It’s Not a Relay Unless You Pass the Baton

Passing the Relay Baton

By Chris Nichols

What is it that makes a relay race different?

Runners run as a team, working collaboratively to hand off the baton in order to win the race.

It is not a relay if one runner holds on and refuses to hand the baton off to the next runner.
It is not a relay if the lead runner encourages everyone onto the track at the same time but carries the baton alone.
It is not a relay if the team spends all its time off track discussing the baton itself, its shape and what it might be like to pass it but never gets on the track to run the relay itself.
It is not a relay if the lead runner allows the runner behind them to touch the baton but not actually carry it on their own to complete their portion of the race.

It is only a relay if the runners relinquish the baton to the runner following them. @releasetheape

The baton must be passed, handed off from one runner to another in a smooth transition. New runners bring fresh energy. They enter the race at strategic moments to move the baton further toward the finish line. And what happens in those exchanges is critical. Sports writer Mike Rosenbaum says, “A team with four decent sprinters can out-race a team with four better sprinters by beating the faster team in the exchange zones. The key to this event is how much time the baton spends in those exchange zones.”

Organizations must function like relay races. Organizations must always be developing new leaders who can work collaboratively and receive the handoff from the current leadership so that the organization can achieve its mission in ever changing environments. Like in a relay race, the exchange zones where the leadership exchange takes place are critical phases of leadership transition. How and if that exchange takes place has significant impact on an organization’s effectiveness.

Organizations get lost in the exchange zone by:

Stopping at talent identification. The organization eagerly scans it ranks for the best and brightest, opens the doors for them to think about moving into leadership but then moves at a snail’s pace to hand off leadership to the next generation. The exchange zone never materializes. Because everyone is invited to run, it feels like a relay but in fact it is simply a track crowded with runners, moving in the same direction with the same runners as always holding on to the baton. The frenetic activity of the race will distract runners for a while but eventually some of the best and brightest will catch on. They are running but have no ability to lead change or access decision making that might move the organization forward. These runners will eventually tire of the loops around the same track and find a race where they can receive the baton and take their place in leadership.

Discussing possible transitions and transfers of power without making them (obsessing over the baton itself). Over time, leadership begins to succumb to the lie that the discussion is the same as the transition itself. They’re off the track and don’t even know it. Earnest engagement in transition debate substitutes for substantive change.

Choosing future leaders who have the same gift set and leadership characteristic of those they will replace. The new leaders run at the same pace as the former ones and lose the race because they don’t see that the terrain has changed and a new type of runner is required. Organizations can inadvertently build a leadership culture that becomes more about its self-preservation than addressing the challenges the organization must overcome for it to succeed in the future, demanding a new type of leader for a new time.

Older leaders inviting new ones to touch the baton but not relinquish it. At first it feels like you are on the inside but over time, you realize leadership will not be released into your hands. The older leader insists on keeping a hand in, holding power, controlling the organization to the point that both runners are slowed and distracted from the race itself. They become so focused on the “pass” they can’t see what is ahead.

Successful leadership transitions require:

Leaders who know they must actually give up power for the sake of the organization’s mission. They prepare to mourn the loss of their power and role even as they bless those who follow.
A commitment to making sure time in the “exchange zone” doesn’t lag to point that no change is taking place and talented leadership is lost. Old leaders let go of the baton in real time, allowing for the critical passage of power to a new generation.
A leadership transition culture that operates in new ways in transition, allowing new leaders to make decisions even as they are moving into new roles. Transition cultures recognize that old hierarchies may have to be disassembled if new structures are to be built.
Effective coaching by the experienced leaders that doesn’t impose their perspective but gives it as a way of encouraging and developing new leaders.
A recognition by those in power of what the leadership culture currently is and how it might need to change in order to meet the challenges of times to come.

Effective organizations function like relay races. What kind of race is your organization running?