These are all statements I have made throughout my career, and that I have heard echoed from my peers in nonprofit leadership. And that’s a problem! Each of these statements point to an unspoken issue that should concern a board of directors. Ignoring those unspoken issues now might be setting you up for problems down the road.
Unfortunately, too often these kinds of statements are welcomed and even encouraged by board members. Boards often find reassurance in knowing that they have someone at the helm that’s dedicated to their mission. Additionally, they like the idea of saving money while doing great work. But they are, in fact, red flags that board members should be concerned about.
So, how do you identify the optimal leadership model for your nonprofit?
Trying to determine where the board ends and the ED begins is one of the most common issues that organizations struggle with (and a main reason why they bring us in to help!) because every organization handles executive responsibilities differently, and some nonprofits have historically had an unhealthy division of duties that influences their perspective on this issue.
Broadly speaking, the Board is responsible for strategy and governance while the Executive Director is responsible for implementation and management. However, both should work in partnership to support each other’s roles, building respect and trust to leverage each other’s strengths effectively. There is no hard line where one ends and the other begins, but there are spheres where each tends to operate.
Of course, as a child, every want to me felt like a need …until I moved out on my own. Becoming an adult required me to manage my own budget. Over time, I’ve learned to live out this depression-era lesson.
So, what does this have to do with executive recruiting? Everything! What you want in your new leader and what you need may be two different things.
Asking questions helps drive everything from program offerings and fundraising initiatives to the organization’s overall strategic mission. So, that begs the question, how can you ask better questions?
Most organizations can easily figure out if their board is getting a passing or a failing grade, but anyone who has experience in nonprofit leadership can tell you that there’s a big difference between a board getting a D and a board getting an A or B.
We have seen it time and again – high turnover in one role because the other doesn’t want to share power and work together as equals. At one end of the spectrum, you have nonprofits that rely solely on their superstar ED to drive the organization, while at the other end you have nonprofits that give their long-time Board the keys and tell the ED to take a back seat. However, true success can only come when a nonprofit has both a strong ED and Board and the two are working together effectively to get the organization down the road.
For some context, Dr. Frankl was a psychiatrist in Vienna when World War II began. He was already an established and admired professor and author. He was invited to migrate to the US at the beginning of the war but stayed behind rather than leave his aging parents to suffer alone under the Nazi occupation. He was sent to four different concentration camps over the following three years. There, he was stripped of everything the Nazis could take. He tried to protect his work, his family, and his identity as a doctor and an academic. They took all that they could on the surface. But they couldn’t control what was in Dr. Frankl’s heart, mind, and soul.
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