Is un-succession planning on your to do list?

According to dictionary.com the definition of succession is “the coming of one person or thing after another in order.”   What if the order that made absolute sense in the past is no longer effective or even relevant?  How do you select the best successor when you are charting new territory?  Maybe un-succession is a better alternative.

To find some new thinking on the subject I reviewed the writings of someone who has been recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities in thinking and teaching thinking as a process, Dr. Edward de Bono.  Dr. de Bono created a process for becoming systematically more creative called Lateral Thinking.    Lateral Thinking is not intended to replace our typical vertical thinking process but to provide a creative supplement when a reductionist process is no longer sufficient.  Vertical thinking is very effective when we are trying to sequentially distill ideas from a larger whole, but it is not very productive when we are trying to create an entirely new way of seeing or believing.  To think creatively we need a process that breaks through old paradigms by beginning in a different place.

One example used is that of a tennis tournament.  Let’s say you had a single elimination tournament of 131 players.  How many matches would it take to determine a winner?  Most of us would begin with 65 matches and one left over then 33, 16 and then 8 etc.  My brother-in-law, a lifetime coach, would have this thing charted out in a matter of minutes.  Dr. de Bono would suggest that instead of following the whole process of creating one winner you could approach the problem from the perspective of how many losers would you need to have just one winner.  The answer when approaching it from this direction would be immediately evident as 130.

I have written about this process as it applies to avoiding “Group Think” in the FREE WHITE PAPER Cubic Thinking™: Creativity³.  Understanding the process can also help us sharpen our own creative skills.

We begin first with the most difficult task of all, that of not knowing.   Everything we see, hear and say has a personal history associated with it.  That history not only gives it meaning but limits our ability to perceive other potential meanings.  I personally like canned peaches and cottage cheese.  This was a special treat in my house growing up when during a hot summer evening we would have our dinner outside on the patio.  My wife on the other hand got cottage cheese and peaches when her mom was in a bad mood.  Despite the many years that have passed she still can’t stand the stuff.  Even what we taste is shaped by what we expect.

Improve your un-succession process by using a tool like the Competing Values Framework to un-do a little bit of what you think you already know.   There are four basic competing values within every organization: Collaborate, Create, Compete and Control. When these values are in alignment with individual and organizational goals, teams thrive; but when in conflict they are the most powerfully destructive force a team can experience.  Depending on the level of trust you have with your team you may need to offer several practice opportunities like these to stimulate their creative thinking process.