Are your succession plans adequate and communicated? (97-2)

There are several actions a leader can take to pass leadership to a successor they have chosen to take their place. Read 1 Kings 1:28-40.

Transitions in leadership often cause significant problems for groups and organizations. David planned for his son Solomon’s succession but failed to adequately communicate this to others. As a result, his son, Adonijah, attempted to take the throne when he saw that his father could no longer rule. It is one thing to plan ahead but another to communicate these plans to others who will be affected by them.

Once David realized that the kingdom would be stripped from his chosen successor, he took some corrective actions that allowed his original succession plan to get back on track. You may be facing a similar situation, if so there are several principles of succession leadership that you can learn from David. Notice what David did to finally right the transition process:

• David made a public declaration of his intentions (vv. 28-30).
• David involved key influencers in the process (v. 32).
• David gave Solomon some of his resources that were easily recognized by the people as a symbol of the king’s position (v. 33).
• David set up a public commissioning for Solomon (vv. 34, 35).
• David publicly endorsed Solomon’s leadership (v. 35).
• David initiated a celebration to transition the leadership to Solomon (vv. 39. 40).

Too often leaders assume succession plans only need to be created for a single key leader or at most two key leaders. Effective leaders have simple, well communicated succession plans for every leadership position that could drastically slow momentum or bring progress to a halt should something happen to a key leader’s availability to complete their assignments.