BSG From the Boardroom

Let’s face it, the only thing worse than having to terminate an executive is having a high-performing executive resign unexpectedly.    Often a resignation like this comes with less than a month’s notice, sometimes even less.  Below is an 9-point “war room” plan to help fast recovery.

• Determine whether there is any opportunity to counter-offer to keep them.
  Often counter-offers are restricted to money (“We’ll match whatever you’ve been offered).  However, it’s sometimes less about the money, and more about the challenge of a new role, or increased responsibility, or the opportunity to learn and grow.  Think about what might generate a win-win for company and potentially departing executive.
• If that doesn’t bear fruit, an exit interview is critical.
  And equally important to have it done by a skip-level person within the business.  An executive will always find it easier to offer reasons for his or her departure, or suggestions on how to improve the business or the position for the next hire if the exit interview isn’t done to the immediate superior, but a level about that (or a different board director, if the soon to be vacant position is that of the CEO)
• Ask the departing executive for the performance scorecard s/he would write for the position they are vacating.
  Developing a proper strategy for the role will help determine what are the top 10 outcomes for the next 12 months, and in what priority order should they be tackled, from the departing executive’s perspective. 
• Do an internal talent scan to see if an existing team member could fill the role on an interim/temporary basis.
  An internal resource will already have an understanding of the company’s culture, and will be available immediately if you can offload some of interim substitute’s current responsibilities to another/others.
• Spin up an executive search in parallel.
  Simply, searching inside and outside will allow you to fire on all cyclinders quickly and effectively.  As the expression goes, in a circumstance like this, you want “belt and suspenders,” or an insurance policy where an executive search firm is x-raying the talent market outside the company while you do so inside the company. 
• Create an “Office of the X…”
  If there is no one internal resource who can take over the responsibilities of the departing executive, there is an opportunity to create an “office of the [fill in the blank].”  Office of the President, or Office of the CFO can bring together ideally 2, no more than 3 who can job-share the position.
• Think about asking a board director to step in as “interim,” or a recently retired executive.
  Board directors and retired executives should always be considered as reserve talent who might be able to step in on an interim basis in a pinch to fill the temporary hole in the  exec team.
• Recognize that if hiring from the outside, the temp solution will have to last at least 90-150 days.
  Good retained executive searches rarely conclude in less than 3 months, and often take longer, depending upon many different factors including size and complexity of the business, geography, time of year, travel expectations for the role, etc.  Build a band-aid plan that won’t leave you exposed for what can be a business quarter or longer.
• Hire an outside consultant to fill the role on interim basis.
  For a number of roles in the executive suite, there are often outside consultants who can step in—the CFO position, GM position, even the CEO position or VP sales.  While harder to make this happen, and definitely at a premium in cost, very few boards of directors would say it’s better to leave a leadership role vacant.

Think about planning for future similar departures by building a succession-planning strategy.   What hurts more than this happening once?  Something similar happening twice or more in close proximity. 

What’s the best defense?  A strong offense, recruiting a deep enough bench and allowing for cross-functional and cross business unit exposure amongst those who hold promise as potentials future leaders.  Create a leadership training program, or outsource it to a university business school executive education program.