Succession planning is the ongoing process of systematically identifying, assessing, and developing talent to ensure leadership continuity for all key positions (for example, Executive Director, Head of Finance, Head of Administration, among others). Succession planning is a long-term planning that affects every aspect of an organisation and the process should be undertaken by the leadership of organisations. Effective succession is acute in the civil society sector. According to BoardSource's research, only 27% of nonprofits surveyed globally reported that they had a written succession plan in place. Many CSOs do not have systematic and clear approaches to succession planning. It limit leaders’ abilities to maintain organisational sustainability and achieve the organisation’s mandate.  Most CSOs in West Africa, do not have a clear and written succession plan policyQuite often, CSOs develop their “emergency plan” when the Executive Director or a key staff member, especially one in a management position, leaves the organisation"

1. Planning and Managing Leadership
Transitions within CSOs
Christian Elongué, Knowledge Management Consultant
hello@christianelongue.com

2. Introduction
• Succession planning is the ongoing process of systematically identifying,
assessing, and developing talent to ensure leadership continuity for all key
positions.
• Succession planning problems are acute in the civil society sector. According to
BoardSource's research, only 27% of nonprofits surveyed globally reported that
they had a written succession plan in place.
• Most CSOs in West Africa, do not have a clear and written succession plan policy
• Quite often, CSOs develop their “emergency plan” when the Executive Director
or a key staff member, leaves the organisation.

3. What Hinder the Succession Planning of CSOs
• Negligence
• Phobia for change
• Founder’s syndrome
• Prioritising existing limited financial resources
• Low emphasis on building systemic processes by CSOs

4. Consequences of not Having a Succession Plan
• The team dynamics will also be adversely affected because colleagues would
need to adjust swiftly to the change and to meet the reporting deadline.
• Donor can lose confidence in the ability of the organisation to continue to serve
them at the level expected and this could affect the finances
• Power struggles in a situation where several colleagues desire the position, but
no specific colleague was groomed to take up the responsibilities.
• The Urgency of Starting Now

5. Key research findings
• Effective leadership transition, whether planned or unplanned, required
strategic preparation.
• Relatively poor board performance is attributed to the quality of the succession
planning process.
• Leadership development was a valued practice that contributed to a smooth
implementation of a succession planning strategy.
• The organisation’s board is critical to the process of developing a strategic plan
for succession but also for enforcing it when needed.

6. How to execute leadership transition

7. Best practices in leadership transition
1. Have a strategic plan
• Every CSO leader must recognise that change is a must and plan for it.
• Solomon Amoah’s Analysis of Leadership Transitions and Governance Within Civil Society
Organisations in Ghana revealed that few organisations have plans in place to help manage
leadership transition processes.
• 2. Form a succession planning committee to manage the process

8. 3. Develop a knowledge sharing culture
• Develop a knowledge sharing culture that encourages people to become
mentors, coach, offer some guidelines for mentorship, and entrench the practice
of mentorship within their organisation’s modus operandi.
• WACSI grooms its staff, interns and volunteers so that they are well prepared to
assume key positions when vacancies arise.
• This equips interns and volunteers to take up more senior roles in other
organisations.

9. 4. Establish an employee talent development system
• Nurture a capable team of succession candidates to provide a proactive
solution when an unexpected loss of talent occurs.
• At WACSI staff are encouraged to undertake training courses for career
devpt and they are regularly involved in leadership and decision making
roles.
• WANEP do regular staff capacity building to position them for the
effective delivery of the organisation’s mission and prepares them for
their next leadership position.

10. 5. Execute the transition
• The outgoing employee could act as a mentor
• If a senior staff is about to leave, s/he could be given the possibility of selecting
and grooming the successor. This is a win-win situation because there is more
likely to be a better mutual understanding between the two, hence an easier
transfer of knowledge from the outgoing colleague to the successor.
• Dedicate enough time for a smooth transition so that the outgoing employee can
work closely to help increase the comfort level of the incoming leader.

11. Con’t

12. OSIWA Experience in succession planning
• OSIWA has a succession plan policy and an employee retention
strategy
• Unit Heads are developing junior colleagues. Indicators are designed
in Unit Heads' annual performance.
• Each board member is selected for limited duration and the mandate
is renewable once. So, the succession is automatic once a board
member's term comes to an end.

13. WACSI experience
Formally, there is an employee retention strategy visible through
• Good working conditions characterised by a clear job description for all staff, competitive
salary accompanied by periodic salary increase, health insurance for staff and 4 dependents.
• Job security: All senior managers have spent a minimum of six years while five of the seven
senior managers have worked for over ten years at the Institute.
• Staff orientation and induction: All newly recruited staff are taken through a 360-degree
induction process on operations in all six departments in the Institute.
• A conducive work environment that allows staff to take initiative. It also promotes adequate
work-life-balance through the organisation of yearly staff retreat, bi-monthly staff birthday
celebrations, ecstatic send-off celebrations for staff.
• Notice of resignation: 3 months for senior staff; 1 month for other staff.

14. WACSI Lessons Learned
• Organisations should endeavour to have a successor long time before it is even
needed. It is a sign of strong leadership.
• Develop a cross-cutting succession plan for the next 12 or 24 months that
holistically accommodates easy transitions from lower to most senior positions.
• Involve the board in the succession planning process for the organisation and
within the board itself.
• Learn from the succession planning process, review and apply new lessons to
enhance the process.

15. Key Lessons Learned from Other CSOs
• The leadership transition must be planned long in advance so that the successor can receive enough
insights and mentoring from the outgoing leader.
• Senior staff should groom junior colleagues and support them to develop competencies in areas
that would add value to their overall performance.
• Organisations, as much as practicable, should ensure that the remuneration and work conditions of
their staff is satisfactory when compared to industry standards.
• The succession planning of a non-executive staff should be conducted with the same level of
professionalism and attention as the one at the executive or board level.
• Organisations should develop a succession planning policy to guide the organisation’s approach.
• Trainings should be deliberately provided to equip committed and ambitious staff.
• Organisations can institutionalise mandatory maximum tenures for Executive Directors /board to
instil a process of change and leadership renewal.
• Based on contextual realities, transition process can be either formal or informal.

16. Conclusion
• Succession planning is not a one-off event but a continuous process.
• It does not need to be a separate but an integrate programme to ensure leaders
are built from within a team using a bottom-up approach.
• CSOs in West Africa need to not just be aware of the importance of succession
planning, but take practical and immediate actions to prepare proactively for it.
• Effective and smooth leadership transition are key to CSOs sustainability.