Most highly successful organizations can trace their success back to a founder who had a vision and worked tirelessly to realize that dream.
Effective founders are gifted with the ability to imagine what they want to create, get people to follow them to turn that idea into action and deliver success and results.
In my career, I’ve worked with dozens of founders who worked against all odds, never heard the word "no" and achieved great success.
But what happens when an organization outgrows its founder?
Founders can be victims of their own success when they build something that they no longer have the skills, capabilities or vision to continue to grow. In some cases these founders, or their boards, recognize the need for a change and recruit a new CEO and/or other senior leaders.
I often get called by clients to help navigate this very critical pivot from a founder-led organization to one with a leadership structure that can achieve the next level of growth.
Rarely is this transition without a few bumps and uncomfortable conversations.
It can be difficult for founders to accept that their organization has matured and requires different type of leadership to get to the next level. In the best of circumstances, the founder is able to detach and think about how to facilitate a transition before problems become too acute. In the worst scenario, the founder tries to stay firmly entrenched, derailing progress and failing to attract talent needed to sustain and scale a thriving organization.
Through my work with founders and their teams around this type of transition, I've identified several important keys for ensuring success and a more positive experience.
Keys to Success when Transitioning a Founder
Depersonalize the Situation. Explain to the founder and the team where the organization is in its lifecycle and how different stages of organizational growth require different types of leaders. Just as the founder was the perfect person to start the organization, there is another leader who is perfectly suited to grow the organization ever further. As a steward of the organization, most founders want to make sure the organization thrives in order to generate income, scale and grow, as well as confirm their legacy. That's why leadership transition shouldn’t be triggered by an event, but rather it should be part of the lifecycle planning for every organization. When approached and discussed in this manner, everyone more quickly understands that finding the best leader for the organization's next stage is simply part of growth.
Involve the Founder in the Transition. Another way to help transition the founder and the organization to the next stage is to involve the founder in the transition. Doing this will give her confidence that the organization is staying aligned with the purpose and goals she originally set for her organization, and will help her understand more deeply why certain pivots and changes are needed. Make sure the founder recognizes that their history and vision are vital for building momentum throughout the transition so that the organization arrives on the other side in good health.
Create a New Role for the Founder. This can be a little tricky because it’s confusing to tell the founder, it’s time to go…but we want you to stay. One way to keep the founder engaged in the transition is to curate a role for them that removes them from decision making and the day-to-day work, but leverages their knowledge, network and expertise. This approach can be very successful in cases where the founder has the capability and desire to take on a new role, and when the organization can articulate the value of her continued involvement. For it to work, though, the founder must be highly invested in the success of the new leader and willing to work with them to reach agreed upon goals.
Founder transition and succession are tough for any organization and the chances of failure are high. But our experience has shown that the above approaches work. In particular because they achieve a much needed transition while still honoring the contribution of founding leaders.
We also know that the earlier the founder starts thinking about leadership transition, the better able the organization will be to prepare and plan. That's why we're often engaged in guiding a transition a year or more in advance. If you're a founder or a board with the foresight to see transition coming, finding the facilitation you need ahead of time is essential for beating the odds.
