Emotional Issues

The participants in our recent Succession Planning roundtable agreed. The struggle with succession planning wasn’t with the steps involved in the process. Other than the time it takes to document the process, the steps alone are not that difficult. The primary challenge with succession planning is in the emotional issues. The Executive Director might not want to bring up succession planning for fear the Board would think they are planning to leave. The Board might not want to bring it up for fear the ED might think the Board wanted them to leave. You may have staff that you want to train to perform functions in the ED’s absence or in the interim between an old and a new ED but you don’t want them to be the new ED. The staff or key donors may have a close relationship with the ED and fear that the loss of the ED would adversely impact the future of the organization. Navigating the emotional impact that comes with succession planning can be mitigated by focusing on policies and procedures and investing time in fostering open communication. Focusing on policies diffuses the personal aspects. Developing better communication between all the people involved can reduce the tension that accompanies these discussions.

Board succession

We started out at our last roundtable discussing Executive Director succession planning but ended up focusing more on Board succession. Thoughts—

• You sometimes think that it will be hard to find Board members with the same passion for the organization. But new members join and its not long before they are “infected”.
• Create meaningful roles for volunteers. Allow selected volunteers to serve on certain committees. This gives you (and them) an opportunity to see what their role as a Board member would be like.
• Limit terms for all officers to 3 years. Limit terms for Board members to 2 consecutive 3 year terms with a year break before the next six year stretch. But ask your Board member if they would like to stay involved during the one year break—on a committee or helping with a program or a fund raiser. If you don’t limit terms you make it harder for the Board as a whole to get used to working with new members.
• In at least the last year of the President’s term, have a President in training. This does not necessarily have to be the Vice President. This person will spend a year with the President assisting them with their duties so that the transition is easier.

The Proverbial Bus

Do you have a succession plan for your non profit organization?

We have all heard it—what would happen if you got hit by a bus? Could your non profit continue without you?

Many non profits have sufficient staffing and leaders at various levels so that they could continue. Many other non profits would struggle. Either their non profit is small and the executive director wears many hats to keep the organization going OR the executive director is vested with a number of leadership responsibilities.

If you recognize yourself in the second situation, what can you do?

The Center for Nonprofit Advancement in Washington DC has a nice Emergency Succession Plan template. The procedures to follow in the event of an emergency are nice, but the key information listing near the end of the document is an invaluable resource. It prompts you to list the location of all the organizations important documents and critical contact information.