When I was young and still searching for “Miss Right”, a wise man once told me “if you are pursuing a young lady at the same time as other potential suitors, do not be tempted to badmouth them to the young lady lest she thinks you are immature and have nothing to offer”. Over the years, I have held this conviction true especially when competing for jobs, business opportunities and/or taking over a role from another leader. Any person who is assuming a role previously held by someone else has to face their predecessor’s legacy. In my life, I have experienced candidates who can’t just pitch without bad mouthing others, this is very prominent when candidates are in an acting position and competing with other equally better and experienced candidates. They play all sorts of political machinations to impress the people tasked to make the final decision even going to an extent of trashing everything that their predecessors achieved.
In leadership, we always face the challenges of the legacy left by the person we take over from. Whether the person was a good leader or a bad and controversial leader, we must deal with the outgoing leader’s accomplishments and shortcomings. When your predecessor was successful, you will be judged against their accomplishments. When you take over from a good leader, it gives you a good foundation to steer the institution through your added and combined leadership qualities. If you a visionary, watch out for instances where you may remain in the shadows of your predecessor.
But when taking over a bad leader, we may have to take accountability for our predecessors’ mistakes, while creating a new vision for the team and organization. Poor leadership has far reaching consequences for their successors and the temptation by the new leaders to continue blaming their predecessors without any efforts to change the narrative. It doesn’t matter what you have taking over, whether its complete ownership of a business, a CEO role of a previously poorly run company, a cleaning contract from a company that was badly executed, it is your responsibility to make amends and move everyone forward. Managing this process may be challenging even for the most experienced leaders.
As a rule of thumb, never dwell on the past mistakes of your predecessor even if they were a bad leader, bad supplier or bad business owner. Always, acknowledge their achievements no matter how insignificant they may be, and appreciate their contribution. Stop the blame game, create room for forgiveness so that everyone can move on. Don’t be part of the team that is always referring to your predecessor’s bad decisions. Don’t even encourage it from your team members.
Create your own vision for the future-engage everyone, and ask them what a good feel experience would be for them. As human beings we tend to buy into a vision when involved and as a new leader it’s your role to leave the past behind and shape a new future for your team, your customers and the organisation. You owe it to them.