Good leadership results in good processes in the workplace and a healthy, positive work culture for employees. So, what happens when good leaders leave the company? In some cases, another good leader is waiting in the wings to fill the role, but other workplaces have a more difficult time with the transition. How do you position your workplace for success? Learn more about challenges employers face in response to changes in leadership and how to minimize the effect on productivity and morale.
How Do Leadership Changes Affect Workplaces?
Leadership changes are just another part of general employee turnover, unfortunately. Leaders may leave a company due to voluntary reasons like retirement or resignations, or part of a layoff or involuntary termination. Leaders may take a job with another company, be promoted, or let go as part of an organizational restructuring.
In any case, employers may suddenly experience problems keeping some processes and duties consistent during these changes. Similarly, employees may encounter issues responding to or taking direction from new leadership — sometimes not knowing fully what new managers or supervisors expect from them — and may also have trouble establishing continuous communication with new leadership during this transitional period.
What’s important for employers to understand is some leaders may be new to leadership or the level of responsibility they’ve been placed in. This can be a challenge for them, subsequently becoming a challenge for workers. New leaders — especially external hires — may be unfamiliar with a workplace’s culture or may lack the experience needed to understand how they are being heard or viewed by their employees. Incoming leadership must understand how employees were accustomed to doing things before, and while leaders may implement new changes, they should consider how these changes may affect their employees.. Your new leaders should also learn their roles while working with a new team of employees; after all, personalities may differ or even clash, so building employee relationships with new leadership is important.
What Can Employers Do?
As an employer, you’re responsible for ensuring a smooth transition in leadership that benefits both the incoming leader as well as your employees. Establish a solid transitional and training plan for new leadership. Keep lines of communication open with teams in transition and be honest and transparent with them on any new changes.
Need help establishing a plan of action for leadership changes? We can help. Learn more about our Generalist HR Services or call 309.863.1202!
