Transition 2: building an elegant plan

This is the second in a series of blog posts about the major transition that I am working on at the moment. As the process evolves I will be sharing the different steps in the hope that it may be useful to other going through similar processes. The first part can be found here.

Having an idea for a transition plan to leave a job that I have been doing for 8 years was a good starting point. But quite quickly I needed an identity for the plan, a structure and themes and a shared sense of ownership to ensure that the whole team are involved in this process, not just me. This was especially the case because the changes we are embarking on will take at least 12 months. After the announcement that I was stepping back, it was too easy for the rest of the team to pause, take a breath and then think that nothing had changed, so what was all the fuss about. And for a couple of weeks that is exactly what happened.

I spent this time chatting to friends and close allies (they were part of the Team of Ten that I had put together to support me on this journey, more on this in the next blog post). I kept saying the same phrase to each person as I worked towards the next step. I kept saying, “I need someone like Val”. Val had been my coach for at least six years and had worked with me to form the organisation that I was now preparing to step back from. Several people said to me – well, why don’t you ask Val. And I kept giving the same reply – because she has retired, been retired for six years now.

It took a further push from my wife, June, to say, well the least you can do is ask her. Nothing ventured nothing gained – and what do you have to lose? Hmm, good point. So, I dropped her an email and was pleasantly surprised to get a response within the hour. After a couple of conversations she was on board to help with the transition programme – and up to speed really quickly because she already had the history and context.

After re-introducing her to the team I asked her to have one-to-ones with everyone. I had already done this myself, but wanted her to do it too so that we got another perspective on the issues that were emerging. After a couple of weeks, we had a set of themes emerging.

Giving something a name is, I think, one of the key things that helps it take shape and move forwards. I came up with the name for this work, The Bridge to the New. I wanted a sense of a journey, and the idea that we would be building bridges as we proceed, and that we would at certain points take different bridges. I also wanted a clear link to William Bridges and his work on Transitions. We had eight themes emerging which I would summarise as:

1. Recruit
2. Stabilise
3. Communicate
4. Innovate & Create
5. Handover
6. Risks & Pitfalls
7. Governance
8. New Opportunities

I will go through each of these and give a sense of what is involved, but first it’s worth sharing that these themes were then shared at our next Rehearsal Day where we unpacked what they meant for us and we agreed who would lead on each of these areas. That way everyone in the team was involved in different aspects of the programme. This was all being developed alongside our existing work programme of course, so it needed to complement ‘business as usual’ and not be onerous or time consuming.

The first theme, Recruit, is hopefully obvious. I needed to initiate the process of finding my successor. We are in the middle of this as I write. We have set up a multi-stage process with an informal stage running for a couple of weeks and then a formal advert and interview process. I will write in more detail about the recruitment process that we have developed in a future post in this series as it may be interesting to others.

The second theme, Stabilise, is a team-wide responsibility to support each other through the change. We are supporting each other through regular catch-ups and the opportunity to look at what each of us wants from the change that is happening.

The theme of Communication is so important to ensure that we keep all stakeholders informed of the changes as we take things forwards. We are developing an action plan and overarching strategic approach to this theme. It will include email and social media communication, briefing notes and probably some short films too.

The fourth theme of Innovation and Creativity reflects a core element of the nature of our work. We are known for our innovation and the ways in which we apply creative methods to our work programmes. I wanted to ensure that we had this golden thread running through what could otherwise be a ‘dry’ and systematic approach to transition. We are working with two Associates who bring creative methods to our Rehearsal Days. This is helping us to tackle some of the things that are difficult to put into words, using visual imagery, methods of play and working together with design.

I keep visiting the fifth theme around Handover, and have made little progress with this one as it depends so much on the choice of Successor through theme one. Once we are clear who is stepping in, I will be able to develop an approach to handover that is fit for purpose.

The next theme is all about Risks and Pitfalls, the space where we look at what could go wrong, where the potential areas are for getting lost or heading into unhelpful cul-de-sacs. We’ve done some initial thinking on this – articulating where the key risk areas are.

Governance addresses the issues that need to be picked up as I hand over to someone else. Giving the metaphorical keys to the business has elements of governance and process that we will need to manage effectively.

And finally, the theme on New Opportunities is looking at the scope for development and growth in the team’s work programme and ensuring that we don’t become overly focused on the process itself. Our current work continues apace, we have a member of the team with a serious illness and a complex programme of work to deliver. We can’t stop the earth spinning and the passage of time whilst we sort this out. So, we need to be outward looking as well. This is the purpose of this final theme.

As I write this, the themes are evolving and the team are engaging with the work that needs to be done. In the next post I will describe how I have developed the Team of Ten and how they fit into the transition, along with other support processes.

Also published on Medium.