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Changes at the top: are you ready? In the years ahead, a wave of CEO retirements will challenge organizations to effectively prepare for the next generation of leaders.

Article Excerpt
For many CEOs who have dedicated their careers to the mental health field and also might have spent 25 or more years with one organization, planning for retirement is akin to writing a will. Consequently, formulating a succession plan to guide a successful transition for both the organization and the CEO often is delayed, ignored, or postponed until it is almost too late. At least 30 % of mental healthcare CEOs and senior managers will be of retirement age in the next five to ten years, according to the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare (NCCBH), meaning CEO succession planning is a critical workforce shortage issue. This article addresses some of the considerations and succession-planning steps necessary to prepare an organization for the next generation of behavioral healthcare leadership.

Starting the Process

When should a board and CEO begin succession planning? Picking a leaving date is one of the most difficult steps for a CEO. Therefore, to help a CEO overcome this barrier, the board president and CEO should engage in a discussion about strategic planning for the organization and set a date three to five years in the future when the CEO thinks he/she would like to stop working full time. This is particularly important to do if the CEO is not in good health. If the CEO is not ready to commit to a specific leaving date or exit time frame and the board is happy with his/her...

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