Hard work and Hustle : Because patriarchy wont do it for us

Patriarchy's influence continues to shape the landscape of leadership, from language to style, and this can often perpetuate harmful stereotypes. I have been writing these short notes on leadership learnings from my stint at a feminist organisation - trying to put together some of my learnings in a leadership role over the last 7 years, so I can refer to them if needed and refer others to them if they think they want some kind of a background to start thinking about their leadership styles. This latest edition might be one of the last ones.

I started thinking of leaving my position as the CEO of Breakthrough the day I joined as the CEO of Breakthrough. One thing was, after 35 years in the sector I had seen how inordinately comfortable people get in positions of power. So much so that transitioning from that position becomes difficult by the day. For social innovators it becomes even more difficult as they consider leaving their babies in the hands of strangers, never mind if the baby is now 20 years older, and shudder. Sometimes the nature of the organisation or the geographic remoteness of it becomes difficult to find and retain talent. But very often it’s the intent that matters and dictates courses. It might be different for founders - I don’t have much experience with that - I only once co-founded an organisation and then distanced myself from it within 4 years as there were ideological differences. For Breakthrough, the organisation where I am currently in a leadership role there have been deeper feelings - though I am not the founder I feel the same kind of attachment to the organisation - maybe because I took it to its next stage of development, maybe the founder instilled a sense of ownership in me through her ability to share power. Whatever it was, that sense of ownership has been very strong - which is why I was also keen on building a succession plan as quickly as possible.

Building succession plans has large benefits :

* It helps in risk mitigation if one has to leave the job suddenly for an emergency - could be a health scare, a family emergency, etc

* It can help cut the dependency of the organisation on one key person and you have multiple backups

* Building a leadership pipeline keeping in mind the growth of the organisation so you have people with skills to take over

* It helps build engaged members of the staff

* Avoids unnecessary loss of knowledge and experience when someone in a leadership role leaves ensuring both stability and momentum

Now how does that make you feel?

An enormous sense of relief that you have someone in whom you have confidence and someone you know has the best intentions for the organisation in their heart.

Pride and satisfaction to know you have done your best so that the organisation is secured for the future.

A bittersweet feeling since it’s always a reminder of your transition.

There is always the fear of losing control or influence even before you leave the organisation.

Hope for new beginnings for the organisation.

For the others in the organisation, it also provides a sense of security and stability that it’s one of them taking over and that the continuity and health of the organisation are ensured. That feeling of security always leads to better engagement from the staff to ensure that everyone is part of the next phase of growth. People might feel motivated to develop their skills and take on new responsibilities.

Yes, along with it there might be uncertainty if the succession plan is not communicated properly. There might also be competition and anxiety among staff if they feel it’s internal candidates pitched against one another. Fear of change is also something that may negatively impact people.

So to take care of all that here are some things you can do:

Create a transparent process involving senior leaders in the organisation and the board early on. The board plays a significant role in advising, showing you the right way, helping you think through the process and leading some parts of it.

Communicate openly and freely - with the potential candidates, with team meetings, at staff meetings.

Provide support and training for the candidate who is the successor but also for the other people in the senior leadership teams so that they can deal with this change process without stress.

Having said all that, ultimately the ability to put it all into action depends on your situation and where you are, your board and on the kind of person you are. I personally feel the intent is half the game! Believe me, it also can be a lot of fun thinking through and bringing someone in - the sense of joy, in the end, outweighs the pain.