Organizations hardly ever replace their leadership with the same type of leadership they currently have. When a leader leaves the organization, they look for an almost opposite to what they had in a leader. I’ve observed this trend over the years. It’s true at every level of society. School systems, churches, governments, universities, corporations, and non-profits all do this in relatively the same way.
If the current leader, who is a meticulous micro-manager, leaves the organization, he or she will be replaced with a more global-thinking, less detailed-oriented leader. If an organization has a passive leader who leaves, the organization will search for a more aggressive leader for the next round of leadership. Churches who have a pastor with strong people skills, but weaker as a speaker, will most likely be replaced with a pastor who is a gifted orator, but lacks in the area of people skills.
Have you observed this trend?
I’m an HR Director and divorced single parent with an undergrad degree in business, but an emphasis on social psychology. I mention all of this because I’ve observed this “pendulum swing” for years in a variety of situations!! I’ve observed it in general business in how people tend to always look for the polar opposite of what they had before – with finding a new vendor, with hiring managers needing new employees at all levels (not just in leadership), and even in dating! I find that people in general (not just men… ha ha) will checklist all the negatives of the past (working or dating) relationship and do the knee-jerk reaction of “this person was too x, y, z; therefore I MUST have a, b, c” rather than looking at what their actual problem or needs are.
What it really comes down to is the ART (not science imho) of critical thinking and ability to do a true needs analysis (whatever the particular situation) of being honest and raw enough to ask yourself the hard questions of: What am I really trying to accomplish and what do I really need to get me there… and to sometimes realize that relying on past data is relying on bad or inaccurate data and that you don’t always need to look to the past to be your indicator of how to move forward. Change Management 101… which so many people talk about, but rarely effectively implement.
How true your observations! The typical scenario (in the church world anyway) is to focus on the perceived weaknesses of the previous leader and then compensate by looking for the “opposite.” Failure to understand that every ‘strength’ has a corresponding ‘weakness’ has resulting in churches experiencing a pendulum swing with most leadership transitions. If the previous leader held that position for an extended period of time, this tendency toward a pendulum swing results in a short term, ‘transitional’ leader because the followers are used to a certain set of strengths.