You’ll Enjoy that Beach Drink More if You Know What Comes Next – or – Succession Planning is Good Governance.
I went back and forth over this title. Succession planning is good governance. But umbrella drinks kept calling my name. I finally had to go and try one of the sweet concoctions – just for clarification, you understand.
According to a great 2007 article on board basics by David Renz of the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Missouri – Kansas City,
“Governance is the process of providing strategic leadership to a nonprofit organization. It entails the functions of setting direction, making policy and strategy decisions, overseeing and monitoring organizational performance, and ensuring overall accountability.”
C’mon board members – that’s what you signed up for, right? This is what keeps you showing up at those meetings after a long day at work? I didn’t think so. You signed up because you believe in the mission. Good governance is a way to keep that mission being delivered and to see that’s it done well.
Think about continuing your mission through an executive transition. Prepared for correctly, you’ll have a multi-part plan in place before your Executive Director is ready for her next step.
You’ll have identified and started working on a pre-transition leadership plan that strengthens the organization and get it ready for an eventual transition.
You’ll have made guiding decisions about roles, tasks, and how the transition will unfold when the time comes.
Your staff, possible Interim ED, and next ED will have a clear list of operational and organizational information at their fingertips.
There’s no question that executive transition can be challenging. But with a little planning, good governance will keep your mission on track.
For some reading to go with that umbrella drink, you can access David Renz’s full article at:
http://bloch.umkc.edu/mwcnl/resources/documents/overview-nonprofit-governance.pdf