with ads—what you are witnessing is succession planning on the most public stage and with incredibly high stakes. As we witness this succession plan in action, what lessons can we learn and apply in our credit union?

First, our institutions were there before us and should be there after us. As a leader, at any level, one of our most important jobs is to make sure that we are acting in the best interests of the company. A strong succession plan ensures that the progress made continues even after you or your leaders leave. As HR leader, Ed Krow said, “The goal of this process is to secure the continuity and continued growth and success of an organization.” Succession planning is a noble cause for the future of our credit unions and one of our most important actions.

Second, there are two types of succession plans and you must have both. As we all learned in civics, there is a presidential line of succession. Starting with the VP, moving to the speaker of the house, on to the president pro-tempore of the Senate, and so on. This plan is put into action if the president is no longer able to perform their duties. This plan is known, documented, and communicated. Do you have this plan in place at your credit union—for both your leadership team and your board? Do they know what to do when they are called into action? Is the plan known, documented, and communicated?

Although maybe not as straightforward, the other type of succession plan is just as important. What plan do you have in place for when your CEO, your leadership team, your board, decide to leave? What factors are you considering for your next leader? Internal vs external? Early in career vs later in career? Someone who already understands the CU vs someone we can train and coach? Are these plans known, documented, and communicated? Is everyone on the same page with the type of candidate they want to fill key roles? In my experience, this is rarely the case. The Association for Talent Development states that, “only 35% of organizations have a formalized succession planning process.” If you do have a succession plan in place, how are you revisiting it each year—adjusting it to new factors, trends, and knowledge?

Third, how are you training up a younger generation to one day be your leaders? If you look at both major parties, each of them have programs, processes, and committees in place to reach young people, connect with local and state officials, and to identify talent early. Key attributes and competencies are identified and found in promising leaders. These leaders are supported and trained; none of us are ready for a leadership role (much less a president or a CEO!) overnight. We all need help, support, and education along the way. At your credit union, how are you identifying these talented people? And how are you supporting them and helping them grow? If you put the work in early, then you have candidates ready when the time comes.

Fourth—and this one is the hard one—do we know when the time has come? CEOs—I’m talking to you. I’ve been speaking about succession planning in several states, with several groups, over the past few months. One of the most common things I hear is “our CEO doesn’t know when to leave” or “our CEO is a barrier to putting good succession plans in place.” This is hard, because it probably feels personal. So many CEOs have worked so hard at making the CU successful that it has, understandably, become an identity and losing that identity is scary. Some of the best CEOs I’ve known have hired a coach once they see retirement on the horizon. They recognize that the transition will be tough, and it is healthy to talk through it with someone and create a post-career plan for a fun and successful retirement. We’ve all seen the politician who has stayed around too long and won’t walk away. Let’s learn from that and not be that person. Let’s be the leader that puts the succession plans in place, has the hard conversation, and truly leaves the credit union in a better position than before. Again, it is our noble cause; it is our higher calling.

Not only is it election season, but this month we also celebrated International Credit Union Day. A day to celebrate the movement and the impact that credit unions have on people’s lives all the way around the world. Another noble cause is having our movement outlive us, outlast us. Succession planning is key to that. Statistically, many credit unions are forced to close or merge due to the lack of a viable successor. Said another way, we are losing credit unions every year—losing financial institutions that help people that no one else will help—because of either pride, conflicting priorities, or just poor management—all reasons that we are not putting succession plans in place.

Learn from what you are seeing around you. Live up to our higher calling. If it is our patriotic duty to vote (and I sure hope you do), and it is our duty to the movement to build succession plans that protect the future of our credit union movement.