Nonprofit Leadership Change: How to Make It as Painless as Possible

By Joe Boland

How to Find and Cultivate Strong Leadership

Wounded Warrior Project’s Steve Nardizzi, the Tandon Institute’s Atul Tandon and Miami Children’s Health Foundation’s Lucy Morillo are successful nonprofit executives who know what to look for in leadership. Here are their insights on finding strong nonprofit leaders.

Morillo:

“Look for a candidate who can perform in time of change, has strategic thinking, a degree of flexibility and kindness.”
“Successful nonprofit organization run like businesses, and successful nonprofit leaders learn from the business world.”
“Don’t try to run before you can walk. Take a step back and strategize on how you will go from step A to B to C to D, and do not try to go from A to W.”
“You should have a few lists on the skills you’re looking for: skills you absolutely need, skills you wish for and skill you are not necessarily endorsing.”

Tandon:

“Understand the organization and the context of the organization — you need to focus on the person and the organization that person is going to come into.”
“Keep your eyes and mind open, and don’t close the window too quickly. Give the search enough time, and take a break for a few days. This gap is very important to take the blush off and look at the reality of the comparisons between candidates.”
“Let candidates interview you just as much as you interview them.”
“Engage a transition coach whose job it is to ensure the transition goes effectively.”
“The CEO needs to take personal accountability to build his or her own coalition as support base.”
“Don’t forget your family!”

Nardizzi:

“Focus on three very important things: Is this mission-centric for the organization? Does it fit our culture and ethics? Can you be the best at it? … If those three things intersect, we can be confident we can be the best, so we should be doing this as opposed to somebody else.”
“The board and executive team must understand the key business drivers of their long-term strategy and seek leaders with the skills and experience to deliver in those areas.”
“The best governance structures are ones where the board and CEO partner on setting the strategic vision, the board manages and leads the CEO, and the CEO manages the rest of the staff and directs the day-to-day operations of the organization. I often refer to this as the ‘noses in, fingers out’ rule.”
“A sound succession plan, coupled with an ongoing leadership development program that prepares high-potential leaders for the CEO role, is essential to as smooth leadership transition.”
“The key to being an effective leader at a large, national nonprofit is to always remember that it’s not about you. It’s about the people you’re serving. It’s about the people who donate their time, talent and treasure to support your cause. It’s about the people you’re leading. One of my favorite authors on leadership, Jim Collins, describes the most effective leaders as those who blend professional will with personal humility. Yes, an effective leader must be competitive, must demand excellent performance and must create a compelling vision of the future that others will follow. But the most effective leaders are also humble, they admit their failures so they can improve upon them, they pass credit for achievements to their hard-working teams and they always remember that the cause is more important than themselves.”

Running a successful nonprofit is difficult enough under ideal circumstances, let alone when the organization embarks on a change in leadership. Yet as we all know, staff turnover, including at the CEO level, is especially high in the nonprofit sector.

The reasons vary — everything from stagnant pay grades to improper conduct, health issues, new strategic direction and the desire for something new. But no matter the reason, leadership change is an all-too-common occurrence for nonprofits in particular, and if a charity is not prepared, it could cause a lot of stress, pain and unnecessary turmoil.

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Leadership Change: Here's How to Make It as Painless as Possible