Succession planning means more than just having a set ofinstructions in place for your board to follow in case youunexpectedly die, according a panel of CEOs that participated in aNot For CEOs discussion held at CUNA's Governmental AffairsConference.

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“A succession plan is not the same thing as a replacement plan,”said Brandon Michaels, CEO of the 52,000-member $477 million MazumaCredit Union, headquartered in Kansas City, Mo.  Areplacement plan is a piece of paper that tells the credit unionboard who they can turn to replace you in an emergency, heexplained. A succession plan is a proactive effort to cultivate anddevelop the next generation of leaders for the credit union.

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Michaels appeared on the panel with Ronaldo Hardy, CEO of theShell Geismar FCU, a 3000-member $28 million credit unionheadquartered in Gonzalez, La., and Stan Hollen, CEO of CO-OPFinancial Services.

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Sarah Snell Cooke, publisher and editor-in-chief of CreditUnion Times, moderated the panel, which was broadcast over alive Internet feed.

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Hardy and Michaels, who are both under age 40, emphasized that,properly understood, succession planning means more than merelyplanning for eventual replacements, it should be a way of tappinginto the full talent of everyone on the credit union staff.

“When I look at succession planning, I see the root of the word,success,” said Hardy, explaining that as CEO, he considered one ofhis jobs is to find and unlock the staff's passions and then helpmove them to positions that are going to engage those passions notonly for their success but for the success of the wholeorganization.

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When asked how that employee development and formation shouldprogress, Hollen stressed several times that he looks for the humanqualities in potential successor more than just having a workingknowledge of skills.  

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“Strength of character, humility, empathy, honesty, all thosethings are the most important things,” Hollen explained. “Someonecan learn operations or finance or other skills they need, but youhave to start with those human qualities.”

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Hardy took the position that leaders are born, not made, butadded that merely being a born leader is not enough.

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“A leader is going to show their leadership qualities no matterwhat the field,' he said, 'but leadership qualities will only takethem so far if they don't train and develop themselves.”

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Hardy said his credit union had not particularly thought aboutsuccession previously, having fallen into a pattern wheresuccession tended to go to the second executive in chargeautomatically.  However that changed soon after he becameCEO, when the second executive unexpectedly passed away from cancerand the third executive had to resign.  The experience ofhaving had so much of its institutional memory and leadershipdisappear in a relatively short amount of time brought home to thecredit union's board of directors that the organization needed tochange how it developed its own talent.

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“Now if something should happen to me, my board knows they havetwo executives they can ask on short notice to step into myposition,” Hardy said.