When a Leader is Sick - Trust Topics June 2004

June 8, 2004

A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHORS

This month's serving of leadership dim sum is just a tiny bite: what do you do when a leader gets sick for an extended period of time?

Update:

Rob Galford co-authored a case study in this month's Harvard Business Review. Called Succession and Failure, it's about a succession plan torn asunder when a future leader leaves for greener pastures.

Previous Issues:

External Crises Need Internal Alignment

When a Leader Defects

Pulling Along or Pulling the Plug?

archives

Next month's serving of Dim Sum: Organizational Sibling Rivalry

Commenting on this fictional case study are Francis N. Bonsignore, a senior vice-president at Marsh & McLennan; Michelle L. Buck, a clinical associate professor of management and organizations at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management; Jon Younger, who heads leadership development at National City Corp., a financial holding company in Cleveland; and Thomas Leppert, the chairman and CEO of the Turner Corp., a large construction company in Dallas. You can order a PDF or hardcopy reprint for $6 directly from HBR.

-Rob and Anne-

LEADERSHIP DIM SUM, PART XIV: WHEN A LEADER IS SICK

One of the key members of the leadership group gets knocked out of commission by an illness for an extended period.

Things to think about: Should the inner circle split up his or her work? Reassign it temporarily? “Sub in” a new player from a lower level? More broadly, how should leadership groups think of their responsibilities? Collectively, or individually?

We’ll answer these questions with more questions: What kind of relationship do the remaining members of the group have? What are the existing dynamics of trust? Is there enough mutual respect and trust present so that no one will be worried about (or tempted to launch) a power-grab?

If the group is not tight-knit, about the only thing you can do is to treat the disruption as a “project,” and make clear, temporary assignments. If you don’t, you run the risk of fostering an unwanted competition (“I could do a better job than so-and-so.” Or “I’ve wanted to try this for a year; here’s my chance, as long as I can keep so-and-so out of it.”)

If the group is close, then this is a far easier problem to deal with. They can do a very good job of figuring out what they can triage, what they can handle on their own, and when it would be time to make more “permanent” temporary arrangements.

~ ~ ~

How about you? Have you had to deal with a situation where a leader was ill? How did it go? Let us know.

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