Resources

What Can We Gain from this Search Besides a New Employee?

by Bruce Scott, M.S.W.
Moran Company Senior Search Consultant

The obvious and most compelling motivation for the board of directors who have launched an executive search is hiring the best and brightest person who can “sustain our success and take us to the next level – and start soon!”  Your decision to engage a professional search firm is a critical one that will bring you qualified candidates and an efficient process.  And like all major junctures in business and in life, there are broader considerations around which to set goals.

It will help you to discuss as a board the difference between the search process and the “transition” process.  The first brings you a great new employee to run the organization; the second brings broader, less tangible outcomes to boost your organization and increase the success of the new leader.  There are several good books on the process[i] and the right search firm will offer some counsel but for our purposes here, simply consider these very real and very important gains for the organization in the search to replace your executive director.

  1. Unity of purpose for the board – Some board members may find great new energy in the hiring process, as in “Now here is a board role I can get my teeth into!”  There is no question as to the significance of the task, and everyone has hired people and/or been hired.  To take advantage of the opportunity for unity, welcome all members to take a role, carefully deliberate on each step of the process and honor individual input, and celebrate as a group each step of the way.
  2. Clarity in the view of the future – An important step in preparing for the search is gaining consensus on the state and direction of the organization so that the desired leadership attributes and experience can be detailed in the search profile.  Depending upon the life cycle and health of the organization, this stage can be thorough and time consuming or simply a matter of reaffirming a recent planning product.  In the atmosphere of this call-to-action, board leadership can gain a new clarity about where your organization is and where you want it to be.
  3. An improved relationship between boards and management teams – A strong executive director provides staff leadership and usually all board relationships with senior management are filtered through the executive director.  That barrier becomes more porous as the search begins, and the board should ensure that members of management are informed of the process and are given input opportunities.  The new executive director can find a true team, where her senior managers and her board communicate well from their experience during the search.
  4. Confidence of stakeholders – Leaders of funding sources (both public and private) as well as loyal donors learn a lot about how their favorite cause functions when it’s time to replace the executive director. Clear and timely communication from the board about the plans and process plus asking supporters for input gives them confidence that there will be a smooth transition.
  5. Momentum and excitement for a rocket-boost launch for the new executive – Each of the important gains in our short list share the element of clear communication from the leadership of your board. Each announcement and update and request for input is a touch-point for increasing the momentum toward the starting date for the new executive director.  Your new director will feel it and benefit.

The professionally conducted executive search will indeed bring you a new employee, and with some thoughtful attention to the process, the leadership of your board will help produce these five additional gains and perhaps several more.

[i] Two excellent resources are:  The Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development Guide, Tom Adams, 2010 and Managing Executive Transitions: A Guide for Nonprofits, Tim Wolfred, 2009.

The Moran Company, specializes in nonprofit executive searches for executive directors, directors of development/fundraising staff and other top nonprofit leadership.

© 2014 The Moran Company
“We find great nonprofit executives”

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