Leadership Continuity Should be a Strategic Priority
Turnover is part of the nonprofit culture, but we have very different expectations about that turnover depending on who’s leaving. Some turnover, like board term limits, is expected and promoted. When an Executive Director leaves, we hope it happens “not on my watch.” And staff turnover can be quite high, sometimes due to limited career opportunities in smaller organizations or, due to the lack of competitive pay or benefits, staff can’t always afford to stay.
A high cost of turnover at all levels is the loss of operational continuity, institutional knowledge, and community relationships. When an organization loses these, it inevitably loses some of its capacity to deliver mission results.
Knowing that turnover will happen, leadership transition planning should be a strategic priority. This planning process is also a time to intentionally act on organizations’ commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity.
What can organizations do?
Develop succession policies for the Executive Director and top management team. There are many decisions that can be made about how a transition will be handled before that transition occurs.
Develop an emergency succession plan to name acting personnel.
Cross-train the top management team and other staff to cover positions.
Include staff and board members in the ED’s public appearances so that the organization’s reputation isn’t linked to a single person.
Consider intentional board recruitment strategies with aligned or partner organizations so that when your board member terms out, she can move to a partner board supporting aligned mission work.
Transition is still a unique window of opportunity. It allows pause to step back and evaluate the organization’s work and consider additional skills sets that might be needed to realize strategic goals.
Regardless of whether transition is more of an opportunity or a loss of capacity or both at the same time, transition is always less disruptive when it’s supported by thoughtful policies and plans.