Dear PA Confidential: What suggestions do you have for the president's office staff for managing a presidential transition after a decade of the same president?

Let me begin by saying that I approach this question from the perspective of a Chief of Staff or Executive Assistant. Other office staff would then take their cues from the choreography established by the senior staff person.

The core challenge of any presidential transition, and particularly one arising from the departure of a long-serving president, is striking the best balance between the hopefulness, energy and vision of a new president, and the stability and successes of the past. This is the new president’s first chance to demonstrate leadership to the new campus, and thus staff must be mindful to assure the successor is given the full opportunity to make the decisions that will drive this balancing act.

Much depends on the circumstances of the incumbent’s departure. A president who left at the top of her/his game, largely in good graces with the board, faculty and community, would warrant a more measured transition to whatever new challenges the board has set before the successor. On the other hand, a president who departed under any consequential measure of duress might necessitate a more assertive and faster paced (both from the point of view of substance and optics) break from the perceived shortcomings of the incumbent.

In either case, I would begin with whatever strategic or operational challenges were set by the board as part of the search process. Probably the best single source of this information is the prospectus that was part of the advertising for the search. Any conversations with board members, significant donors or impactful political or governmental allies would also be informative. A clear understanding of what the board expects the new president to achieve is crucial. Similarly, what faculty and university community needs were perceived to have been left unmet by the incumbent? A candid discussion about this with the new president is absolutely crucial to a successful transition. One trap to avoid - whether consciously or unconsciously, a board selects a new president to augment whatever shortcomings they perceived in the incumbent. That’s as it should be. The trap is that in doing so, they might be less attentive to the qualities and skills that made the incumbent successful. A good staff can help a new president appreciate both aspects of the board’s intent.

Perhaps the most difficult task for staff in a transition is to truly accept the reality that a new president will have a new style, different skills and expertise, and varying substantive views that differ from the incumbent. Resist the impulse to think or say “We don’t do it that way here.” While it may well be your obligation to alert the president that an idea or instruction is at variance with institutional policy or longstanding practice, it might better serve you to phrase that in terms of alerting the new president to how a change might be perceived to be at variance with people’s expectations, and how to acknowledge and manage that potential reaction.

It will be necessary for staff to calibrate their understanding of how the successor’s management style differs from the incumbent. Things that your former boss wanted you to handle, or delegate to a VP, might not be the same as things the new boss wants to handle him/herself, at least initially. Talking those things through from the outset is a good strategy from an operational perspective, as well as to build a constructive working relationship.

Speaking of relationship building, an early discussion should focus on how the new president wants to meet key stakeholders of the college community. Most transitions include some sort of “listening tour.” An early indicator of the president’s style will be how he/she wants to execute that process. Your familiarity with the key campus leaders can facilitate that task. Creating a useful and informative set of briefing materials is also a very valuable contribution that staff can make.

Finally, from the big picture to the mundane, staff can help a new president avoid the too common mistakes that can stain a new presidency. If a house has to be rehabbed, if an office needs to be refurnished, if a car needs to be replaced, etc. do everything possible to get those things done well before the successor arrives. No new president needs the optics of opulence confounding a transition. This concern also applies to whatever campus-wide ceremonial events (e.g., inauguration) will be organized to celebrate the arrival of a new president, and particularly so since there isn’t any way to separate decisions about those events from the new president him/herself.

The arrival of a new president is a wonderful and relatively rare learning opportunity for staff. A president brings new skills, expertise, style, vision and energy to a campus. Being a part of that, and contributing to maximizing the strengths of a successor to the benefit of the campus, can be a big plus to the professional success and satisfaction of staff.