Situations

Transitions where the timetable is not the team’s to set

The work is for executive teams going through a consequential change, with a demand on a fixed date ahead of them.

CEO succession

What shifts: The team now reports to someone with different priorities, a different pace and a different tolerance for challenge. Members who were peers of the new CEO, or who wanted the role, are re-positioning.
The demand is often: The new CEO’s first plan to the board, the first set of results under their name, or a strategy review.
Questions the assessment puts to the team: Does the team hold one account of the new priorities, or several?
Have decision rights moved with the new CEO, or is the old pattern still running?
Is disagreement with the new CEO said in the room yet?

What shifts: A new owner brings a value-creation plan, a reporting rhythm and expectations about pace. The team has to absorb them while running the business, often with one or two new members appointed by the investor.
The demand is often: The first hundred days, a value-creation plan milestone, a refinancing or a quarterly investor review.
Questions the assessment puts to the team: Has the operating rhythm changed to match the owner’s, or is it the old one with more reporting?
Are remits clear between long-standing members and new appointments?
Do problems reach the team early, or only once there is an answer to give the owner?

What shifts: Two leadership teams, or parts of them, become one. Interfaces that were external become internal, and the same title can mean different things to people from each side.
The demand is often: Day one, a synergy milestone, a systems cut-over or the first combined results.
Questions the assessment puts to the team: Do people from each side share the same picture of performance?
Have overlapping remits been redrawn explicitly, or assumed?
Are the newer or quieter voices heard when integration decisions are made?

What shifts: The team is asked to do more with less, often after colleagues have left. Roles widen, priorities narrow, and the cost of a wrong decision rises.
The demand is often: A covenant test, a lender or board review, or the date a cost programme must deliver.
Questions the assessment puts to the team: When two priorities conflict, does the team know which one wins?
Do decisions stay made, or reopen after the meeting?
Is bad news arriving early enough to act on?

Founder succession, rapid scaling and major transformation programmes raise many of the same questions. It is worth a conversation.