If you believe your nonprofit organization would not survive without you as executive director or board chair, or if your plan is to “never leave,” please heed this: “Your organization will survive, if you plan for it. It may not, if you don’t.” then your organization is at risk due to unforeseen events. If you are the leader of a nonprofit organization, either the executive director or the board chair, I urge you to also plan for a world without you (but in an organizational sense!) by taking these five simple steps for succession planning. It will take just a few hours and could save your nonprofit organization millions of dollars and thousands of hours of lost staff time.
- Accept your impermanence
No one stays as executive director forever, and no one stays as board chair forever. Even long-serving, decades-long leaders eventually step aside. Thinking about your departure is a hard step for some people but it is the most important. Accepting your impermanence and the possibility your organization can thrive after you leave seems “negative” but it is a positive, thoughtful move. This does not mean you can’t love your responsibilities and your role, but it does mean you should be honest about your own impermanence!
- Talk about succession
You as executive director and board chair should talk with each other about your organization’s life after your leadership. What would happen if one of you left in six months? Is there something you want to accomplish together so that potential transition is successful (such as build out the board, build up your reserves, finish a campaign, etc.). Are you concerned about a leadership transition in some way (such as no obvious successor, loss of donor relationships, precarious finances, etc.)? Of course, if you think you might be considering a transition, this is an excellent time to mention it!
- Plan for succession
I suggest you do this simple exercise after talking together with your executive director or board chair. Simply list three staff and board members who might grow into a leadership role, as executive director and board chair. Describe the strengths they would bring, and describe the skills they would need to develop. How does this list feel to you? Abundant? Scarce? If this list feels strong, then list the ways each person might develop the skills they need. Would staff members benefit from training, a new position, or new projects? Would a board member benefit from serving as vice-chair (either officially or unofficially, depending of course on your by-laws)? And of course, your successor may not yet be known to you. Can you build your list through thoughtful staff and board recruitment?
- Act on succession
Congratulations! You have done the hard part in having some tough realizations and conversations. Now you can start to train up and recruit the folks who have the skills you think they need to carry your work forward one day.
- Adapt to changes
Ah ha! Things change! Staff and board who might be good successors to your leadership might leave unexpectedly, even after building them up to step up into a bigger role. Your organization might face unexpected opportunities and challenges that change the skill sets you think your organization’s future leaders will need. With each change, note it, and go back to step two (or step one if you feel like this change means you can’t leave!) and beyond.
Like many of my recommendations for nonprofit organizations’ good health, these five steps are, in practice, a cycle. If you treat leadership succession as an ongoing exercise then succession (when it happens) will help ensure the organization will continue to thrive. Talk about succession annually with your leadership partner, review your candidates and continually build up your talent pool.
Lastly, as a postscript, sometimes a nonprofit leader underperforms to the extent that the organization needs to make a difficult decision about their tenure. If that is the case, then you and your organization will have some hard conversations and some hard days in store. But, in addressing a performance issue, the work you have done to identify that person’s potential successor will be even more vital than in a gentle and positive transition.