Leadership succession and succession planning are not the same.
Leadership succession and succession planning are not the same.
Leadership succession is primarily concerned with the replacement of the most senior person in an organization.
Succession planning, however, is not solely interested in replacing an organization’s most senior person. It is focused on sustaining organizational health through healthy leadership practices.
How committed are you to sustaining the health of your ministry?
Succession planning understands that leadership is critical to overall organizational health.
An ongoing strategic process that guides your ministry toward the advancement of its mission.
It is an intentional activity that prioritizes the health of your ministry. Recognizing there exists in every leadership change an opportunity to assess and pursue organizational health, succession planning is an ongoing strategic process that guides your ministry toward the advancement of its mission.
While succession planning is not simply concerned with the leader, it does take leadership.
Succeeding in succession starts long before a change in leadership, and you must plan and prepare well ahead of such change.
You cannot neglect issues related to changes in leadership.
Succession planning is not something that happens all at once in one moment.
Nor is it something you start one day and finish at the end of the appointment of a new leader. It is an ongoing practice that continually looks ahead.
It is also vital you understand that the planning process will be disruptive, but it should not derail your ministry. Appropriate planning must challenge you to carefully consider any underlying assumptions that have shaped the practices currently guiding the ministry to determine which ones need to be adapted.
Precisely at this point in the planning process, you need to keep in mind your unique context.
There is no one, right way to plan. Just as ministries and leaders are structured and operate differently from other leaders and ministries, succession plans will differ from one context to another.