LEADERSHIP, TRANSITION AND CHANGE A TOOLKIT FOR NON PROFIT ORGANISATIONS

WHY LEADERSHIP CHANGE MATTERS

‘Every job and every career eventually ends in a transition; it’s just a matter of when and how, and how well it is managed’ (Tebbe, 2008).

Toolkit for Non Profit Organisations

•Direct Experience

•Working with Organisations:

•Research with 25 Non Profit Organisations

What’s inside?

Key Questions: • Why leadership transitions matter? • Relevance for non-profit organisations? Lessons shared:

• Strategic Planning • Including key stakeholders • Develop & Investment in Leadership • Key Roles, Responsibilities and tasks • The role of Communications • The use of Values in the process

Useful resources and templates

RELEVANCE FOR NON PROFITS

‘Transitions at the top fail because major players are unprepared for critical crossroads, often because they underestimate or ignore the complexity of the transition process and the systematic adjustments in the organisation that accompany the transition’ (Ciampa and Dotlich, 2015).

Specific Challenges

•Size/Resources

•Bias towards unrealistic leadership expectations

•Underperforming or challenged Boards

•Ongoing struggle to finance an overburdened sector

Succession Planning

‘At a minimum, good succession planning includes the development of positive language and attitudes about succession, good emergency back up plans, a succession policy, an organisational culture that encourages the growth of new leaders, and adequate preparation for the planned departure of an executive’ (Adams, 2010).

Leadership Transition Planning

‘Leader transition is a process that has many moving parts that exist through a string of interdependent steps. It is the process of maintaining strategic, operational and cultural continuity as one leader passes the mantle of authority to a successor’ (Ciampa and Dotlich, 2015).

Key elements and outcomes: Key Elements:

• A ‘risk management’ best practice

• Preparation for a successful leadership hand-over

• A leadership development strategy

• A path to organisational sustainability

Key Outcomes:

• A critical board and executive responsibility

• Makes the CEO position more ‘doable’

• Retains talented staff

• Engages and reassures the board, staff and volunteers

• Gives confidence to funders

Lessons Shared: • Strategic Planning

• Including Stakeholders

• Development and Investment in Leadership

• Key Roles, Responsibilities and Tasks

• The Role of Communications

• The Use of Value in the Process

Strategy: ‘We commissioned an external consultant to work with us to review and reflect strategically on the mission, purpose and implications for the future. This fed into the recruitment strategy for a new leader. It informed strategic staff development and ensured the internal team (board, management and staff) were involved and had a stake in the transition and succession process’.

Strategy:

‘This gave me time and opportunities to put my stamp on the organisation, in my own style, a chance to make the role my own, time to build up my reputation and credibility. To then deliver a plan that we could own and deliver as a new team’.

Development and Investment in Leadership:

‘The internal process considered the future role of the CEO, informed by key stakeholders, ensuring a realistic job description, regarding the stage of the organisation and its future needs. The organisation provided training and support for the senior management team to encourage applicants; grow the team’s capacity for leadership transition and integration of a new CEO’.

Key Roles

•The Board

•Transitional Committee

•Exiting Executive

• Incoming Leader

• Interim CEO

•Senior staff

•Funders

Supporting the Successor:

‘The early tenure of a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is a critical phase in the history of an organisation, because it is associated with a high rate of organisational failure and CEO dismissal’ (Shenghui, Seidl and Gérard, 2015).

‘On-boarding is a process meant to ensure leaders adapt and become full contributors in the organisation, faster, better and with fewer problems’ (Williams, 2010).

Exiting Founders and Executives: ‘The transition must be handled with care, allowing time for proper “grieving” over the departure of the current executive, to facilitate assessment and decisions about how to change, and to embrace a new direction’ (Adams, 2010).

‘Deft handling can ensure healthy closure and the foundation for a positive beginning with the new executive’ (Adams, 2010).

The role of Communications

• ‘Our communications strategy was central to our succession and leadership change strategy. All designed to show the past with the new, the continuity and that the work continued as usual. The narrative balanced appreciation for the legacy of the exiting leader, highlighting the work of the organisation and announcing the new leader, with excitement and confidence.

The Role of Values • ‘Our mistake was evaluating new

candidates based on technical ability and this backfired in a big way. If we had articulated the values of the organisation, we could have informed the monitoring and the evaluation process for the new leader. We didn’t do this and by the time we realised the disconnect between the new CEO’s values and what we deemed to be important, the damage was done’.

Thank You

Guide is available on:

http://bit.ly/LeadershipChangeReport