What the Church can teach us about succession

The Catholic Church has the kind of well-defined process for succession and continuation that you expect from an organization that expects to be around for millennia. A new Pope requires a 2/3 vote by eligible electors in a sequestered conclave. The electors are the members of the College of Cardinals who are under the age of 80. There is no time limit on these deliberations. Once a decision is made, there is no question of a Pope’s legitimacy.

When it comes to corporate succession, a Board of Directors comprises the electors for a CEO. It sets its own rules on what is required for election. Compromise choices that are not straightforward (e.g., co-presidents or interim titles) are possible but often end badly. For other, more junior positions, the decision-making is more informal, and selections are often less definitive.

The choice of a new Pope is not the incumbent’s decision. When Pope Benedict chose to retire, he couldn’t put his finger on the scale in selecting who replaced him. Being over 80 at the time of his resignation, Benedict wasn’t even eligible to vote in the conclave.

Too often, a leader tells their identified succession candidate that they are in line for the leader’s job. Unfortunately, the candidate interprets the message as their boss’s decision instead of their recommendation. When that candidate is just one of several under consideration, they feel that a commitment has been broken. Here's a recent blog I wrote on how we make promises that are not ours to keep. Take a look at last month's blog for more on the subject.

While the Pope can be any man of the Catholic faith, the choice always comes down to somebody from the College of Cardinals. The pool is sufficiently broad, and there are many qualified candidates, based on the experience they've gained in different roles.

Spencer Stuart noted that only 56% of new CEOs were hired from inside the organization. Modern organizations seldom have large pools of qualified succession candidates. Executives tend to stay in specialized functional paths, guided by their expertise and their assumption that rotations away from their strengths will slow their career progression. Succession decision makers often value the more circuitous path less taken. If they can't find that inside or if they want a break from the past, they look outside.

Those not elected Pope continue in leadership positions. They have an unbroken, direct line of authority and teaching passed down from Jesus’s apostles (apostolic succession). This process applies to Church doctrine as well. This loyalty to the organization’s consistent mission is a bond not easily broken.

Those who lose out in corporate succession often don’t stick around. They lack the level of devotion to an organization’s mission that a Cardinal feels. With their ambition for a more senior position stoked, with potential resentment that a "promised" role did not come to them, they are motivated to look for that opportunity elsewhere.​

A shared set of beliefs, robust leadership development and a legitimization process are keys to one organization's ability to select its leader and maintain the continuity of its executive team.

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