Nonprofit Executive Onboarding: How to Ensure an Executive Director’s Success in the First Year5/13/2024 Congrats, you have a new Executive Director! Now it’s time to set them up for success! Successfully navigating an executive leadership transition is one of the board’s most important jobs. It’s a big lift to find the organization’s next inspiring leader, and it’s important to celebrate the hiring milestone. But, as much as we may wish the job was finished when the offer letter is signed, one of the most critical phases of the leadership transition has just begun.
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Delegating is both one of the best gifts that leaders can give and one of the hardest gifts for them to give. It’s difficult because it requires trust that the work at hand will be done to the standards of the leader delegating it in terms of quality, timeliness, accuracy, and scope. When looking at delegating in the context of nonprofit work, it’s especially challenging because the best nonprofit leaders are not simply talented professionals with high standards, they are also incredibly passionate about the cause they are supporting. Delegating means asking for the same level of commitment to the mission that they have themselves. And yet, delegating is also a very powerful tool that nonprofit leadership can use to both grow the next generation of leaders into changemakers and future-proof the organization. There is a beauty in recognizing this potential and letting that drive your desire to become better at the art of delegating. Previously, our colleague Deniz Satir put together a resource to help organizations understand an Executive Director's role in fundraising and allowed us to share it with our readers. In it she explained that the best nonprofit leaders will take steps such as developing a fundraising strategy, cultivating donor relationships, engaging with the board, practicing financial stewardship, and aligning the team around fundraising efforts. Those responsibilities are critical components to developing and executing a successful fundraising strategy, and they beg the next question: “What should a Board’s role be in fundraising?” Should a Board just allow the ED to own the organization’s fundraising strategy unilaterally, rubber stamping plans and loosely reviewing results? Or should they take a more active role? And how does the Board’s responsibility change when the organization is undergoing significant change like a mission shift or leadership transition? What makes the best nonprofit leaders the best? In our line of work that’s something we talk about and strive to define every day. It’s an intensely human question, and at times it can be painfully introspective as well. But like most important questions, it’s one that makes us better for asking. So, is greatness something that some people are just born with or is it something forged through experience that anyone can achieve? We believe it’s the latter! Our team of nonprofit leaders has honed their skills over time, learning from their previous roles and consulting engagements and leveraging insights from their professional networks as they have progressed through their careers. They have seen the best and worked hard to join their ranks. With the rapid changes that we’ve seen over the last decade across technology, culture, and industry, organizations that fail to adopt an innovation mindset will run the risk of stagnating in their mission delivery and becoming obsolete in their communities. What does this mean for your organization? To put it plainly, the time to innovate is now! But wait, innovation may not mean what you think it does! While many conversations around innovation typically focus on expanding technological capabilities, the kind of innovation mindset that truly powers today’s top organizations is not solely tech-based. True innovation is about fostering a culture of creativity, collaboration, and continuous improvement that remains focused on your mission and its impact on the communities you serve. Embracing this kind of innovation is what will set tomorrow’s nonprofits apart! As a society we’ve weathered the storm of the pandemic and its subsequent prolonged fallout and now are firmly in what is being considered the “post-COVID” era. So, what does this mean for nonprofit organizations operating in today’s day and age? At each juncture our consultants have given their advice on how nonprofits should respond during these unprecedented times. We gave early advice on how to act quickly, mid-point advice on how to rethink strategic planning, and now it feels right to give a final summary of what the nonprofit world looks like to close out the discussion and equip organizations to understand how to navigate the road ahead. Are you ready to unlock your nonprofit’s potential and preserve its future? If so, you need to create a formal succession plan to guide its future regardless of who is at the helm! When you need to improve your planning or want to be better prepared for a leadership transition, use our Guide to Nonprofit Succession Planning! Remember, the most successful nonprofits that have a longstanding impact on their communities are the ones that address the elephant in the room – your leadership won’t be around forever! The sooner your organization comes to terms with that, the better prepared you will be when that someday becomes today. Picture this scenario: Your paid leader is suddenly no longer at the helm. As the Chair of the Board of Directors, what do you do? The boat is heading in what appears to be a decent direction, and you think you can probably find another leader “pretty quickly.” Let’s play that strategy out: Are you assuming the organization will continue on its course unaffected while you organize a Search Committee, look over your strategic plan and vision, find and refresh the job description, advertise and post on social media, wait for applications, sort through resumes, and go through several rounds of interviews? And in this assumption what happens if the “right one” isn’t in that first pile? Perhaps you have a Board member with extra time on their hands to keep the operation bobbing along, but have they run a nonprofit in this sector before? Maybe you believe the second-in-command can do double-duty, but do they have the bandwidth and are they interested in applying for the position? A reality check: The average search for a nonprofit leader is now 9-12 months. Even if you hire a search firm to manage this process, the gap between leaders might be at least 6 months! |
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