Hannah Yardley
Chief People and Culture Officer
Achievers
Episode 266
Behind the Scenes: HR's Delicate Dance in a CEO Leadership Change
Current chapter: Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built By PeopleMarch 21, 2025 · 12:39
Thesis
“HR leaders must proactively manage CEO transitions by strategically balancing listening and sharing, preserving core culture while identifying areas for change, and coaching both the new CEO and the organization through uncertainty, all while maintaining their daily operational responsibilities.”
Show notes
When a new CEO arrives, most organizations focus on the incoming leader's priorities. Hannah Yardley focuses on something most HR leaders overlook entirely: the relationship between the CHRO and the new CEO is unusual precisely because neither person chose the other. Naming that clearly, on day one, changes the quality of everything that follows.
As Chief People and Culture Officer at Achievers, Hannah recently navigated a full CEO transition and has developed one of the most operationally specific frameworks for HR's role in that process. The first challenge is a listening/sharing balance: you need to bring the CEO up to speed on a tremendous amount, but if you never stop to listen — really ask them what they want to change — you'll miss all the signals about their actual priorities. The second challenge is cultural stewardship. Rather than waiting to see what the new CEO changes, Hannah built an explicit section of the talent strategy plan called "maintaining the best parts of our culture" — a proactive commitment to the things that should be preserved, not left to chance. The third is working style diagnosis. New leaders often look and sound different from predecessors, but it's the operational preferences — meeting cadence, communication channels, how they process information — that create the most friction when unaddressed.
Her parting line cuts through the noise: be authentic, but if you're unwilling to embrace necessary change, understand that someone else will fill the void. CEO transitions are not moments for HR to dig in. They're moments to lead through.
What you'll learn:
- The critical listening/sharing balance during CEO onboarding — and why overloading information backfires
- How to build an explicit cultural preservation strategy as part of the transition plan
- The "didn't choose each other" dynamic — why naming it changes the CHRO-CEO relationship
- How to diagnose a new CEO's working style quickly and adapt before friction accumulates
- HR's dual coaching role: guiding the CEO to the environment, and the organization to the CEO
- How to navigate symbols of change — and why communicating them explicitly is critical
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What you'll take away
- 1During CEO onboarding, HR must balance sharing critical information with actively listening to the new CEO's needs and cues for change, avoiding information overload.
- 2Proactively identify and preserve core cultural elements (things 'they shouldn't touch') while also strategically identifying areas ripe for change under new leadership (things 'they need to touch').
- 3Build the HR leader-CEO relationship by acknowledging its 'didn't choose each other' dynamic, focusing on successful integration through frequent communication, setting boundaries, and helping the CEO achieve their specific goals.
- 4Help the broader organization navigate executive leadership changes by coaching both up (the CEO on adapting to the environment) and down (the organization on adapting to new leadership), and by highlighting symbols of change.
- 5Prioritize identifying a new CEO's working style (e.g., meeting preferences, communication channels) early in the transition to avoid integration struggles and ensure effective collaboration.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Hannah emphasizes that HR leaders should not neglect their 'day job' of supporting the broader organization, even during intense CEO transitions, pushing back against a singular focus on the new executive.
- •She advises that HR leaders must focus on 'helping them [the CEO] do their job' to ensure successful integration, shifting the emphasis from solely guiding the CEO to aligning with their objectives.
- •Hannah cautions against blindly protecting all existing 'sacred cows' of culture, suggesting that some established elements might actually need to change along the way for organizational progress.
In Hannah's words
“There's this balance between listening and sharing because they're going to need to absorb all of the things that you're sharing, which is a ton. But if you don't stop and listen, really overtly ask for the things that they need, then you're going to be missing all of the cues and clues about the things that they want to change in the business.”
This quote highlights the critical two-way communication required, emphasizing active listening from HR to truly understand the new CEO's strategic intentions.
“In our own words, we called this maintaining the best parts of our culture. So we actually had as part of our transition plan and part of our talent strategy this year, maintaining the best parts of our culture. So putting a lot of purpose around the things that we want to keep.”
This illustrates a deliberate and proactive strategy for cultural preservation during executive transitions, making it a formal part of the talent strategy.
“I love those words, they didn't choose you and you didn't choose them. They just resonate so clearly, and I've had this conversation a lot with my colleagues over the last 6 months or so. To actually call that out.”
This acknowledges the unique, often unsaid, and potentially awkward dynamic between an HR leader and a new CEO, suggesting open recognition of this fact is important.
“I'm gonna say that you definitely have to identify their working style. That was probably the biggest shock and difference for me. Someone looks different, right? They come in and they sound different, they use different words, but it's this working style that, is it because they're new? Is it, is this actually how they're operating?”
This emphasizes the critical, often overlooked, importance of understanding a new leader's operational preferences to ensure effective collaboration and avoid friction.
“Under the context of changing CEOs, I would say a couple things. I'd say, Be yourself and be authentic, but remember, if you're not willing to embrace the change, remember that someone is probably there who will.”
This parting advice offers a stark, practical perspective on adaptability and the consequences of resisting necessary changes during leadership transitions.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Overwhelming new CEOs with excessive information during onboarding, which hinders their ability to absorb key details and provide effective guidance.
- •Struggling to maintain organizational stability and employee morale amidst the uncertainty of executive leadership changes, leading to potential cultural erosion.
- •Difficulty in establishing a strong, trust-based working relationship with a new CEO who was not personally selected by the HR leader.
- •Failing to quickly identify and adapt to a new CEO's preferred working style (e.g., meeting frequency, communication channels), causing miscommunication and operational inefficiencies.
- •The challenge for HR leaders in coaching both the CEO and the broader organization to successfully adapt to new leadership behaviors and process shifts, especially subtle 'iceberg' changes.
- •Risk of HR leaders becoming overly protective of existing cultural elements ('sacred cows') that may, in fact, require strategic modification under new leadership.
In this episode
Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built by People
As someone who recently onboarded a new CEO, what are the most critical steps
Onboarding a New CEO: The delicate balance
Hannah, the dynamic between an HR leader and a new CEO is unique
They Didn't Choose You
In your experience, what are the common pitfalls to avoid when helping new CEO
In your experience, what are the most common pitfalls to avoid when
The role of the CHRO is to help coach the CEO
CHRO: Help Coach the New CEO
Hannah, what parting advice would you like to share with our community
A Moment With Hannah Horwitz
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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