​In our line of work, we talk to nonprofit leaders every day that are making career moves. Some are entering executive leadership roles for the first time after putting in their time on boards or in mid-level managerial roles. Some are seasoned nonprofit leaders that are making lateral moves from the helm of one organization to another. Some are coming over from executive leadership roles in industry to the nonprofit sector.

But regardless of where they’re coming from, they enter the role bright-faced and optimistic about their future with the organization. They are excited, ambitious, and ready to succeed!
​
There’s just one problem... They can’t succeed alone!

Every new Executive Director placement brings an individual with a unique set of skills and experiences into an organization with unique needs and goals. To effectively unite the two, the organization’s board and existing leadership team needs to provide their new ED with everything that they need to find success. 

Imagine the following scenarios:

• In a nonprofit board meeting full of smiling people everyone is congratulating the Executive Director on a job well done. She is at the front of the room, making jokes and seeming very happy. The following week, she resigns.
• As he compiles data for an annual report, a Program Manager realizes that the organization's primary program had significantly worse outcomes than the year prior, despite increased staffing. He decides to keep the information to himself and highlight other data in the report.
• The Treasurer of an established nonprofit calculates that the organization's last fundraising event missed its goal by thousands of dollars. Worried about the future of the organization, they decide not to contact a wealthy friend with their annual request for support.

​In the nonprofit space, like all spaces, things go wrong. This can happen regardless of your level of preparation, financial capacity, and good intentions. Organizational leaders at the board and staff level need to know what has gone wrong and why so that they can make informed course corrections. Usually, the sooner they know, the better. But often, bad news doesn’t reach key decision makers in a timely way and sometimes it doesn't reach them at all! 

Serving on the board of directors for a nonprofit organization offers opportunities to support the community through focused, mission-driven work. It also brings the opportunity to help guide the organization in how it does that both now and in the future.
 
While the staff is charged with delivering on the plans and goals previously set, the board of directors is responsible for looking to the future. That responsibility includes the question of whether the organization’s mission will be delivered in the future to be of the most benefit to the community and, if so, what form that will take operationally.
 
The prevailing wisdom in the nonprofit sector is that there are way more nonprofit organizations than there are resources to go around to support their missions. Many of us have had the experience of tripping over each other as our mission delivery strategies overlap. But who wants to be the one to suggest consolidation, merging, or simply closing a struggling organization? On the other side of the coin, who wants to raise the idea of a thriving organization taking on an aligned organization’s “baggage”? Merging and aligning are touchy subjects!

In a worst-case scenario, this dissonance results in the Board marginalizing the ED as just a passionate campaigner for the cause and writing off their opinion altogether, and the ED developing resentment and distrust towards their Board Members. The power struggle that ensues becomes a battle over dominance and recognition for the ways in which each can contribute to the success of the organization. Obviously, a situation like this never ends well! The toxic culture that develops as a result typically leads to turnover on the Board or the ED role (or both!). So, who’s right?
​
Whose opinion counts the most – the Board or the Executive Director?

These are the kinds of questions that succession planning can answer in advance. However. Most organizations simply do not have effective succession planning efforts in place before they need them. Even among organizations that have taken the time to put together a succession plan, it doesn’t always help them much when an unexpected situation arises because their plan falls short in scope. 

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.

​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. 

​If you missed it, it’s definitely worth a watch or listen! But, if you don’t have time to set aside to view it in its entirety, we’re going to summarize key points that the experts covered as well as give you our top takeaway when it comes to the conversation around nonprofit digital strategy.