“Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”
The great advice above is for hockey players from superstar Wayne Gretsky, and it’s also important advice when looking at succession planning for an executive team.
Succession planning is one of those “important but not urgent” issues that executive…

If you haven’t thought about your own succession plan (or the succession plans for some of your long-standing executive team members), consider a couple of statistics: A total of 1,452 health care CEOs left their posts in 2018, marking the highest number of departures since 2008 and nearly 50% of executive leadership at non-profit human…

What is succession planning? One answer is that it is a system designed to ensure that your organization has leadership continuity in mission critical staff positions. I would also argue that it is a plan for helping organizations either obtain or develop the individual executive competencies necessary in coming years. Or as my colleague Monica…

Executives who fail to plan for a transition in leadership, can plan to fail when the transition occurs. For an example of how one succession plan took two tries to get right, I spoke with OPEN MINDS Senior Associate and former chief operating officer of a large, statewide children’s services organization, Paul Neitman. Mr. Neitman…

Marilyn Cook, former executive director of COMCARE of Sedgwick County, Kansas, believe that executives need to support the leadership pipeline of their organization in two ways—accepting the responsibility for finding your replacement and building the capacities of internal candidates for the job. The importance of this perspective is underscored by the competition for management talent…

It seems like everyone knows “a little” about the succession planning process, but this process can be extremely complicated. There is bound to be a lot of tension on the executive team (and likely throughout the organization) as the search to replace a key position works its way through the process. Here are three questions…

In my years as an organizational leader, I’ve had several opportunities to provide guidance on succession planning. As part of my assessment of the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, I always included an assessment of the senior leaders and some of the key middle managers. Assessment is critical because people with ambition and longevity are sometimes…

The leadership change of a chief executive officer (CEO) is the most significant and impactful change an organization and its board of directors will experience. And, right now, the health and human service field is in a constant state of CEO turnover. Surveys show 25% to 35% of CEOs expect to leave their roles in…

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) on August 26 that outlines revisions to the Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder Patient Records (part 2) regulations. The proposed rule reflects SAMHSA’s efforts to facilitate and enhance coordination of care for substance use disorders (SUD) and find…