Succession & planning consultant
While every nonprofit and its executive director transition is unique, leadership transitions tend to follow seven broad patterns. Each of these types requires its own set of actions to manage the transition effectively.
We’ll get into the types in a moment, but first, let’s look at some of the overall factors that most influence the transition and, therefore, the approach to managing it.
Before forging ahead with an executive director transition and hiring a successor, there are two courageous questions that the board should ask about their nonprofit: should our organization continue? And a related question: should it continue in its current form?
These questions are seldom asked because we’re usually operating in business-as-usual mode. Our work is a continuum of opportunities and challenges. And leadership succession is just another problem to solve. Thus, we don’t recognize succession for what it is — a critical punctuation point in the organization’s history.
Get my replacement here at least six months before I leave so I can train him. That was how Alice[*] responded to my question about how she saw the upcoming CEO transition going.
The organization Alice directed had just hired me to find her successor and advise them on the transition between Alice and the new CEO. My response to her statement could have been, “No cause for alarm.” Alice was retiring as the CEO, and transitions and retirement always create an element of anxiety. Additionally, departing executives often overestimate how much overlap their successors will require.
But, the way she said it — staccato, jabbing her index finger into her palm to emphasize each word — THAT was more than a little concerning. I thought, “Oh boy, I may be dealing with a ‘general’ here.
by Robert Galford and Regina Fazio Maruca
In a world obsessed with quick wins, leaders face immense pressure to focus on immediate objectives and short-term achievements. However, effective leadership is also about the long term and the impact you leave behind—your legacy. Every leader creates a legacy through their influence, whether they’re aware of it or not. It’s not just about numbers or achievements; it’s about the behaviors, ideas, and growth you foster in others.
by Michael Watkins
Master Your Next Move is a guide for leaders who are transitioning into new roles, be it through promotions, taking a job at a different organization, or other career shifts. Successful careers involve navigating a sequence of demanding transitions, often occurring in clusters. It is crucial to map out these transitions, identify your personal adaptability, and recognize the obstacles to organizational change so that you can better understand the challenges you are facing.
by Dan Ciampa and David L. Dotlich
Transitions at the Top aims to address the high failure rate and lackluster performance of newly-appointed CEOs of public corporations.
This summary comes with a caveat for nonprofits: the focus is on CEOs of public corporations. Public corporations have a different governance structure than nonprofits. First, their boards include inside (executive) directors and outside (independent) directors. Second, the current or former CEO often serves as board chair. Given the differences in governance structure and the role of the chief executive, some advice in those two areas must be taken with a grain of salt.
by George B. Bradt, Jayme A. Check, and John A. Lawler
The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan is a comprehensive guide for newly appointed leaders, whether they are succeeding an incumbent in an existing position or taking on a newly created role. The book offers an in-depth exploration of the new leader’s journey and presents a practical, detailed roadmap for assuming full leadership in the new role. First-time leaders will find the step-by-step recommendations particularly helpful.
by Michael Watkins
The First 90 Days helps leaders to transition smoothly and make a positive impact early in their new job. The book focuses on the first 90 days because actions during the first few months in a new role determine if a leader succeeds or fails.
Whether you’ve been promoted to a new position within the same organization or you’re joining a different organization, this book covers how to get to the “breakeven point” faster and ultimately be more successful in your new role. (Breakeven is when you start to contribute more to the organization than you consume through learning and integration.) Watkins says this book’s principles can shorten the time to breakeven by 40%.
Nearly every nonprofit faces the challenge of hiring a new chief executive at some point. And every board seems to remember the terse line in their bylaws when it comes to managing the transition. The one that reads, “The board is responsible for hiring and supervising the chief executive.” Unfortunately, that directive doesn’t come close to addressing the board’s responsibility for managing executive turnover.
The circumstances surrounding executive director terminations are usually more complicated than they appear. There’s a lot to sort out ahead of a termination. For more on that, see the companion article, What to Do Before Your Fire Your Executive Director. Instead, in this article, we’ll focus on how to put the organization back on track after the inevitable trauma of a termination.
When a board fires or forces out its executive director, human tendencies kick in, resulting in two common mistakes.