It’s never easy for a leader to let go and pass the torch on to the next generation, but honesty, transparency and communication can help make the process easier.
“It’s a transparent change of leadership. People don’t want revolutionary change, they want evolutionary change,” says Ed Kitrosser, who, on June 1, handed over the office managing partner position at Moss Adams LLP to Carisa Wisniewski.
The partner team laid out the transition plan, which began last October, and following the handover, Kitrosser will stay on through the end of the year as an audit partner.
The key to a successful transition, says Wisniewski, is respect for one another, the support of partners and staff and, above all, constant communication, not only between the two people directly involved in the transition but between them and the entire team, as well.
“The two of you have to be in constant communication so that people feel if they’re communicating with one of you, they’re communicating with both of you. They know they can get a decision that the other one will uphold so that you’re being consistent in your decision-making and making sure you’re transparent,” Wisniewski says.
Smart Business spoke with Wisniewski and Kitrosser about how to make a smooth transition of leadership that inspires the confidence of your staff and provides the least disruption possible to your company.
How important are communication, honesty, trust and transparency to ensure a smooth transition?
Wisniewski: I think communication is the most critical factor, both in leading people and in giving them the comfort that it’s going to be a smooth transition. Leadership requires that you communicate information that is necessary, not everything. The individuals transitioning need to speak about everything very openly: What are you thinking here; what is your approach?
You have to be willing to put everything on the table with each other. It’s very much a learning experience.
As you go through the hard decisions, you ask what the other person would do. Sometimes it’s better if your perspectives are unique, because then you’re able to see both sides of a decision and you can evaluate, ‘Do we continue the way we’ve been doing it, or do we evolve it into something else?’
Kitrosser: If you don’t trust each other explicitly, it’s not going to be a smooth process. You’re not going to agree on everything, but when you disagree, you have to know why you disagree and you have to respect each other’s viewpoint.
Acknowledge to each other that you’re going to have differences of opinion, you’re going to butt heads, you’re going to get angry with each other, but that’s healthy. It’s part of the process, and you compromise when you need to compromise.
You also have to be really careful with the staff. From a staff standpoint, if you’re not completely transparent, it would cause them discomfort.
How can a new leader operate effectively while the soon-to-be former leader is still there during the transition?
Kitrosser: As the incoming leader steps up more and more and assumes a larger role, the outgoing leader steps back and assumes a lesser role. Nothing happens overnight; it has to be a gradual, evolutionary change.
The incoming leader becomes more and more visible every day, and the outgoing leader becomes less visible, so that in any decisions that will affect the future, people are looking to the new leader to make those day-to-day decisions.
How do you get employees to begin to rely on the new leader?
Kitrosser: If people are asking you as the outgoing leader to make decisions that affect the future, it’s not appropriate to continue doing that because it will affect the time when the new person is the leader. The new leader needs to make those decisions, and the staff needs to see that person making those decisions.
What are the benefits to drawing out the transition process instead of making changes overnight?
Wisniewski: The mentoring that the outgoing leader is able to do is crucial. The incoming leader continues to learn more of the process month to month so that he or she gets a complete cycle of decision-making and doesn’t have to start from scratch. You can learn from the things the outgoing leader had done.
You both have to be very effective and engaged through the entire process, and that takes foresight and planning.
What advice would you give a leader who’s having trouble backing off and letting someone new handle decisions?
Kitrosser: Don’t let your ego get in the way. There will be some things going on where you don’t think you would have made that decision, but you’ll find that that decision is actually better than the decision you would have made. You learn to accept that. It’s new ideas, new thoughts, new vision, and in some ways, it’s going to be better, just because it’s a new way of looking at things.
The most important thing is to check your ego at the door. And be open, honest and transparent.
Carisa Wisniewski is office managing partner at Moss Adams LLP. Reach her at [email protected] or
(858) 627-1402. Ed Kitrosser is former office managing partner at Moss Adams LLP. Reach him at [email protected] or (858) 627-1416.
