Throughout my article series, The Role of a CHRO in CEO Transitions, I’ve discussed how the CHRO can be an influential part of a major leadership transition. I’ve shared strategies for creating a connection, educating on the HR function, and integrating the CEO into the organization. Once these steps have taken place, a relationship has been formed between the CEO and CHRO that creates the opportunity for collaboration on a strategic level.

At this stage, the question becomes: How do you best collaborate with the top leader of an organization on people initiatives? The short answer is that each scenario will be unique, depending upon the circumstances.

Speaking personally, our new CEO Tom Watson and I have been colleagues at BKD for quite some time and have developed an effective working relationship. Tom understands my priorities for our people, and I have also taken the time to understand his strategic priorities in his role as a Regional Managing Partner and now as a CEO. This type of relationship enables me to approach him with new ideas and bring him in easily when we launch a major HR initiative. If you don’t have experience working with your new CEO in the past as a colleague, or if the new leader is an external hire, your challenges may look completely different.

Regardless of your circumstances, there are four guiding principles that can be applied across the board to collaborate effectively with your new CEO or other senior leader:

Understand the Business

First and foremost, it is critical that you have a deep understanding of the business you are operating in. This includes the core business model, operations, competitive landscape, and organization strategy. When you understand how the business works, you can work with your CEO more effectively and have productive conversations about how people initiatives will influence the overall success of the organization and increase its competitive advantages.   

Connect the Dots to Their Strategic Priorities

In the first article in this series, Relating to Your New CEO, I shared the importance of learning the new CEO’s top strategic priorities and vision for the future. When collaborating with the CEO, connect the dots back to these priorities when you are collaborating with them on HR initiatives. Here’s an example of how you might frame up the connection between an HR initiative and a strategic priority:

“I know the organization is looking to expand and has some aggressive growth goals in the next fiscal year. I think to accomplish this, we will need an increasingly diverse workforce that can provide a variety of perspectives and connect with a wide range of clients. As a result, we’d like to put together a specific HR strategy to attract diverse talent to our organization.”

Speak Their Language

Along the same theme of connecting the dots to strategic priorities, it is important to speak in terms that the new CEO will resonate with. The highest executive within an organization will likely be focused on the following key elements (along with others):

• Revenue growth
• Business expansion
• Profitability
• Shareholder returns

When you are working with the CEO, it will be important to incorporate these concepts into the planning process when you are discussing your goals and aspirations with people initiatives.

Ask for Their Input and Implement It

One of the most important aspects to building a connection with a senior leader in an organization is to actively seek out their input. By doing so, you are communicating that you understand the value of a different perspective and are open to feedback. Secondly, and more importantly, strive to implement their feedback into your strategy and initiatives. As an HR leader this will help communicate a sense of unity between you and the CEO to your team, which supports your credibility and gain buy-in from your team.

Collaborating with Your New CEO: Questions to Ponder:

1. What could you be doing differently to collaborate more effectively with your CEO?
2. What challenges have you overcome in collaborating with your CEO?
3. How have you worked to understand your business as an HR leader?

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

Planning the CEO succession: As an entrepreneur, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your company will thrive even after you’ve moved on from the CEO position and that you’ve found the best person to take over your leadership role. That said, it can be easy to get so caught up in the day-to-day tasks of running your company that you forget to plan for your succession. Here are some tips on how to successfully plan and execute a CEO succession planning strategy so that when the time comes, your business will continue growing and achieving its goals – with or without you at the helm.

1. Start With Strategy and Execution, Not Individual Characteristics

Many CEOs believe that they are the best person to replace themselves because they are in tune with the company culture, they possess unique business acumen, or their personal qualities make them the ideal choice for leadership. However, these traits must be assessed separately from your personal attributes and strengths.

The first step in planning for your CEO succession is clearly defining your goals as a company. This objective should look beyond your career and lasts for several years into the company’s future. Succession planning is not a one-time event but a continuous process of strategic planning and execution that starts with identifying your core values and mission statement, followed by building off those long-term goals to set yearly priorities.

Next, you must define your ideal successor based on their skills, values, and accomplishments – not just their personality traits. You want someone who will uphold the company culture and mission statement and help steer it in the direction you have laid out.

2. Build a Shared Framework for Assessing and Discussing Candidates

Once you’ve identified your personal goals and the qualities you’re looking for in a successor, it’s time to reach out to key stakeholders and discuss what type of person would best help the company continue pursuing its strategic vision.

Most companies start with a small group of executives or trusted advisors, such as advisory boards or executive committees. You should also include your spouse and family members during this process because they are an important part of any CEO succession strategy.

3. Structure the Process to Mitigate Bias

There is a tendency for the CEO to have a more intimate and emotional connection with the company than with its employees, who are less likely to be personally invested in the CEO’s success. By following this framework, you can help mitigate Bias by creating an objective and unbiased assessment of candidates based on numerous criteria.

Keep track of the names of all the executives who express interest in replacing you, as well as their strengths and weaknesses, so that you’ll be able to attract great replacements from both inside and outside of your company.

4. Don’t Limit Yourself to “In-House” Candidates

When you hire someone to work inside your company, they will become a part of your team, and you will share an emotional connection with them that could make it difficult to objectively assess their skills and qualifications, which is why you shouldn’t limit yourself to looking at internal candidates.

5. Do a Deep Dive Into the Candidates’ Past Experience and Accomplishments

One of the most important things you can do when preparing your potential successors is to ensure that they can take over your company’s day-to-day operations seamlessly. To help you do this, you need to ask them about projects and initiatives in which they have been involved at work and what worked well, as well as those that fell short.

6. Rules of Engagement for a Successful CEO succession

You should also give them a list of your personal goals and objectives, as well as the company’s long-term vision. This will allow them to learn how you operate, as well as your management style and preferences.

In addition to developing hard skills that might be required for a specific role, you also want to assess their soft skills. Your potential successors should have a strong sense of business ethics and integrity and have demonstrated their ability to elicit respect from co-workers and subordinates.

Find a process that works for your company, and stick to it so that you can identify a great replacement – whether it’s you or someone else – who is ready to take over once you’re ready to step down. A strong succession plan is essential for the continued success of your business because, without it, many companies fail.

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