Why You Should Hire Your Replacement

I've been involved in a number of succession planning conversations this week and thought of this post from the archives about planning for your own departure.

Let's face it, we are all going to leave our jobs one day. Hopefully by choice but one way or another, it will happen.

Who will fill your shoes when you do?

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The November 2010 issue of Healthcare Leadership Review provided an excerpt from the article, "Hiring Your Replacement," where the author wrote, "Although hiring your replacement might seem counterintuitive, doing so will help secure your organization's succession planning and business continuity." And, he provided a few steps for doing so which included: hiring smart people, measuring cultural fit, letting them succeed and losing you ego.

The part about losing your ego really rang true to me as I looked back through my career to supervisors, managers, and leaders blue in the face and fingers holding tight to "their" people, processes, and paper. They were hurting everyone - and themselves. Get a life outside of work comes to mind, but I digress.

As a developing workforce succession planner, I appreciate it when successors are available for our key positions. Having done replacement planning for more than a few years because succession pipelines were not in place, I know that having successors makes sense all around.

But if doing it for the company is not what gets you going, how about doing it for you? There are a few selfish reasons for hiring your replacement (and I ask readers to join in with some of their own) and here thoughts on what's in it for you (WIIFY):

• More noodle time (great ideas)
• 2 heads are better than 1 (better ideas)
• Benefit of another's perspective (well rounded thoughts)
• Get to develop potential in another (leader who cares)
• Ability to fill in knowledge, skill and experience gaps (better performance=better reviews)
• Opportunity to do the things you never seem to get to (no to-do list=peace of mind)
• Real-time chance to refine your coaching and mentoring skills (leader who can be trusted)

Not your thing? Then how about your own personal minion, someone to do the things you really don't like to do, a new Sunshine Fund owner, and someone to route annoying sales and data collection calls to?

Listen, hiring a replacement who shares your vision and can deliver on your goals will make your life easier and will make everyone, especially you, look that much better. Do this one thing right and you'll continue to look good even after you're gone.

What ever your reason, whatever your motivation - just do it. Hire your replacement and be sure she is ready to step in when the needs arises. 

It is the right thing to do.

How I Work - Lisa Rosendahl Edition

When I attend a well-coordinated conference or observe a successful program launch, I want to know what happened behind the scenes and what the organizers did to deliver. The journey is much more interesting to me than the destination. 

Badge by Lizzie (@lizonomics)

I also love hearing how people work. So when I saw Sharlyn Lauby, author of HR Bartender, post recently about how she works, I clicked through and read along as she shared a little about her work. 

Sharlyn encouraged others to follow suit, so I did. Enjoy! 

Location: Central Minnesota

Current Gig: Human Resources Director for the St. Cloud VA Health Care System.

Current mobile device: iPhone 5, iPad

Current computer: DELL Inspirion 660 at home and another DELL of some type at the office. Loving the Windows upgrade or could it be that I disliked Vista so much?

One word that describes how you work: Focused.

What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?  Anything that lets me read on the go. With the demise of Google Reader I am running NewsBlur and Feedly side by side on my iPad and have a smattering of other reading apps I check into now and then. 

What’s your best time-saving trick? None, because I never seem to have enough time? One thing that works for me is taking 10-15 minutes at the end of each day to organize the most urgent projects for the next day and put them front and center to greet me when I walk in the door. It saves precious start up time in the morning.

What’s your workspace like? It's rather functional. Give me a computer, access and a few pics of the family and I can work from anywhere. Throw in a latte and something sweet and I'm better than good.

What’s your favorite to-do list manager? Outlook to keep my comings and goings organized and pen and paper (regular not legal size and white not yellow) for everything else.

Besides your phone and computer, what gadget can’t you live without? My Mophie because my iPhone5 does not hold a charge and my hotspot because I refuse to purchase data plans for my iPad and the kid's iPod and iPad mini.

What everyday thing are you better at than anyone else? Keeping a clean desk. I can't work with clutter. 

What do you listen to while you work? Nothing more than the hum of the office.

Are you more of an introvert or an extrovert? Introvert – no question about it.

What’s your sleep routine like? Most nights, I’m in bed by 9:00p and up by 4:30a (with an alarm).

Fill in the blank. I’d like to see ____________ answer these same questions.  I’d love to see YOU take the challenge and link back in the comments below.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? Don't overthink. Just do.

What are you working on right now? Let me pull out my paper task list . . . besides the day to day activity of running an HR department in transition I am working on addressing organizational succession plan challenges and building HRIS capability to  translate data into insight.

Tag, you're it!