Who could possibly replace you?

• Author: Greenberg, Herb
• Position: SUCCESSION - Central Maine Healthcare Corp.

The board of directors at Central Maine Healthcare has put the future into perspective. The Lewiston, Maine-based health care facility needs a succession plan for its executive team--and it needs it now.

This is a daunting task, especially since the current team has developed an unusually tight bond over the past two decades.

The group has grown as a team, personally and professionally, coming to understand each other almost intuitively, as they've wrestled through difficult decisions, always achieving consensus before moving forward. They know the talent and chemistry of this team will be very hard to replace.

So, for Charles T. "Guy" Orne, the executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer--who is within three years of retiring--finding his successor has risen to a heightened level of urgency.

Orne has to determine if someone currently on his team has the qualities necessary to succeed him. He also must determine whether they have leadership potential, and whether he can connect with them in a real and meaningful way, to groom them to step up to the post he is leaving.

Orne describes the person he is seeking: "I am looking for someone who has myriad attributes. This individual needs the technical competency to oversee a financial team. Then, he or she will need to exhibit strong leadership skills. Most important among those are people skills and passion. I"m also looking for someone with a strong intuitive nature, because you have to deal with people on so many levels; you need to be able to read them and understand why they act the way they do. Most importantly, they need to convey confidence and trust--so that others believe in them."

Orne has come to recognize that this is more than just another career transition.

He has to prepare for a complete change in his personal and professional life. And the step he's taking will likely have a significant impact on the organization he has helped to lead for more than two decades.

With Retirement Looming

Orne is among 25 percent of senior executives who are now eligible for retirement. As the baby boom generation takes the adage "tuning in and dropping out" to an entirely new level, succession planning is taking on a new meaning.

Succession planning involves: being clear about your strengths and limitation; having a vision of the future of your company; being able to express that vision compellingly; assessing the qualities of its future leaders; and ultimately making a real connection between you and them and where your company is now and where it will be in the future.

So beyond understanding the changes in accounting, compliance, mergers, global markets and emerging strategies, Orne's replacement will need to connect and communicate--almost intuitively--with the executive team, as well as possess the...