By Jason Petros COVID-19 has been disruptive in so many ways, including to planned leadership transitions. Many healthcare CEOs and other top executives have delayed...
By Jason Petros
COVID-19 has been disruptive in so many ways, including to planned leadership transitions. Many healthcare CEOs and other top executives have delayed their exits as their organizations learn to navigate a new paradigm. These leaders’ designated successors, if they have been identified, must show patience and understanding. As the late Tom Petty put it, “The waiting is the hardest part.”
Whatever the circumstances, being the next in line for a top job is challenging. After discussions with executives across the healthcare provider ecosystem, I embarked to understand some of the intended and unintended consequences, emotional challenges, and professional decisions that successors are challenged with once they are named or insinuated as a potential successor to their boss. Successors are usually identified 1-2 years before they are expected to ascend to their new role although this timeline can also be extended. While this gives them plenty of time to prepare and anticipate the challenges of their next role, it also represents a period of time that can be very hard to endure.
A few things to consider if you have gotten to the precipice and have been named a successor for a new role:
Internal successors for new positions encounter a range of experiences and emotions. Understand that not everything will go just as ideally planned in your succession, but your patience and awareness of the big career picture will pay off.