How to ensure your team thrives in your absence
Prepare the team's future: how a good succession plan can turn transitions into opportunities
In various circumstances over the past few years, I have found myself needing to step away from work for family reasons and, at times, without prior notice to my team or the rest of the organization. Fortunately, I have worked in a culture where family and health always came first. However, being absent without prior planning can pose a challenge for the team. These situations, where I had to leave the team uncovered, taught me how important it is to organize work in a way that includes a "succession plan" or to lead the team so that nothing is left behind simply because one person is unavailable.
These days, I find myself in a transitional phase between my previous company and a new adventure. I have been reflecting on how centralizing only the bare minimum around myself significantly reduced the effort required for the handover process.
Why is it necessary?
I’ll state the obvious here, but without clear leadership:
Important decisions can get stuck
The team’s motivation can drop drastically
Critical projects may face significant delays
The absence of a succession plan not only jeopardizes the team’s results but also creates a chaotic transition that could be avoided with proper preparation. Clearly delegating responsibilities during calm periods not only helps empower team members and support their growth but also allows for addressing the team’s questions and concerns. Most importantly, it helps prevent the aforementioned chaos.
How to do it properly?
If I had to answer this question with a straightforward response, it would be: making all the activities the leader performs visible.
A conclusion I have reached is that if you do your job well during the normal day-to-day, all the good practices you implement are already sufficient to ensure the team doesn’t feel “alone,” whether during moments of absence or when you are no longer leading the team.
Document Processes and Strategies
Document. Document everything. To be honest, I inherited this practice more than I introduced it. As you can already guess, the key is not leaving anything to chance and working extensively on producing documentation for processes, reports, decisions, key activities to be performed, relevant contacts within and outside the team, operational priorities, and expectations regarding results.
Involve the Team
Involve the team members even in those activities that are not part of the daily operations. This doesn't mean that they should handle everything themselves, but at least ensure that there is someone other than you who is capable of producing that specific report or performing that specific manual task that you have never automated because it only occurs in certain circumstances.
Involte the Team - part2
Involving people also means talking to them daily. Make them feel part of the process, share everything with them—the reasons behind the decisions made, the strategies, and the direction. Ensure they know what the priorities are, so as to reduce as much as possible their fear of making mistakes.
How to help the transition?
So far, I have talked about what to do to cope with the absence of the leader during transitional periods. I would also like to leave some advice for the transition phase when you’re leaving the team in the hands of your successor.
Share Responsibilities Gradually
Delegate gradually your key tasks is essential to allow your successor to adapt to the new role. This process also provides you with the opportunity to observe how the person handles complex tasks and to give targeted feedback.
Collaborate During the Transition Period
In my experience, once the successor was identified, I began working closely with them. Here's what worked:
Active involvement: tackle strategic tasks together to demonstrate the decision-making process behind each choice
Ongoing support: answer questions and clarify doubts during the first steps into the new role
Immediate feedback: correct any mistakes in real-time to build confidence and competence
This approach does not include personal 1:1 meetings, which remain a private and confidential space between the leader and team members. As for 1:1s and everything related to the team members, I wanted to do the other way around: I suggested to each of them to decide what they wanted to share with the new leader: from growth plans to any other ongoing topics. I preferred not to share anything personally but encouraged them to do so in order to preserve the trust-based relationship we had built together and allow them to establish their own relationship with the new leader.
TL;DR
Preparing a succession plan is not just an act of responsibility, but a demonstration of respect towards the team and the organization. Don't let your departure become a problem: plan, delegate, and communicate. As a leader, your role is not only to lead today, but also to ensure that the team is ready for tomorrow.
Credits: Illustration 1