Executive director succession–planning for and managing the change from one chief executive to the next–is one of the nonprofit board’s most important responsibilities and possibly their least understood job. This isn’t surprising. Executive transitions are infrequent, and managing them requires skills that fall well beyond routine governance roles. Plus, succession projects are complicated and time-consuming. On top of that, succession planning remains a sensitive topic in many organizations.
This article outlines some of the most common executive director succession mistakes, what drives them, and how good preparation helps you avoid them.
MISTAKE #1: Living in denial about leadership succession
Executive turnover is inevitable, yet many organizations live in denial about it. Executives and boards avoid the topic for various reasons. By sidestepping the issue, they miss prime opportunities to prepare in advance.
There’s no steering around the inevitable. The reality is that every job or career ends in a transition. It’s just a matter of when, how, and how well the process is managed when that transition occurs. And good management starts with good planning.
How to avoid it:
Break the ice on the succession planning conversation by implementing Succession Essentials.
Succession Essentials consists of two documents: a board-adopted succession policy that outlines how the board will handle the transition when the executive director decides to leave the role, and a backup plan for the executive’s position that ensures there’s a cross-trained person to step in for the chief executive in the event of the executive’s absence.
Together, these documents ensure leadership continuity; they’re effective management tools that every nonprofit should have in place.
But the process of developing these tools is as valuable as the product. This sort of planning can open a dialogue about the executive’s job responsibilities, management bench depth, streamlining the duties of an overburdened executive director, organizational sustainability, and a host of other capacity-building opportunities.
To get these good management tools in place in your organization, get a copy of my free Executive Succession Essentials planning guide.
MISTAKE #2: Seeing succession as just a hiring challenge
Many boards have a “replacement” mindset about leadership succession. They think, “What’s the big deal? When our executive leaves, we’ll just hire her replacement.” They view executive succession primarily as a hiring challenge.
They fail to recognize that their hiring decision comes wrapped in a large set of organizational changes. Turnover in the executive director position extends far beyond who sits in the executive’s office. It’s a major change for the organization’s #1 resource, the staff.
This miscalculation is compounded if the departing executive is a founder or long-tenured executive or a transformational leader. They’re a hard act to follow. Transitions involving these hard-to-succeed executives need to be especially carefully planned.
How to avoid it:
First, make sure the board recognizes that their job is to manage both the transition and the search for a successor.
Second, ensure they understand this is a major change for the organization and its people–involving changes that must be planned and managed.
Third, in addition to finding the successor, an important part of their job is to ensure that the organization is ready to work effectively with the new executive and that the executive director’s role is “successor-ready.”
MISTAKE #3: Rushing the process
Often, when the executive lets the board know they’re leaving, the board immediately jumps into search mode, skipping the planning and job preparation that should precede the search.
Maybe the departing executive didn’t provide much notice, and the board is understandably concerned about a potential leadership gap. But rushing the process and cutting corners is a surefire path to a failed transition.
How to avoid it:
First, if the departing executive plans to leave before the transition is complete, the board needs to appoint an interim or acting executive director. This bridge leadership will give the board time and breathing room for a thorough search, selection, and transition.
Second, the succession policy we discussed under Mistake #1 can speed things up by laying out a clear transition process in advance. When the transition time comes, the board will already have a plan, a timetable, a charge for their committee, and so forth. While the transition may still be unfamiliar territory, they’ll have a map to guide them.
MISTAKE #4: Not making the CEO job doable for a successor
Many executives in place now, especially the long-tenured ones, grew into their roles as their organizations grew around them. As a result, many executive director jobs are overly complex and sometimes idiosyncratic. Without some job redesign, the weight of current responsibilities might crush a successor, or it might be difficult to find candidates for an eclectic role.
How to avoid it:
Take the time to unpack, refit, and recalibrate the job.
Unpacking means digging into and understanding the job in practice, not just what’s on paper.
Refitting means eliminating what no longer fits, which may involve delegating some duties to other senior managers and, if necessary, adding management team capacity. It also means including duties that are being done but aren’t reflected in the current job description.
Recalibrateing brings us to our next mistake…
MISTAKE #5: Facing the rear-view mirror instead of the windshield
Instead of taking the time to plan and calibrate the executive director position for the future, the board merely dusts off the current job description. Job descriptions are rarely up to date. They usually reflect the leadership qualities that got the organization to where it is today, but those qualities may not be the best leadership specs to guide your nonprofit into the future. Or worse, the board shapes the job profile in reaction to the current executive. If the executive is admired, the board tries to match their assets. And if the executive is scorned, the board tries to reverse their liabilities.
How to avoid it:
In addition to unpacking and refitting, the job needs to be recalibrated to reflect the organization’s future leadership needs. The board should have an in-depth discussion about the organization’s future direction and the kind of leadership needed to get “there.” Then they can use that knowledge to shape a fresh set of job requirements. That might involve updating the strategic plan or, at least, having an in-depth discussion about the strategic priorities for the next 3 to 5 years.
The board should translate its future-focused discussion into a clear leadership mandate for the incoming executive — ideally, a concise set of 3 to 5 priority outcomes for the first 12 to 18 months. This mandate provides the new leader with direction without constraining judgment, signaling organizational alignment around what matters most.
MISTAKE #6: Overestimating the board’s ability to execute the search and manage the transition on their own
Your board members may have hiring experience, but hiring a nonprofit executive director is different from hiring for just about any other position. First, too often, boards don’t recognize what they don’t know about the executive’s job. They see a sliver of the job around board meetings but not the rapid-fire, day-to-day environment, the gear-shifting between leadership and management, or the range of responsibilities and the mental bandwidth required to cover them. Second, the transition is a complex organizational change process that requires deft political skills, strong communication, and enterprise-level management capability.
Even the best, most engaged boards rarely fully understand the executive director’s role without serious preparation and support. Moreover, the search and selection process and transition management are unique and taxing responsibilities for a volunteer board.
How to avoid it:
Ensure the board chair appoints the best leadership from the board to the planning committee. Encourage the committee to carefully assess their capacity to manage the project. Ensure they have the appropriate support to manage this complex set of processes. Insist that they engage outside counsel if necessary.
Conclusion – two actions you can take right now
Nonprofit executive succession can be complicated and challenging, but there are two actions you can take right now that can strengthen the organization and prepare the board to manage the transition effectively when the time comes.
- Conduct an organizational sustainability review. A sustainability review can identify and correct issues that are weakening, if not undermining, the organization’s long-term sustainability. As a leadership succession approaches, the review can help ensure your nonprofit is as stable and strong as possible before the successor takes over. Click here to download a free Sustainability Planning Guide.
- Put Executive Succession Essentials in place. As we pointed out, working on a board-adopted executive director succession policy and a backup plan for the executive position can break the ice on leadership succession and ensure that the board has a plan when the executive eventually decides to leave the role. Click here to download a free, step-by-step Executive Succession Essentials planning guide, which includes fill-in-the-blank templates for these two critical tools.
These are good management tools that you can use to strengthen your organization right now. Tools you can implement at any time – they don’t have to be tied to an imminent executive transition.