CEO succession planning: Profiling CEO competency for effective leadership

Abstract

The concept of CEO succession planning has not been seriously considered and supported by many organisations. Often, organisations tend to wait until it becomes a pressing issue to find a successor, creating gaps in the process of succession planning, as a result of failing to plan ahead and develop their internal leadership pipeline. As a result, most organisations will seek appointing an Outsider CEO as opposed to an Insider CEO. The preference of Outsider CEO is often supported by organisations which need to define a new strategy that the Insider CEO may lack the skills required by the business to effect. The purpose of this research is to develop a Competency Profile for CEO Succession Planning. The research focused on two groups, Appointers and Appointees and their views on succession planning, addressed through the following questions: Firstly, What competency qualities are required for successful CEO leadership? Secondly, what support is given to CEO candidates to achieve competency in their positions? Lastly, is there a competency alignment based on the Appointers and the Appointee? An exploratory qualitative research methodology was followed. The participants were from various industries in South Africa. Participants identified as Appointees, were CEOs and the Appointers group included Board members and HR Executives. A total of sixteen participants took part in this research, which included semi-structured interviews, using a questionnaire through data source triangulation. Applying an inductive thematic analysis, the results were analysed to identify common emergent themes from the participants, which were identified as being: Leadership and Strategy, Industry Experience, Organisational Culture, Decision Making ability, Organisational Transparency and Organisational Fit. The research findings provide insights into what the Appointer is looking for in a CEO and what the Appointee brings to the organisation, as the basis for developing succession planning according to the CEO Competency Profile.