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TransitionLeader
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The bi-monthly e-newsletter on nonprofit executive transition management.
Vol. 1 No. 1, Spring 2003
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IN THIS ISSUE
1. Welcome to the inaugural edition of TransitionLeader.
2. Case Study: Founder Transitions – The Founder’s Role
3. In the News: New reports & articles
4.
Regional Seminars for Board Leaders & Executive Directors
“Leadership Transitions: Critical Thresholds”
In Baltimore, Washington & Silver Spring, Maryland
April 8, 14, 15 & 23, 2003
5. Executive Transition Field-Building Training for Funders, Consultants & Other Nonprofit Supporters
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Welcome to the inaugural edition of TransitionLeader, an e-newsletter for those interested in helping to strengthen nonprofit organizations during leadership change.
TransitionLeader is published by TransitionGuides, a collaborative association of leading Executive Transition Management consultants that was launched this year. With support and encouragement from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, we’re expanding access to Executive Transition Management services for Casey grantees and working to expand the field for this powerful capacity-building strategy.
This e-newsletter is intended to broaden and deepen the dialogue by bringing together board leaders and executive directors with consultants, interim executives, management support organizations, funders and researchers committed to strengthening and supporting essential nonprofit organizations.
Like us, you’ve most likely experienced, or certainly heard about, the whole range of transition stories--from the organization that seems to have a revolving door for executive directors, to the organization that died because of a disastrous hire, to the one that bumps along because the board and new executive haven’t learned to work as a team. You’ve probably also seen organizations that were totally transformed by their executive transition experience.
The outcomes of this pivotal time for an organization don’t need to be left to chance. The Executive Transition Management services approach described here and in more detail on our website (http://www.transitionguides.com/) dramatically raises the odds of a successful leadership change that builds organizational capacity.
We invite you to join with us in a peer-to-peer sharing of questions, lessons, and resources as well as training and networking opportunities about leadership transitions. For the next few months, we’ll forward our pilot editions of the newsletter. In the fall, we’ll formally launch the publication based on what you’ve told us you want. We invite you to e-mail your comments to: info@transitionguides.com.
We look forward to sharing the journey and learning together.
Best
Regards,
Tom Adams and the TransitionGuides Team
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LETTING GO AND LEAVING:
THE FOUNDER’S ROLE IN A SUCCESSFUL EXECUTIVE TRANSITION
The departure of a founder or a long-time executive from an organization can be a defining moment for the organization. It is the time, when separated from its principal motivator and leader, the organization’s board, staff and other stakeholders have the opportunity to come together and revisit their goals and aspirations for the organization and exercise leadership in new ways. Unfortunately, this process takes time and commitment and usually occurs under difficult circumstances often caused by the stress and emotion of the transition. How the board responds, the steps the founding executive takes to prepare the organization, and the skills and understanding of the new executive can all impact the outcome of this moment.
The following is an example of how one founder, aided by his organization, an executive transition management consultant and a talented new executive, worked successfully through this challenging process.
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After 25 years as executive director, Lon Dring, a larger-than-life leader who founded Community Ministry of Montgomery County (CMMC) in Maryland, decided to retire. Over a quarter of a century, he had testified before the County Council hundreds of times and provided assistance to thousands of people. Everyone knew Lon, and most loved him.
“I was worried stiff about this whole thing,” recalls Lon. “I’d made up my mind that when I turned 65, I was going to do something different. But I was clueless about what I was supposed to do and what the Board was supposed to do. I knew the Board had to be stronger, and people needed to identify someone other than me with the organization. I didn’t want 25 years of work to go down the drain.”
Lon had a lot of resources available to him. He was leading a one-million-dollar organization dedicated to advocating for and meeting unmet needs of low-income residents of Montgomery County. Lon lived and worked in the third wealthiest county in America, a booming and changing suburb of Washington, DC. Despite his talents and the resources available, the early months of planning for retirement were difficult. Lon wasn’t sure when to tell the Board or what to do or not do.
Lon’s personal confusion intensified when he informed his Board chair about his plans for retirement, which was still two years away. The Board chair had a different worry: “Could anyone follow in Lon’s footsteps?” Lon himself--perhaps less aware of his reputation and personal power--minimized the challenge and worried only that someone who cared and was right for the organization followed him. He wanted to do the right thing to help support an orderly succession, whatever that was.
Despite his initial uncertainty, normal for such big life changes, Lon made three decisions early on that contributed to his successor’s and the organization’s success in coping with his retirement. First, even before beginning to be public about his retirement, Lon helped the Board recruit new members with more nonprofit experience. From this outreach, a new Board chair and a more engaged Board emerged. While deferring more to the Board and going more slowly than he was used to was challenging, Lon knew the Board had to be stronger if the organization was to thrive after his departure.
Next, Lon identified and recommended to the Board an executive transition management (ETM) consultant to work with the organization through the entire transition process. The consultant was someone Lon knew socially and in whom he had developed some trust. After checking out his credentials and work, Lon began to defer to the consultant’s experience about questions of timing and process. CMMC was just completing a strategic plan, also part of Lon’s exit strategy. The ETM consultant used the work done on the strategic plan and expanded clarity about the transition issues through a questionnaire and workshop process with Board and staff. With his guidance, the Board established a Transition and Search Committee, which managed the process from planning through recruitment and selection to welcoming and orienting the new executive and completing her six-month review.
Lon’s third decision and perhaps most difficult was to let go and leave the successor selection to the Board. Lon attended only one meeting of the Transition and Search Committee--its first--and shared his thoughts about the process and desired attributes of his successor. After that he was kept informed through monthly conference calls with the Transition Committee chairperson and the ETM consultant. Lon also had breakfast once a month with the consultant, both to stay informed and to talk about his own letting-go process. Lon was appreciative that the Board invited him to interview and comment on the finalists.
When the organization hired Becky Wagner, a veteran housing volunteer and aide to a U.S. Senator, to replace Lon, she understood the challenges were serious. “I knew going in that following a founder was just short of suicidal,” Becky recently observed, after she had successfully completed her third year at Community Ministry. The Board, staff and stakeholders have accepted Becky as the new leader of CMMC and let go of the fear that no one could follow Lon.
The organization has thrived under her leadership. Since taking over in 1999, the Community Ministry budget has grown from $900,000 to $2.2 million, and five new programs have been launched.
Why did she succeed in her transition where many successors to founders don’t? The answer is a mix of thoughtful actions by Lon, Becky and the Board--and some luck or grace. Lon’s willingness to let go and make room for Becky was key. The Board’s willingness to step up and own the organization and manage the hiring process and key decisions while a successor was selected was also critical.
Becky did her part by building on her strengths and paying attention to some basics. She knew she would walk in Lon’s shadow for some time. She expected that some of her constituency would focus on the obvious ways she was different from Lon. She wasn’t a minister or a man.
“I could have been paralyzed by fear of not being accepted,” Becky admits. “But I used my strengths--my track record and relationships from founding the first women’s shelter in the county, learnings from course work in nonprofit management, and my network from my political work as my place to stand. I accepted and applauded Lon’s legacy and recognized that each person would have their own timeframe for letting go of Lon and getting used to me.”
Becky’s use of humor helped lighten the concern about change. “When someone would remind me how big Lon’s shoes were to fill, I’d say luckily we don’t wear the same shoes.”
Successful transitions require attention to how endings are handled, patience with the messy period in between and a thoughtful launching of the new beginning. Lon, Becky and CMMC attended to all three.
Additional founder case studies and resources are available on our web site:
http://www.transitionguides.com/eds/founders.htm
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“Leadership Transitions: Critical Thresholds”
* For Executive Directors
--Baltimore – April 8,
2003 – 9:00 to 11:00 AM
--Silver Spring – April 15, 2003 - 9:30 to 11:30 AM
--Washington, DC – April 23, 2003 - 9:00 to 11:00 AM
* For Nonprofit Boards
--Baltimore – April 8,
2003 - 11:45 AM to 1:15 PM
--Washington, DC – April 14, 2003 - 11:45 AM to 1:15 PM
Co-sponsored by the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations, Washington Council of Agencies and The Nonprofit Quarterly.
Registration information for Baltimore & Silver Spring, Maryland: https://eseries.mdnonprofit.org/source/meetings/meetingshome.cfm?section=events
Registration information for Washington, DC: http://www.wcanonprofits.org/information1853/information_show.htm?doc_id=152916
For an event flyer: http://www.transitionguides.com/events/events.htm.
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* May 17, 2002 – San
Francisco, CA
Leadership Learning Community Conference
Working Session: “Why are executive leadership transitions growing in number and complexity?” More information and registration: http://www.leadershiplearning.org/creating_space/2003/schedule.adp
* June 19, 2003 -
Houston, TX
Alliance for Nonprofit Management Annual Conference
“Executive transition management services: a promising capacity-building strategy” This workshop is designed for funders, consultants and other supporters of nonprofits who are interested in organizational capacity. More information and registration: http://www.allianceonline.org/conf2003/index.cfm
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* A new study on
executive succession in the arts by the
Illinois Arts Alliance projects 70 percent turnover in the ranks of arts
executives during the next five years.
http://www.artsalliance.org/al21c_research.shtml
* The Washington Post
features article on nonprofit executive transitions.
http://www.transitionguides.com/resource/docs/wp_hinden_022303.pdf
* The current issue of
The Nonprofit Quarterly features articles by TransitionGuides senior associates
and collaborators:
Executive
Leadership Transition: What We Know by Denice Rothman Hinden and Paige Hull
http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/section/368.html
Departing? Arriving? Surviving and Thriving in an Executive Transition: Lessons
for Seasoned and New Executives
by Tom Adams
http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/section/367.html
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