In the last fortnight it has been announced Her Majesty will start to hand over more responsibilities to Prince Charles in an historic job-share which will mark a gentle succession.
This very public handover or “job sharing” as its been put in the media, shows the importance that when one leaves their position they take so much more value with them, then what is written on the job description. How can we afford not to learn from this and encourage more organisations to plan for handover periods and job sharing when managing the replacement of a key employee?
We get many calls, asking for help- “an employee is leaving at the end of the week and we need a replacement starting yesterday.” Maybe tight budgets are to blame or short notice periods, but how much time can you afford to lose spending time away from your role when a handover could have been underway, ensuring the best possible transition and transfer of valuable information.
The benefit of the royal handover means change is gradual and allows a greater opportunity of transfer of knowledge and relationships. This is a unique situation as the Queen has a vested interest in making sure the handover is smooth. There is the argument that too much exposure with the exiting employee for the successor could mean ‘teaching the newbie old tricks’ and set a foundation of ‘this is just how it’s done here’ or ‘you don’t worry about that’. There is always risk involved when a key employee leaves but having the right processes in place to ensure in-depth knowledge transfer is critical for any business. We all know the role we do as per the job description is not the reality of how we add value and impact the business.
When it comes to working with external customers/clients, it’s a great opportunity to show the customer that the organisation values their business and is willing to invest time in the handover. Knowing that the person taking over their account will be able to take on their requests and understand their needs quickly is critical. You don’t want to be losing business to a competitor because of a bad transition!
The Royals set a great example in managing succession and have thought through in detail how best to balance the sharing of duties during the handover.
Michael is a consultant in London and is a keen Royalist.
