Leadership Transitions

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TransitionWorks - A Perfect Storm: or How to Plan a Leadership Crisis

in collaboration with Leadership Recruiters, 2005, authors - Barbara Krasne, Judith Plows, Priscilla Rosenwald

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June 2006, Issue No. 2 Newsletter

Transitions: Successful Recruitment is More Than Filling that Empty Chair: Don't Overlook Cultural Fit and Environmental Factors

The search for a new executive director can be challenging for a board, even when trustees think they have the knowledge to do it themselves. Recently we were engaged with our affiliate, Leadership Recruiters, to assist a board in the middle of a search -- they had two internal candidates and some interesting external possibilities, so the board chair tossed and turned every night over making the right decision. Before screening resumes or jumping into candidate interviews, we insisted that the search committee let us do an organizational assessment. Besides the staff and board, we talked to funders and industry experts to understand better the environmental landscape and the agency's culture. Often these parties are overlooked, yet they can provide the search committee real insight into broader issues, like future funding trends, or how the agency itself is perceived. Invariably we find out more about what the organization may need or unknown opportunities it might realize. The search committee could compare candidates objectively and make a better decision because we helped it identify the decision-making criteria upfront. Already we have seen the board unite in common purpose to ensure its new director's effectiveness and move the organization forward. Now the board asked us to coach the new executive director during the initial transition to assure her success and build a strong working relationship with her board.

Don't rush your hiring decisions -- asking key stakeholders for advice as part of your leadership change can help ensure a successful leadership transition.

September 2006, Issue No. 3 Newsletter

Transitions: Coaching Helps Ensure a New Leader's Success

Transitions are hard. It isn't easy to decide to create a deputy director position and then delegate real responsibility to your new lieutenant. Making the leap to your first executive director job can be particularly challenging, especially if you're being promoted from within and now have colleagues reporting to you.

We encounter situations like this frequently when we're initially engaged to take on a recruiting assignment. But as we work with the board and executive, it becomes clear how critical a role they play in welcoming, orienting and supporting their new leader, often extending our assignment to coach them and their new executive or deputy director. They want their months of investment in recruiting to pay off with a successful executive who stays for years to come.

Coaching helps both the organization and the new hire adjust to the inevitable shift in roles and "the way it's always been done." One-on-one and together, we work with the new leader and board in framing their goals for the organization, setting priorities and tasks for the initial months, and agreeing on how they will measure success. We coach them in establishing strong communications and in identifying when and how the new hire will need board support. Both sides benefit, and the next time a senior executive is hired, managing the transition will be part of their normal activities.

Coaching provides gentle guidance for the board and executive as they negotiate the transition to new leadership.

May 2007, Issue No. 5 Newsletter

Transitions: Leadership Needs Should Be Considered
Even When the Seat Is Filled

Much has been written about the pending retirement of many long-term executive directors, and we are working closely with leaders and boards on this sensitive issue. But transitions also occur throughout an organization's life. Whether an agency adds advocacy to leverage its program delivery accomplishments, merges to expand its services, or extends its reach geographically, these transitions all represent change. To ensure success these shifts often require the organization's executive, board, and senior management to modify their perspectives, roles, and behaviors.

Our approach to any transition is the same: ask clients to describe the future impact they desire and how they can best achieve it. Then we help them explicitly address what they need - in their board, their executive, and in their leadership team - to transition successfully from what their organization is today to what it wants to become. We assess the strengths and weaknesses in the board, the executive and the leadership team, and identify the skills and competencies required for the organization to move forward. We discuss our findings and their implications with leadership so they can decide what steps they want to take at this important juncture. Then we help the executive and the board to carry them out. We may support the executive director as she adds a chief operating officer, restructures her leadership team, or adds key middle managers to increase bench strength and streamline activities. We may coach an executive to delegate more, so s/he can assume more of an advocacy role, become more active in fund-raising or fill more of the leadership pipeline. We may help the board develop recruitment criteria, a new board orientation program, or a more effective committee structure.

Explicitly addressing the "elephant in the room" -- evolving leadership needs -- is an important element in any successful organizational transition, not just when the executive retires.