Jul 19, 2016 | Leadership, Transition & Change
In 2011, the Meyer Foundation and CompassPoint Nonprofit Services produced a research report “Daring to Lead” that surveyed 3,000 nonprofit executive directors and revealed a forecast of significant impending workplace transitions, with 67% of executives reporting that they expect to leave their jobs over the next five years.
Today, while we see many leadership transitions occurring among the Baby Boomer population, “what was once characterized as a pipeline problem can now be described as a bottleneck, as many individuals are choosing to work beyond the traditional retirement age due to a variety of reasons, including a prolonged economic recession,” reports the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in “Moving Arts Leadership Forward.”
This reality requires organizations to examine its greatest asset – its people, their roles, and career paths – in strategic and creative ways. Workplaces can expect a robust boomer presence through at least 2034, when the youngest boomers will turn 70. This reality impacts Gen X-ers and Millennials aspiring to executive positions, where the wait time for succession is often longer than they would like.
While there was once a question of whether there were enough capable professionals to succeed an organization, now the challenge is more focused on developing and retaining early- and mid-career professionals in an environment of limited opportunities for formal advancement.
While not alone, nonprofits as a sector have considerable challenges in addressing this leadership reality, as they:
– Tend to be small-to-medium size operations and, as a result, are not likely to have as many resources to address strategy, planning, and leadership development.
– Are often institutions with a culture of group decision making, where business gets done through committees and boards of directors – a process that can create added delays and complexity.
– Can be highly funder-dependent, and any transition – especially with an organization’s top leadership – can threaten these vital relationships and the very future of the organization itself.
– Frequently are lead by an original founder or long-time executive. Over time, the top leader and the organization itself are inextricably connected. When this leader goes away, so could the organization.
– Often do not have sufficient reserves (if any at all) to weather an economic downturn, exposing the organization to significant financial vulnerabilities. Leadership transitions and professional development of its people, if not handled properly, can further intensify this situation.
– Sometimes have boards of directors who are unprepared to handle the transition and select and support new leaders. Despite over a decade of attention to this issue, executives and boards are still reluctant to talk proactively about succession, with just 17% reporting that their organizations had a written succession plan.
We must not overlook these pivotal leadership priorities for the development opportunities that they are. Properly and proactively managed, these changes and transitions provide an organization a period to pause, reflect, regroup, and focus. It’s a unique opportunity to examine strategic direction, priorities, and chart a future course. The key is not merely to endure it, but to emerge stronger and more dynamic from it.
You may be interested in these related blog posts:
Executive Leadership Transition and Organization Preparedness
Succession Planning: Conversation Avoided
About Jeanie Duncan: Jeanie is President of Raven Consulting Group, a business she founded that focuses on organizational change and leadership development in the nonprofit sector. She is a senior consultant for Raffa, a national firm working with nonprofit clients to lead efforts in sustainability and succession planning, executive transition and search. Additionally, Jeanie serves as adjunct faculty for the Center for Creative Leadership, a top-ranked, global provider of executive leadership education.
Jul 10, 2016 | Succession Planning, Transition & Change
Change – sometimes surprisingly fast change – remains the one constant we can count on. Despite this, many organizations fail to prepare for the most predictable change of all…the departure of their chief executive or other key leaders. Success in leadership transitions is dependent upon readying the organization and its people for change. So, why are executive directors and boards reluctant to talk proactively about succession planning?
First of all, change is hard. In many ways, succession planning is like estate planning. People don’t like doing wills, but they know they’re important, and a real priority. Being proactive and taking advantage of advanced planning puts the executive director and board of directors in the driver’s seat to make plans and decisions in the best interest of the organization and its people, not leaving it to others or to be handled during crisis.
In examining the tendency for avoidance, it’s helpful to look at different perspectives:
Executive Director:
– If the top leader takes the subject of succession planning to the board chair, how will he or she be perceived? Is suggesting that an organization discuss leadership transition a sign of weakness? Will the board think the executive is leaving? Burned out? Less confident? Somehow less capable to effectively lead the organization? Will it plant the thought in the board’s mind that another leader would be better?
– Especially true of founders and long-time executives, there’s a great sense of pride and ownership in leading an organization. Making the decision to retire or move on to another opportunity isn’t an easy decision: “I’ve built this institution. What happens to it if I’m no longer at the helm?” Leaders who helped shape an organization often find it difficult to imagine a next step that is as compelling.
– Many hesitate to bring it up because dealing with the day-to-day work is hard enough to handle, let alone trying to plan for something often considered so future-oriented. There’s an overwhelming inclination to just wait and address the issue when it happens.
Board of Directors:
– If a member or committee of the board broaches the subject of succession planning, will it threaten the current executive director? Will the executive perceive the conversation to suggest a problem with his or her leadership?
– As a board member, one “signs up” for a specific duty. While a member may understand and respect the need for succession planning, he or she may simply not want to take on that task. “Why bring more work on myself?”
Obviously transitions raise a long list of issues that point to the complexity and difficulty of such pivotal moments. While there are no simple solutions, changes in leadership can be addressed positively and proactively and strengthen the organization as a result.
It can be helpful to examine succession planning in the broader context of executive transition management. The range of work can be short- and/or long-term planning, at a minimum ensuring that there’s an emergency plan if an executive director is suddenly unable to perform his or her duties. If an organization is lead by a founder or long-tenured director, it makes sense to have a conversation about continuity and legacy beyond the executive. And unlike a traditional search process, executive transition management helps organizations prepare for leadership succession, months, even years before the actual transition takes place, coupling the search and recruitment process with a more comprehensive range of organizational planning and leadership development services.
Despite anxiety and hesitancy in approaching the topic of succession, the positive outcomes of thoughtful conversation and transition planning far outweigh potential negative affects.
Read these other related blog posts:
Leadership Transition and Organization Preparedness
Challenges to Addressing Leadership Transition
About Jeanie Duncan: Jeanie is President of Raven Consulting Group, a business she founded that focuses on organizational change and leadership development in the nonprofit sector. She is a senior consultant for Raffa, a national firm working with nonprofit clients to lead efforts in sustainability and succession planning, executive transition and search. Additionally, Jeanie serves as adjunct faculty for the Center for Creative Leadership, a top-ranked, global provider of executive leadership education.
Jun 17, 2016 | Transition & Change
In 2011, the Meyer Foundation and CompassPoint Nonprofit Services produced a research report “Daring to Lead” that surveyed 3,000 nonprofit executive directors and revealed a forecast of significant impending workplace transitions, with 67% of executives reporting that they expect to leave their jobs over the next five years.
Today, while we see many leadership transitions occurring among the Baby Boomer population, “what was once characterized as a pipeline problem can now be described as a bottleneck, as many individuals are choosing to work beyond the traditional retirement age due to a variety of reasons, including a prolonged economic recession,” reports the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in “Moving Arts Leadership Forward.”
This reality requires organizations to examine its greatest asset – its people, their roles, and career paths – in strategic and creative ways. Workplaces can expect a robust boomer presence through at least 2034, when the youngest boomers will turn 70. This reality impacts Gen X-ers and Millennials aspiring to executive positions, where the wait time for succession is often longer than they would like.
While there was once a question of whether there were enough capable professionals to succeed an organization, now the challenge is more focused on developing and retaining early- and mid-career professionals in an environment of limited opportunities for formal advancement.
Obviously transitions raise a long list of issues that point to the complexity and difficulty of such pivotal moments. While there are no simple solutions, changes in leadership can be addressed positively and proactively and strengthen the organization as a result.
– At a minimum, an organization should have an emergency transition/succession plan if an Executive Director is suddenly unable to perform his or her duties. Many boards of directors are underprepared to handle the transition and selection and support of new leaders, with just 17% reporting that their organizations have a written succession plan (per Daring to Lead 2011).
– Often, nonprofit institutions have a culture of group decision-making – a process that can be complex and create delays. A board can address this issue in its bylaws, empowering a small representative group (executive or personnel committee, for example) to act on its behalf – in situations like this and others.
– Have written job descriptions and a performance evaluation system in place for all staff. This is especially critical for the Executive Director position. Board leadership should have familiarity of the Executive’s core role and functions and how well the individual is performing against agreed upon goals.
– Institute a culture of ongoing cross training among staff, whereby individuals have a clear understanding of one another’s responsibilities – especially among the leadership team.
– If possible, an organization’s key donor relationships should be shared by the Executive Director and other members of the staff and board. This helps lessen vulnerability, share fund raising responsibility, and ensure that vital donor relationships are held with the organization and not exclusively with a particular leader.
– Nonprofit groups often do not have sufficient reserves to weather significant challenges, exposing the organization to financial vulnerabilities. Leadership transitions, if not handled properly, can intensify this situation. However, advanced planning and good management allows even the smallest organizations to build a few months’ operating reserve.
These strategies are critical to developing leaders and preparing for both short- and long-term transitions. In the case of a longer-term planned departure, these actions can be coupled with broader assessment and planning, presenting an organization with a unique opportunity to examine strategic direction, priorities, and chart a future course. The key is not merely to endure transitions, but to emerge stronger and more dynamic from it.
You may also be interested in these related blog posts:
Succession Planning: Conversation Avoided
Challenges to Addressing Leadership Transitions
About Jeanie Duncan: Jeanie is President of Raven Consulting Group, a business she founded that focuses on organizational change and leadership development in the nonprofit sector. She is a senior consultant for Raffa, a national firm working with nonprofit clients to lead efforts in sustainability and succession planning, executive transition and search. Additionally, Jeanie serves as adjunct faculty for the Center for Creative Leadership, a top-ranked, global provider of executive leadership education.
May 24, 2016 | Leadership
Leaders often fall into the trap of thinking that working harder will get them ahead—and into that next leadership role. Hard work will only take you so far, though. The strongest leaders are self-aware and know how to use their strengths strategically in a way that is both to their own advantage and benefits their organization and its people.
As I wrote about in The Brand of You, you’re constantly making impressions on others, from what you say or do to how you react and interact. And every impression you make can be an asset or a liability as you engage in the tasks and roles of leadership.
It’s essential that you become a self-aware leader so that you can make the most of the opportunities you have to influence others. Self-awareness is a vital, yet often-overlooked quality among other, more prominent assets like vision, strategic thinking, and influence. You never want to be the last one to know about a weakness or a missed opportunity to leverage your strengths. In fact, self-awareness can be the deciding factor in your success as a leader.
So, what do I mean by being self-aware?
- Being aware of your own strengths and weaknesses. When you know your assets (strengths) you can bring them to bear appropriately; when you have a clear view of your weaknesses and/or behaviors that create tension or divide, you can mitigate the negative impact or derailment.
- Having an ability to read others – being able to assess their styles and preferences, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. This isn’t about manipulating other people, but rather about paying attention and tuning in to those around you. Knowing others’ styles and preferences helps not only when it comes to influencing others, but also when it comes to putting together a high-performing team. Success depends on your ability to recognize strengths as well as potential deficits so that you can best align your talent with the right roles and responsibilities. (This skill is also helpful in hiring people with complementary abilities and leveraging the collective strengths of the team.)
- Paying attention to your behaviors and the effects of what you say or do on others. Do you attempt to motivate and inspire people to achieve their goals? Do you try to advocate for your ideas because you’re convinced they’re right? Do you attempt to negotiate a bridge between competing opinions? We all have our own natural preferences and styles of influencing others, managing conflict and communicating. One thing to keep in mind is how the same behavior might have different impact on different people. It’s a good idea to check in regularly and seek feedback from those with whom you work.
Here are a few good tips for increasing your self-awareness and developing yourself into a more effective leader:
- Pay attention. Notice your behavior and the impact it has on others.
- Complete instruments that reveal your personality type and natural preferences (for example, the MBTI and 360 assessments). Work with an individual certified in interpreting those results who can help you draw connections and lift out insights along with recommending developmental tools.
- Find an executive leadership program or experiential learning program that has a strong coaching component emphasizing your personal style.
- The next time you lead a project or team meeting, ask a colleague to observe a particular behavior or two on which you’d like feedback. Afterward, seek his or her thoughts on the situation, your observable behavior, and the impact it had on them, others, or the task at hand.
Here’s a word of caution: Being (or becoming) self-aware isn’t the whole story. I’ve found that the most effective, most fulfilled leaders are committed to leveraging their strengths and mitigating their weaknesses. Even more? They check their egos and acknowledge that it takes a team of individuals with diverse and complementary strengths and talents to collaborate and achieve goals.
There’s a great quote in a Harvard Business Review article by Anthony K. Tjan, co-author of the book Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck: “The trinity of self-awareness is to know thyself, improve thyself, and complement thyself.”
It takes an array of competencies to lead people and organizations—from the abilities to communicate well and delegate effectively to a great capacity for turning strategic thinking into tactics that get the desired results. I encourage you to continue developing yourself in those areas, but remember: Self-awareness is the key to your success as a leader. Understanding your own abilities and natural tendencies is the first step in being able to harness the talents and skills of others.
See my other related blog posts:
About Jeanie Duncan: Jeanie is President of Raven Consulting Group, a business she founded that focuses on organizational change and leadership development in the nonprofit sector. She is a senior consultant for Raffa, a national firm working with nonprofit clients to lead efforts in sustainability and succession planning, executive transition and search. Additionally, Jeanie serves as adjunct faculty for the Center for Creative Leadership, a top-ranked, global provider of executive leadership education.
May 8, 2016 | Intention
I had the privilege this week of facilitating a program for leaders in eastern NC working to improve the overall health and wellness in their communities. These folks are so inspiring. The challenges they face are deep and complex and remind me of the importance of ensuring that our leaders are equipped with skills and resources to do their impactful work.
One of the exercises we completed together was around managing your energy, based on a Harvard Business Review article by the same title. The premise is to manage your energy, not your time. Our lives are so full and demanding, with work, family, and community obligations. Self care – if we think of it at all, often gets minimal if any priority at all. It can stretch us to our breaking point.
My favorite take aways from the article are:
- Work smarter, not harder. Resist the seductive allure of putting in more hours to get ahead. This can be a short term strategy on occasion but becomes unhealthy if sustained over time.
- Time is a finite resource. Energy is a different story. Energy comes from four main wellsprings within us: the body, emotions, mind, and spirit. In each, energy can be expanded and renewed by establishing and practicing specific rituals.
- Organizations need to shift their emphasis from getting more out of people to investing more in them, so they are motivated – and able – to bring more of themselves to work every day.
- Recognize the costs of your energy depleting behaviors and take personal responsibility for changing them. All it takes is beginning to implement simple practices one step at a time.
My group of participants came up with a few best practices in each area. The list was so good, I wanted to share it with you. I hope you find some good ideas for yourself and add more of your own!
Spiritual:
- Be in nature
- Pray
- Play music
- Keep things in perspective
- Let your light shine
- Express gratitude…often
- Enjoy the moment(s)
- Laugh (especially at yourself)
- Stay away from negative people.
- Follow your passion
- Journal
- Forgive and move on
- Avoid toxic situations
Emotional:
- Play music
- Journal
- Practice yoga
- Meditate
- Exercise
- Call friends, family, confidants
- Eat ice cream
- Drink vino…especially with a good friend
- Discern which battles are worth fighting
- Take a long, relaxing drive
- Walk, run
- Listen to inspirational words, messages
- Practice deep breathing
- Use essential oils
- Cry
- Hold a baby / pet
- Watch TV that inspires and relaxes you (Oprah, Undercover Boss, etc)
Mental:
- Do relaxation exercises
- Close your eyes and imagine your favorite place (take a brief mental vacation)
- At work, close your door and relax for 15-20 mins
- Take a mental health day
- Listen to your favorite music
- Stop the cycle – interrupt the process
- Retail therapy
- Pedicure – spa day
- Breathe
- Do something for someone else
- Spend time w/ people who cheer you
- Read
- Meditate
- Practice yoga
Physical:
- Work out regularly
- Get plenty of sleep
- Take on a project that excites you
- Eat well
- Connect with a hobby
- Get outside
- Spend time with family
- Enjoy an adult beverage…especially with a friend
- Drink H2O
- Limit sugar intake
- Socialize
- Garden
- Train for something, like a triathlon
- Get active! Run, bike, sail, surf, wake board
- Walk daily
- Yoga
- Cooking
- “Break the fast” – start your day with a healthy meal to fuel you
- Read for enjoyment
- Spend time with pets
About Jeanie Duncan: Jeanie is President of Raven Consulting Group, a business she founded that focuses on organizational change and leadership development in the nonprofit sector. She is a senior consultant for Raffa, a national firm working with nonprofit clients to lead efforts in sustainability and succession planning, executive transition and search. Additionally, Jeanie serves as adjunct faculty for the Center for Creative Leadership, a top-ranked, global provider of executive leadership education.
About Jeanie Duncan: Jeanie is President of Raven Consulting Group, a business she founded that focuses on organizational change and leadership development in the nonprofit sector. She is a senior consultant for Raffa, a national firm working with nonprofit clients to lead efforts in sustainability and succession planning, executive transition and search. Additionally, Jeanie serves as adjunct faculty for the Center for Creative Leadership, a top-ranked, global provider of executive leadership education.