Everyone agrees – well-led organizations do more good in the world than organizations that aren't well-led. But what about leadership change, how does that fit into the picture? Executive Transition: Trauma or Transformation? (©2011 Common Ground, North Carolina Center for Nonprofits) will give you practices that reduce risk and boost positive change, even transformation, during transition.
Example documents for finding sample language when drafting a Request for Proposals during the process of hiring executive search services to aid your organization with hiring a President/CEO.
The job of the nonprofit executive is one of the most rewarding. It's also among the most challenging, requiring a deep passion for the work and the ability to juggle competing demands, sustain multiple relationships, and manage a very possibly under-resourced infrastructure. Failed executive transitions often cause repeated executive turnover, loss of organizational focus and momentum, and extended periods of underperformance. This resource outlines how to approach executive transitions intentionally and mitigate these negative outcomes.
Best practices for adapting template CEO contracts to fit your organization's needs:
Use this sample inventory sheet to keep record of both onsite and offsite locations of important documents, bank account numbers, and other important information. (TransitionGuides)
Nonprofit organizations can adapt this sample emergency succession plan (CompassPoint) for the process of appointing an acting executive in the event of an unplanned absence.
Every organization will eventually experience a change in executive leadership, which is a time of both risk and opportunity. Nonprofit organizations can adapt this executive director succession policy example to create their own succession policy (Raffa, formerly TransitionGuides).
Executive transitions can be stressful for everyone involved. Transition Guides makes this transition easier with an "Executive Search & Transition Time Line Worksheet" to assist your organization in the process. (Transition Guides)
Practice Note
Sample Emergency Succession Plan by Tim Wolfred gives a model plan with emphasis on "identifying the key leadership functions carried by the executive, identifying the agency managers best qualified to step into the executive role in an emergency, and prescribing the cross-training necessary to prepare the back-up managers to cover the leadership functions." (CompassPoint Nonprofit Services,