What Happens When the Leader Leaves ?

The Leadership Challenge Middle East

Three things are certain in this life: death, taxes, and you will leave your job. Maybe not this week, maybe not next year.
There may be a promotion there may be a position in another organization. Or you may resign or retire. What happens when the leader leaves, for any of those or other reasons?
If you’re planning on leaving, maybe due to retirement in the next year or so, have you thought about your legacy, have you thought about what you want to leave behind, and the positive impact that you have created ?
Leaders create positive impact. Leaders inspire, they motivate, they drive performance they create engagement – and the team don’t want them to leave. But leaders, of course, model behavior which others follow.
The positive behavior is emulated because those they are leading want to create the same results for themselves which the leader is creating. Good leadership behavior is contagious.
When the leader announces that he or she is leaving, obviously the team are going to be disappointed. Often the leader themselves, may also be disappointed to be leaving the great team that they have created. But when a really good leader leaves, especially when an exemplary leader leaves, there’s not going to be a void.
The legacy the leader leaves behind is the culture that he or she has created. That culture will most likely, because of their commitment to the genuine benefits of exemplary leadership, continue well after that leader has left.
Each of the five practices of exemplary leadership as defined in The Leadership Challenge, when they are embedded in the culture, contribute to the ongoing leadership journey of every person in the team.
Every person in the team knows that leadership is their business, too, and whilst the departure of their much admired, even loved, leader, maybe a time of some sadness for them, they know that the legacy that’s left behind will endure and will be demonstrated by their behavior every day. Yes, you will leave.
That may even be sooner than you think or plan.
It’s never too soon to plan your legacy. What’s the legacy that you’re going to leave?