How to handle executive turnover during your project
At the start of system deployments, I have been often asked about the number one risk to the overall project. My answer has always been the same - losing a key executive before the go-live. I generally get smiles from the executives and my warning is mostly ignored. Unfortunately, I have seen too many situations that did happen with devastating results.
Disruption is inevitable with an executive departure. Nobody plans for it. It is generally unexpected and sudden. The timing of it can indicate how bad it is going to be. At the beginning and end of the projects, such exists have less effect than the ones that happen in the middle. The reason is the decision-making process. In the beginning, it is not too late for the new executive to change the decisions without causing too much rework. In the end, it is too late to change anything and the new executive needs to just run with what he/she got. The departures in the middle of the project are the bad ones. Any change in design would cause significant rework that ripples through the whole project resulting in delays and cost overruns.
The role of the departing executive is key as well. If the CFO quits, you should be worried about the financials area, yet a good corporate controller may take the workload during the transition. The more functional areas the executive is responsible for, the bigger the disruption is. For example, if a COO - who makes decisions for many functional areas such as sales, purchasing, production, logistics - quits, any change in the direction would cause rework across all these functions.
CIO departures are special cases. They are the leaders for the whole initiative. They leave their mark on the project. An incoming CIO may be tempted to find faults with the departing CIO's leadership. Everything may end up being questioned from project plan to resources to issues list to you name it.
To be successful, we need to be prepared for these worse-case scenarios. How can we handle an executive departure during our project? I found three things to be important to minimize the disruption. First, you need to tie the whole initiative to a solid quantifiable value proposition. The project goals are not to make the existing executives happy, but to make the company become more competitive in the marketplace. Always put the company first, not the executives. Second, document the key decisions made and the assumptions behind them. If they were good decisions for the good of the company, they won't be changed if you can articulate them clearly. Third, ensure the project is being tracked and monitored regularly. Any newcomer will first question how things were running, and you need to be able to show you are on top of things.
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My name is Cem and this has been another gem.
