The focus of this chapter is to discuss how to develop sustainable leadership through succession planning . The terms sustainable and sustainability are used in throughout much of the literature to describe concepts such as corporate social responsibility (CSR) and/or triple bottom line (TBL) (Smith & Sharicz, 2011; Wasdell, 2011; Wikström, 2010). However, the focus of the present chapter is to examine the concepts related to sustainable leadership. The impact from a sustainable leader is evident even after a change in their leadership tenure (Hargreaves & Fink, 2006). In other words, the success of the organization does not rely on one charismatic leader. For simplicity, the term organization is used throughout this chapter to refer to a variety of businesses, corporations, governmental entities, and non-profits.
Succession planning is a long-term strategy employed by many organizations to promote organizational sustainability . However, organizations and their leaders are often evaluated using short-term effectiveness measures such as profit margin, value to investors, or political fit, just to name a few. Because there is not one measure of leader effectiveness across the many types of industries, one must examine multiple measures of leader effectiveness. Instead of viewing a leader as either effective or ineffective using a binary choice, one may alter this lens to examine leader effectiveness using an effectiveness continuum. Using this lens, effectiveness is examined between two poles of effective and ineffective with the leaderâs performance falling at varying points on the continuum. Leader effectiveness is an important concept because it can have a direct impact on organizational success. The vignette below provides an example of the effectiveness continuum in practice, where ineffectiveness in leadership can create broader issues within an organization.
Uber is an example of one type of organization that disrupted the status quo by incorporating technology, ride sharing, and independent drivers to create a global ride-sharing service. The type of business model employed by Uber proved to be effective (an example of organizational success). However, the popular press has covered leadership failures among a variety of startup companies, such as Uber, primarily because of issues related to the rise of â Bro-culture .â Bro-culture is a term used to describe negative behaviors associated with a hyper-masculine fraternity style culture. The culture has prevailed within many organizations that were founded by young males. Bro-culture has been toxic to the work environment and has been the downfall of the leader at Uber and possibly the company itself. The Bro-culture within Uber where the chief executive officer (CEO) had to resign and lawsuits have been filed provides one example of an organization publicly confronting the impact of the negative culture. The issue of Bro-culture within Uber shows that leadership was ineffective in terms of protecting the organization, as Uber developed the corporate culture over time. While the issues at Uber provide an example of a clear failure of the leader at the top, it also indicates a clear systemic failure for the organization.
Since the 1990s there has been a warning provided across many industries that baby boomers (a term used to describe those born between the years 1943 and 1960) (Strauss & Howe, 1991) will be retiring in large numbers, resulting in a leadership vacuum at all levels of the organization. These warnings are especially concerning at the top management team and C-levels within organizations. Baby boomers have not been as quick to exit the workforce as expected for a variety of reasons, such as their leader identity and the financial inability to retire owing to the Great Recession, among others. During the time when organizations were starting to plan for these expected retirements , the concept of succession planning became popular. This was viewed as a strategic initiative to protect the organization against the unknown, similar to contingency planning. The present chapter is segmented into five major sections: (1) sustainable leadership concepts; (2) staff training used toward leadership development; (3) leadership development used toward succession planning; (4) succession planning as part of the broader sustainable leadership concept; and (5) issues in succession planning.
Sustainable Leadership Concepts
Hargreaves and Fink (2006) identified seven hallmarks of sustainable leaders: (1) depthâlearning and integrity; (2) lengthâendurance and succession; (3) breadthâdistribution, not delegation; (4) justiceâothers and ourselves; (5) diversityâcomplexity and cohesion; (6) resourcefulnessârestraint and renewal; and (7) conservationâhistory and legacy. Goolamally and Ahmad (2014) found five factors that school leaders needed to create sustainable leadership. These were: (1) integrity, (2) forward looking, (3) inspirational, (4) competence , and (5) self-efficacy. Although these concepts are examined in the field of education, the present chapter extends this work into other sectors and provides direction on how leaders can best sustain their organization long after they have left. Bottomley, Burgess, and Fox III (2014) proposed an interdisciplinary model of behaviors and skills that leaders may need to attain which could lead to sustainable leadership. While Raelin (2016) posited that âsustainable outcomes are also shaped by sustainable practicesâ (p. 17), Santora, Sarros, Bozer, Esposito, and Bassi (2015) found that poor succession planning has a negative impact on the sustainability of non-profit organizations. The concept of sustainable leadership includes implementing processes and systems that support the culture even after a specific leader has left; sustainable leadership takes a strategic long view of the organization.
The formal positional leader is often credited for the success and/or blamed for the failure of an organization. When successful companies fall apart after the dynamic leader leaves, this indicates it is because no one was prepared to take on the mantle of leadership. The lack of those prepared to take on leadership responsibilities indicates a greater need to develop robust systems for internal staff training , leadership development , and ultimately succession planning.
Using the principles described by Hargreaves and Fink (2006), staff training is aligned with the principles of depth, length, and breadth. Leadership development is aligned with the principle of justice. Succession planning is aligned with the principles of diversity, resourcefulness, and conservation. While these principles are not explicitly detailed within the chapter they are used implicitly in the following sections.
Staff Training Used Toward Leadership Development
The leadership in organizations uses a variety of staff training methods and tools to introduce employees to their new positions. While these methods and/or tools may go by varying names, such as new staff orientation and employee onboarding, the purpose is to clearly communicate the organizationâs culture, policies and procedures, and expectations. In addition to the onboarding process there may be other staff training events which require employee participation.
Internal staff training is one type of event that examines the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) of an employee to do the immediate job. Many companies and organizations require a minimum level of each of these KSAs to enter the job, and then organization-specific KSAs are provided to staff through on-the-job training activities and/or continuing education. Those responsible for staff training are often looking for additional learning solutions to deliver training that is higher quality, more effective, and directly relates to the employeesâ duties.
Once an employee is identified as having mastered the KSAs for his or her current role, organizational leaders often provide these employees with additional management training to allow for job growth and promotion within the organization. This type of training moves beyond the traditional knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to do a specific job; instead, it becomes more general and transferable, to manage people transcending a variety of job functions. In addition to management training, employees may become exposed to leadership development activities.
Leadership Development Used Toward Succession Planning
Relational leadership theory provides a framework of leadership that goes beyond leaderâfollower relationships and views leadership as an emergent process (Uhl-Bien, 2006). Accordingly, Van Velsor (2008) indicated the complexity perspective on leadership development, examining leadership as emergent and moving beyond leadership simply as a person or position. One can see how leadership refers to the acts of the collective versus those of one positional leader. With this definition of leadership, one can see how developing those in the organization to take on the leadership function may be important. Groves (2007) provided examples of successful companies who incorporated the leadership development process as part of their formal succession planning processes. These leadership development activities form the basis for succession planning.
One of the big differences between training and leadership development is that leadership development activities provide feedback as part of the process. By using feedback, those involved in leadership development programs can learn just as much about themselves as they can about leadership principles. Various forms of feedback are identified as part of this process including 360° evaluations, understanding individual personality preferences, and developing self-awareness (Day, Fleenor, Atwater, Sturm, & McKee, 2014). Advances in peer evaluating delved into asking which coworkers one prefers to work with and why one prefers to work with them versus using a traditional rating system. This type of evaluation may say more about someoneâs true performance and value to the organization.
In addition to providing feedback, leadership development activities also provide new behaviors that the new leader needs to master. These may include finding workâlife balance, developing others, and getting things done through other people. These behaviors are often developed through programs that focus specifically on these issues.
Leadership development programs are commercially avai...