Succession Planning... Are You Ready?

Every staff transition thrusts the team into unrest. The new team adjusts to group personalities, assets, and politics before figuring out how to work together effectively. In addition to the establishment of a new team, the staff members who left may have taken with them institutional knowledge, stakeholder relationships, and many other vital connections. Staff transitions must be handled thoughtfully to ensure organizational health. 

The careful transition of staff, especially essential leadership, is also currently a crucial issue for nonprofit organizations. Historically formal nonprofit administration education took a backseat role to the on-site experience. For nonprofit organizations where this is the case, there may be a lack of commitment to Succession Planning or a lack of knowledge of its benefits and, therefore, a higher chance for transition risk. 

Regardless of the emphasis placed on succession planning in the nonprofit sector, the need for quality Succession Planning is high due to another sector-specific factor. A collaborative report between the Annie E. Casey Foundation and others, entitled Founder Transitions: Creating Good Endings and New Beginnings, details the fact that at the end of the twentieth century, the nonprofit sector saw significant growth and now many of the founders of those organizations seek to retire. The combination of this sector-wide leadership shift, in addition to the under-education of leaders, is striking. 

As with strategic, development, and marketing plans, succession plans are merely the deliberate process of planning for the organization’s future. In the case of succession planning that revolves specifically around anticipating staff transition. The identification of future leaders is not a quick fix to staff transitions. It is a commitment made by the organization and supported by its Human Resource Managers to view the HR functions of talent development and recruitment with a future-focused, strategic lens.   

Comparatively, the failure to engage in thoughtful succession planning leaves an organization at risk. Those risks include profit decline, mission drift, the continuance of an ineffective executive, and even closure. Another danger of the failure to engage in success planning includes increased staff turnover. An unsuccessful transition may lead to organizational conflict and higher employee turnover. 

There are many different models of succession planning:

Leadership Model Pipeline

Relay Model

Horse Race Model

Executive Transition Management

Succession planning is uniquely critical for the nonprofit sector due to the impending retirement of many nonprofit leaders. However, there are ways for nonprofits to avoid the risks of transitions. Training nonprofit boards, volunteers, and staff to feel confident as a team outside of the executive’s influence is one key to organizational success. Another key is for nonprofits to choose a plan and model that is appropriate for the organization’s size and scale of resources. Further education on the importance of succession planning within the nonprofit sector is also critical. By engaging in the succession planning processes, organizations in all industries enable themselves for success.

Do you need help with succession planning? If so, set up an initial consultation today.

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