Preparing for a leadership transition ensures that your nonprofit can keep operating — and fulfilling its mission — no matter who is at the helm. A long-term plan can help your fundraising, too: You can bring key supporters closer by involving them in the process and demonstrate the sustainability of your organization to grant makers.
Yet fewer than a quarter of charities have a formal succession plan for replacing the CEO or executive director, one report says.
To kick-start planning at your organization, first assess your goals for the next three to five years and determine which kinds of skills are needed to achieve them, said Sally Blue, a consultant who helps charities prepare for transitions, during a recent Chronicle webinar.
If you don’t create space for people to have an emotional response to change, those emotions are going to come out somewhere.
If your nonprofit has a strategic plan, use it to guide your succession planning. You could even weave the pieces of a succession plan into that existing document, rather than start from scratch, Blue says. “So, maybe that makes it a little less daunting.”
Whether you are anticipating the departure of a key leader, preparing for a possible transition later on, or responding to a crisis, here are the essential elements to include in a succession plan, a brief description of their purpose, and tips for tackling them.
Emergency plan: Outlines the steps to take in the event of a short-term, long-term, or permanent unplanned absence of your group’s top leader. “You want to think about each one of those scenarios and have specific plans in place for each,” Blue says, so your organization can react quickly should the director leave suddenly.
This includes the normal procedures for handling an employee departure — such as collecting keys and credit cards and changing passwords — as well as steps to fill the leadership gap. For example, you will need to determine who will appoint an interim leader and provide information the new director will need when she steps into this role, such as the location of important documents and passwords.
Communication plan: Lists the people within the organization and outside of it who need to be kept informed and a list of communication channels to employ, roles and responsibilities for key staff and trustees, timing for announcements, and important messages, among other things..
You should also plan for contingencies, Blue says, such as the possibility that a staff member may react negatively to the news of the transition. “That’s a big part of the anxiety a lot of times when you get to this communication stage,” she says. Acknowledging the situation and planning for how to handle such responses make the process easier.
But be prepared to adapt your plan as you implement it. For instance, if the information spreads more quickly than you anticipate, you might need to make the public announcement earlier than planned.
Don’t get bogged down in planning the perfect way to do so, said Elianne Farhat, executive director of social-justice organization TakeAction Minnesota, during the webinar. Farhat took the helm of TakeAction in 2018 when its founder departed. Of the public announcement, she said, “Keep it simple, get it out ... and reserve energy for the next phase of the work.”
Board development plan: Defines roles for board positions and details the skills, training, and support needed for each to build the leadership team your organization will need as it grows and evolves. This will help ensure you recruit and cultivate trustees who could fill a leadership role on the board or in the executive suite if needed.
Staff development plan: Details how to strengthen leadership skills among your employees and support the current executive director through the transition.
“You can really use this [transition] time proactively to support your leaders in the organization and help them take their leadership to the next level, even if that doesn’t mean a promotion,” Blue says. For instance, if a manager is struggling with the change, consider providing a coach, mentor, or access to training. “It’s a great opportunity for them to learn and practice in real time,” she says.
Be mindful of employees’ workloads, especially those who are supervisors. Consider if any of their projects can be paused or ended so they can focus on internal work related to the transition.
If you are an exiting leader, think about what you need to feel supported and gain closure. “So much of an executive director’s identity can be wrapped up in their job,” Farhat said during the webinar. “It’s important to ask yourself what you want your legacy to be.”
For example, as a final project before leaving TakeAction, Farhat’s predecessor focused on stepping up audiovisual technology at the organization’s offices across the state to improve its meetings.
CEO evaluation: Provides useful feedback for the exiting leader and helps manage board members’ expectations for the incoming leader.
Aim to assess your organization’s top leader regularly, ideally once or twice a year, Blue says, depending on your nonprofit’s needs and the CEO’s capacity. The information gleaned from these check-ins will help trustees understand how the current executive spends her time and resources and what types of challenges the new leader will face.
Training for staff and key volunteers in aspects of each other’s jobs: Don’t let one person hold all the knowledge required to do a certain staff or volunteer job, Blue says. This doesn’t mean that every employee — or even your executive director — needs to know how to do everything, but it’s smart to train each staff member in one or two other areas. “Ideally it’s something that you’re kind of interested in, or that you regularly interface with, so then you’re getting a sense of what’s happening on the other side,” Blue says.
This plan outlines how to update job descriptions, identify who should learn what skills, and spread knowledge among the staff.
For example, training your development director and your head of finance in key aspects of each other’s work could benefit their relationship and foster continuity at your organization.
Emotional support: Describes ways to help employees, volunteers, and donors adjust to changes and stay connected to the mission.
“If you don’t create space for people to have an emotional response to change, those emotions are going to come out somewhere,” Blue says. Consider approaches such as focus groups with staff, one-on-one conversations with donors, and coaching for supervisors so they can work through their own feelings and support their teams.
Blue also recommends providing education on “institutional change” to help staff members understand that leadership transitions are normal and healthy. This also can help keep them from feeling isolated or even deciding to “jump ship,” she says.
