The Succession Principle

How Leaders Make Leaders

McKenna

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781498204804
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Succession is the hot topic in leadership development, but the subject has rarely been addressed in Christian literature. As a college, university, and seminary president who experienced three successions in leadership, David McKenna is eminently qualified to speak on the subject. He begins by introducing us to the Succession Principle: What we bring to leadership is important.What we do in leadership is more important.What we leave from our leadership is most important of all.Once our priority shifts from success to succession, the door is open to read John 17 as the Prayer of Succession for Jesus. In this final report, Jesus transfers to his disciples and to us the same enduring trust, transforming truth, and unifying love that he has received for leadership from his Father. With these legacies come specific gifts of succession to complete our task, develop disciples, advance the kingdom, and see the fulfillment of Christ's promise, "Greater things than these shall you do." Succession in the spirit of Christ, then, is written not in terms of success, but in the seamless transition of sustainable gifts culminating in the gift of greater things.

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Succession Revisited

Succession is a term in transition. In ancient history “succession” meant the heritage of monarchy with the divine right of kings. Persons who were born of royal parents took their place in the line of succession to the throne. Without merit, they inherited the absolute power of a king or queen over all their subjects with accountability to God alone. The divine right of kings is long gone, but royal succession by birth continues. Princes and princesses still take their place in line for ascension to the throne where they are empowered with the authority to rule over a paper kingdom and given the task of trying to make meaning out of doing nothing.

In the world of business, succession also has a special meaning. Small family businesses in particular have a line of succession, as children and grandchildren inherit ownership from parents and grandparents. A newspaper ad in Seattle features four generations of a family in the furniture business sitting on a sofa. In succession, the picture shows the ninety–year-old grandfather, a seventy–year-old son, a forty­–year-old grandson, and an eighteen–month-old great–grandson bouncing on his father’s knee. The ad needs no caption. In the family portrait, customers see continuity with the past, reliability in the present, and sustainability for the future.

Succession is now one of the hottest topics in the corporate world. Just a few years ago, succession in organizational behavior carried the stigma of “inbreeding.” Conscious efforts were made to keep new ideas coming and fresh blood flowing through the recruitment of outsiders. With the advent of international businesses involving complex organizations and highly specialized operations, however, corporations can no longer count on the recruitment of outside talent when leadership is needed or rely upon an informal system of selection within the organization by which the “cream rises to the top.” Succession planning is now a well-structured process that “focuses on systematically identifying, training, evaluating and mentoring promising internal candidates.”1

One international business, for instance, had a brilliant founder and CEO who annually hosted a retreat for potential leaders and personally made his selection based upon impression and intuition. As the company grew into global dimensions of size and specialization the informal and personalized process of handpicking leaders by the CEO no longer worked. Against resistance and skepticism a succession plan and process were put into place for identifying, recruiting, developing, and promoting persons who had the potential for top leadership roles. Today, few corporations are without such a plan and process.

In the annals of church history, the word succession comes with baggage. The dogma of apostolic succession, central to Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican communions, draws the line of ecclesiastical authority for bishops of the church directly from the apostles of Jesus Christ. Because the plan for apostolic succession does not always include qualifications of character and competence for the recipient, some chapters of church history are blemished by the stories of popes and bishops claiming apostolic succession while disgracing the name of Christ. These abuses may help explain why there is some reluctance to adopt the idea of “succession” as part of the thinking about Christian leadership, especially in our Protestant and evangelical traditions.

Succession Renewed

Succession is a word that deserves to be renewed in our understanding of Christian leadership. To be complete, leadership development in either a religious or secular context is a cycle of three stages—selection, service, and succession. Each of these stages is distinguished by a defining question and a specific expectation.

Stage I: Selection

“What do we expect a person to bring to Christian leadership?” Thousands of words have been written in books and millions of dollars spent in executive searches attempting to answer this question. The result is usually a profile of leadership that includes expectations about character, competence, and culture. Christian organizations give first priority to character. A Christian leader is expected to have the baseline qualities of integrity and authenticity upon which biblical faith, spiritual maturity, and consistent behavior are built. Competence follows, with expectations that a Christian leader meets the highest standards of educational preparation and professional certification for the announced position. Evidence is then required to show that the person has been effective in putting this knowledge and these skills into practice as an executive leader. Special attention is also given to the candidate’s proof or potential for handling the complexity of the organization as well as the scope and scale of leadership. Once qualified by character and competence, culture enters into the equation. Is there a “fit” between the character and competence of the individual and the leadership needs of the organization? For instance, is the individual’s sense of mission and vision consistent with the history, theology, and philosophy of the organization? Is the leadership style of the candidate compatible with the culture of the community? Are there background or behavioral differences that could influence leadership effectiveness? Is there a “fit” between spouse and family for the new position? Even though there is no way to assure that all of these corporate nuances are covered, it is expected that the most delicate questions will be asked. So, in answer to the opening question, “What do we expect a person to bring to Christian leadership?,” the answer is an exacting and probing profile of character, competence, and culture.

Stage II: Service

“What do we expect a person to do in leadership?” After going through the rigors of the search process, there is a tendency to relax expectations for performance in leadership. This is good if it means that the leader is given freedom by the board of the organization to “Go until we say stop” rather than pulling tightly the reins of “Stop until we say go.” The tendency, however, is to relax the discipline of performance expectations until there is a crisis, a contract expires, or the leader asks for a review.

At one time an executive leader served “at the pleasure of the board” with only a handshake or letter of engagement. As a person who served three institutional presidencies for thirty-three years without a contract, I know how the spirit of trust between the parties is all-important. The problem is that the executive may be working against hidden expectations by which performance is judged. The annual review of an employee by his boss in a Dilbert cartoon exposes the dilemma.

Employee: “I’m happy to report that I achieved every goal you set for me last year.”

Boss: “But you failed to achieved the secret goals I set for you.”

Employee: “Why would you have secret goals for me?”

Boss: “For this exact situation.”2

In such circumstances, the employee has no formal recourse for response. Consequently, elaborate contracts are now written to define the leader–board relationship, including stipulations for formal and periodic review of performance. The review process usually turns on one-year, three-year and five-year cycles. On the one-year cycle the leader announces annual goals for performance based upon a longer-term strategic plan and expects the board to review that performance in an executive session dedicated to that task. Then, every three to five years, a more formal review of leadership performance is planned involving stakeholders both within and without the organization. A consultant may be engaged to guide the process. Most often, the results of the formal review are used as a basis for renewing and rewriting the leader’s contract for another three- or five-year term. As noted earlier, boards are often lax in this process or consider it pro forma unless there is a crisis involved. By and large, performance review of an incumbent leader is less exacting than the profile of expectations by which the individual was initially engaged. Character weighs heaviest among expectations in the initial profile, while competence has priority in the review of an incumbent leader’s performance. Even more realistically and at the gut level, one Christian leader summed up his performance review by saying, “We are hired for our strengths and judged on our weaknesses.”

Stage III: Succession

“What do we expect a person to leave from leadership?” The expectations for the selection and service stages of the leadership cycle are very clear. In the selection of Christian leaders we ask about character with the question, “What does this person bring to leadership?” In the service stage we inquire about competence with the query, “What does this person do in leadership?” The cycle is not complete until we add the stage of succession and ask the question, “What does this person leave from leadership?” Because we have not adequately defined the expectations for succession in Christian leadership development, a vacuum is created. Into the empty space flow the secular standards of success. Personal status trumps institutional mission; achievements outweigh relationships; competence overrides character; past counts more than future; expediency threatens sustainability, short-term gains count more than long-term goals, and “getting” cancels out “giving.” Christian leadership development is incomplete without the stage of succession, based upon an expectation as clear as “character” in selection and “competence” in service.

I propose that “continuity” be the expectation for succession in the leadership development process. Joining with character for selection and competence for service, the expectation of continuity for succession will be a pervading influence throughout the whole of leadership development.

The importance of continuity in leadership development comes home to us when we remember that succession was the primary goal of Jesus in the development of his disciples. Consistent with the three stages of the leadership cycle, Jesus saw his disciples progress through selection, service, and succession. Each stage is framed within the Father’s redemptive purpose. In the selection stage Jesus chooses his disciples based upon their character for the mission; in the service stage, he works to develop their competence in mission; and in the succession stage, he counts on them for continuity of the mission after he is gone. The legacy of Christ’s leadership is written not in the glitter of success, but in the gifts of succession.

1. Bornstein, “Succession Planning,” 30.

2. Dilbert.

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The Prayer of Succession

“Father, the time has come. Glorify your son

that your son might glorify you.”

John 17:1

Whenever I encounter a question that challenges the way I view my role as a Christian leade...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Prologue: From Success to Succession
• Chapter 1: Succession Revisited
• Chapter 2: The Prayer of Succession
• Part 1: The Legacy of Trust
• Part 2: The Legacy of Truth
• Part 3: The Legacy of Love
• Epilogue: The Succession Speech: “The Gift of Greater Things”
• Acknowledgments
• Bibliography