The current President and CEO of Quest Diagnostics is Mr. Steve Rusckowski who joined the company in May, 2012 (Quest Diagnostics, 2016). His position can become vacant anytime for reasons including but not limited to retirement, joining another company, deteriorating health condition, and death. While he is still the president, it is very important that the company comes up with a succession plan to avoid any risk which can jeopardize company’s operations in case he leave the company. According to Dahlke and Dhalke (2012), a succession plan helps in protecting the viability of a company since it ensures that qualified and talented person is readily available to replace those who hold key positions when they leave the company. Dahlke and Dhalke further pointed out that besides considering internal talent for replacement, it is also equally important to identify potential external talent.
Identification of a comprehensive list of potential external candidates will be done by partly outsourcing the job to competent recruiting agencies which can help in head-hunting. Probably, getting an external CEO might require that the identification begins by studying the profiles of the top three senior managers of rival companies. These include such companies like AAC Holdings, Cesca Therapeutics, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, and Cigna Corporation among others (NASDAQ). Alternatively, the profiles of the top senior managers of medical related companies can be studied and suitable candidates noted for considerations. Such companies include Phillips, GE Health, Sigma-Aldrich, Pfizer, GSK, and Bayer AG among others. But there is no assurance that they will be ready to leave their companies when the time to replace CEO comes.
Relying on external candidates also puts the affairs of the company in a risky situation during the transition. Munro (2010) contend that although any selection process is prone to risks, recruiting an external candidate presents greater risk. This is because little is known about the jobs they have held before, the results they have produced, and the organizations they have worked for.
The next option is to develop a pool of potential successors. A succession planning team would come up with a pool of high potential employees who can undergo an acceleration to succeed the CEO in the future. The team would consider potential employees who have the real potential to assume senior leadership roles. A fair selection process will be chosen so that all employees with leadership potential participate. While ensuring fairness and openness in the process, the team will also ensure that there is diversity in the selected pool. A nomination criteria shall be developed and will include details such as years with the company, classification level, academic qualifications, and management/supervisory experience. To further demonstrate that there is fairness, the employees will be invited to nominate themselves. Once the nomination is over, an initial screening is conducted, followed by an assessment of nominees by asking them to answer behavior-based questions.
CEO competencies that will be of great focus during the succession plan include someone with vision and strategy for the company, someone who ensures tactical success, a person with good relationship and communication skills, a candidate who is highly motivated to become the CEO, someone who understand and have a potential to take business to a higher level, and also a candidate who is fit to the situation. The situation includes current as well as upcoming business tactics and strategies, organizational culture, and global trends in the industry.
During the actual transition, the CEO will be assisted to begin intensive knowledge sharing. The next thing is to be introduced so that he/she communicate with company’s stakeholders. With the help of senior management, a transition plan is developed. Then the transition plan is shared. Finally, the CEO will be expected to strengthen the relationship with the executive board of the company.
References
Quest Diagnostics. (2016). Management Team. Retrieved from: http://ir.questdiagnostics.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=82068&p=irol-govManage
Dahlke, A. & Dahlke, A. (2012). Business Succession Planning For Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Munro, A. (2005). Practical Succession Management: How to future-proof your organization. Burlington: Gower Publishing Company.
NASDAQ. (2016). Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Competitors. Retrieved from: http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/dgx/competitors
