Recently, one of our client teams found themselves facing a difficult decision. 

They realized that two functions they’d always kept separate really belonged under one leader. Keeping them separate created unnecessary complexity, causing extensive debates about overlapping resources, workflow and priorities. Combining them would eliminate confusion, increase speed and quality, and make the company more responsive to its customers. That part was easy. 

The hard part? 

 When someone is Wrong Person (doesn’t fit our Core Values and Culture), Wrong Seat (in a job they don’t GWC®; Get It, Want It, Capacity to do it and we can’t fix it), or both, the reality is that they have to go.

Bill Clinton made his national debut with a speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. He went on for 90 minutes. By far his biggest applause line of the night was “And so, in conclusion. . .” If only he’d started there. 

It’s a good rule of thumb that when a member of your team needs to leave, you’re going to experience 36 hours of pain. The only question is when.

A few years ago, one of my clients was planning to step down as CEO within a couple of years and wanted to appoint his successor from inside the company. What made this tricky was that there wasn't a single, obvious candidate. Recognizing that whomever he chose would need some time to grow into the role, he wanted to get an early start. The first step was finding out who was interested and how the rest of the team felt about them.

Rather than bury this issue in a series of secretive one-on-one conversations, he asked his team a simple question: “Who among you is interested in becoming our next CEO?” Three hands went up. What happened next was remarkable.