In Times of Transition: Reflection Over Direction

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As Dancers’ Group’s mentioned in their insightful Living Transition Plan, organizational transitions can be emotional. They can produce feelings of confusion, anxiety, excitement, hope, frustration, relief, or resentment. At the same time, a leadership change offers a fantastic opportunity for an organization’s constituents to recognize and honor its essential values and culture. It can also provide an important stretch of time for staffers to grow comfortable with the idea of change and prepare to enter the next era from a place of strength.

Over the past four years, I have had the opportunity to serve as interim director of three different arts nonprofits, and have come to deeply value the work in the same way I do international travel. I get to move to a new “country” and immerse myself in its customs and culture, learn the local language, and reflect on its inner workings. In exchange, my outsider perspective naturally generates questions and observations about the organization that can lead stakeholders to self-reflect and better define their own goals and intentions.

As Interim Director, I might introduce some unfamiliar ideas or approaches, but unless the organization is going through major turmoil, my job isn’t to provide long-term vision or institute big changes. Instead, I am there to encourage and support those who are living through—and most affected by—the transition. While staff at all levels can and should be leaders in succession planning, they also need support. Especially at smaller organizations with 15 or fewer employees, the loss of a leader can create significant extra work and stress for those who remain. But it also provides a chance for staffers at all levels to challenge or even reinvent themselves, to test out a new ideas, and to step into greater roles of responsibility. To become, in a word, more “leaderful” (a term introduced in the Living Transition Plan that has quickly entered my daily lexicon!).  An Interim Director can help by listening hard, asking the right questions, and simply getting out of the way.

Right now I am wrapping up a six-month tenure at Southern Exposure, a local nonprofit that supports emerging visual artists. I just held my last one-on-one meeting with each of the four staff members, all of whom are highly accomplished, passionate workers. I asked them to revisit the list of 2016 goals they developed last fall, and reflect on the past six months by considering the following questions:

 

  • Do you have any new insights or takeaways about your:
    • Job responsibilities and overall role?
    • Recent accomplishments?
    • Potential (recognized or unrecognized)?
    • Professional development or work style needs?
    • Professional aspirations?
  • Are there any new dynamics or realities that have developed during this transition that you hope continue into the future? Or any that you hope don’t continue?
  • What kind of impression do you hope to make on the new ED? What actions or efforts on your part could help her form that desired impression?

I didn’t require them to write anything or formally answer each question (they have enough work on their plates already!). We just used the questions as a starting point, and I let them lead the way. The result was a series of rich conversations that left them feeling confident, empowered, and eager to welcome their new leader. They had a safe space to openly voice their hopes and dreams, I shared my observations about their strengths and challenges, and together we made a roadmap for the future. In addition, their honest feedback will inform my opening conversations with the new ED, as I can more easily share information and expectations that the staff might be shy to disclose to a new manager right off the bat. I can set the new leader up for success and provide the kind of valuable context that will enable everyone start off on solid ground.

I should note that while my outsider status has often been helpful in quickly cultivating trust and openness, an Interim promoted from within an organization can absolutely play the same crucial role in supporting staff and empowering them during the transition process. It just takes genuine listening, championing what is working well, and communicating with honesty and clarity.

Leadership transitions do not need to feel like lost time where employees are in limbo, full of anxiety and uncertainty. With the right kind support, staffers can use transition time productively to recognize and examine their own perspectives, and prepare to enter the organization’s next chapter from a place of strength and self-awareness.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Leigh Lehman has worked in the nonprofit arts sector for over 15 years. Since serving as Executive Director of 826 Valencia for five years, she has spent the last four years assisting various Bay Area nonprofits such as Headlands Center for the Arts and the David Brower Center through times of transition or leadership change. Currently, she is wrapping up an Interim Directorship at Southern Exposure. She also serves as Managing Director of the dance program Rhythm & Motion.

Tailoring the Transition Process: When to Engage Staff & Board

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Olive Grove has worked with over a hundred organizations on succession and transition planning over the past ten years and no two processes are the same. Some involve a sudden departure followed by a panicked hunt for an exact replica of the departing leader – or a unicorn of a person who has a rainbow of superior talents. Others involve a founder handing over their life’s work to a carefully vetted leader with nervous excitement and hope. And still others involve years of cultivating a staff member to learn the organization inside and out for a seamless transition. In any scenario, the process of transition and succession must be tailored to the unique needs of the board and staff, while representing the values of the organization.

The Living Transition Plan, drafted by Dancers’ Group and CompassPoint, provides a strong starting point for staff to take on the process of replacing a valued colleague. It outlines the key activities involved in any succession planning process, including:

 

  • Defining your values: In order to find the right person for a role, the organization must first have a clear understanding of itself. Values should represent the historical and present patterns and actions of the organization. Here are two exercises to help you understanding your organizational values: Values Exercise and Historical Mapping Exercise.
  • Gathering information: Information gathering helps an organization to understand its goals, priorities, opportunities and risks perceived by those within and outside of your organization. This information will directly inform the qualifications and immediate goals of the new hire.
  • Mapping knowledge sharing: Some information lives only in the minds of the outgoing employee and organizations don’t always have a clear system for transferring that information. See our Knowledge Sharing Tool for a resource.
  • Developing a Succession Planning document: Once you have defined your values, gathered information from internal and external resources, and captured the knowledge within the organization, the next step is to create a document for the transition of key roles in case of a sudden departure. As outlined in The Living Transition Plan, questions should explore: qualities of a leader; desired shifts in an organization’s culture / structure; financial impact of a transition; knowledge transfer; process for selection of a new employee; communication around the departure; training / onboarding; celebration of the outgoing employee; and other elements of the organization that will be affected by the transition.
  • Executive Search considerations: Of course, a leader departing will have much greater implications for an organization than other staff members. Thought must go into the decision-making process for selecting the leader, communications to stakeholders, funders and partners, the role of the outgoing leader in the future, and how to involve staff in the process.

We have found that the last point – how to involve staff in the process – is crucial in ensuring a successful transition. This can take many forms but essentially staff involvement falls along a spectrum. We have provided a few examples to highlight the various possible forms of staff involvement in an Executive Search process. This spectrum can help you identify the best approach for involving your staff and board members based on your unique situation – especially for high impact searches, such as Executive Directors and CEOs. For case studies highlighting the spectrum click here.

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The Board-Only Approach: The Board does not involve staff in the process and makes a unilateral decision on the new hire.

  • This approach is best used when the hire is a staff member, rather than a leader, and the team was previously ineffective.
  • For an executive transition, this approach is best used when an organization is in extreme situations of transition or turmoil and requires decisive leadership.
  • Be cautious of this approach. Even in some instances of extreme turmoil, staff still has valuable input to contribute to the qualities of a new leader.
  • Make sure the Board truly holds all of the valuable information before moving forward with this approach.

 

Staff member on Search Committee: A staff member is selected by the Board or elected by staff to join the Search Committee as a representative.

  • This approach is best used when an organization has a cohesive staff that can elect a representative and establish a system for providing input throughout the process.
  • This can be an effective approach if the board is a high-level advisory board and the staff member can bring complimentary insight on programs and operations.
  • This approach ensures some staff involvement but requires that staff is bought-in to this process and trust their representative.

 

Staff Advisory Committee alongside a Search Committee: Staff form a committee of multiple representatives, or for a smaller staff, all staff members are involved throughout the entirety of the process.

  • This approach is best used when staff can provide insight into the culture, history and future direction of the organization in a way the Board cannot.
  • This is also a helpful approach during periods of organizational transition and growth, when a new staff member or leader will likely create major shifts to the organization’s strategy and direction.
  • This can be an elected or appointed Committee of staff who have regular input and updates on the process and a high level of decision-making in the selection of the candidate.
  • For a smaller staff, this can include a process for gathering input from all staff through meetings, surveys, or other methods.

 

Staff can always provide valuable input in a couple of ways, regardless of the organization’s dynamics:

  • Developing position description: Whether input is gathered collectively or individually, staff brings an important perspective to the qualities needed in the new hire. Ensure the focus is not wordsmithing but rather making sure critical points are covered.
  • Meeting with candidates: Whether it is a direct superior or the new organizational leader, provide those working with the new hire the chance to meet that person during the later stages of vetting.

It is important to recognize that the Board holds fiduciary responsibility and accountability to ensure strong leadership within the organization. While staff input is valuable and sometimes crucial to the success of the new hire, the Board always has the final decision-making power on the process and selection.

Ultimately, involving staff is a critical step in ensuring the success of the new hire after the search and onboarding processes are over. The level of input can vary and it is up to the Board and senior staff to determine how much input is required for an efficient yet supportive process.

For additional information on Olive Grove and resources for transition / succession planning, please see below.

From Out of Site to Youth Art Exchange: Moving Beyond the Founder

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How do you let go of something that you have created? For instance, that incredibly crafted scene in a story, that you love but know may not completely fit anymore; or that dynamic painting series that you treasure but you know is not your future?

In June 2000, my close friend and I concocted a youth arts center that would bring a multi-disciplinary and community engagement approach to arts education. We envisioned a place that valued teenagers and put them in charge as they worked in the arts. Thirteen years later I was able to sneak away, leaving Out of Site in the hands of its community – its staff, faculty, students and alumni – along with a new executive director.

Small to mid-size nonprofits (under about $750,000 in annual budget) particularly struggle to create a lasting institution, one that is bigger than its founder, where the organization and its members successfully hold the values, vision and mission. As a founding executive director, I rode all the ups and downs for 13 years – the joys and the challenges: from the hiring of our first staff person, to the first employee firing, to the flush financial years and the lean years with the fears of not making payroll, to the awards and accolades, to the frustrating partnerships, and to all the complexities and emotions of working in a community that values collaboration and reflection.

The founder carries plenty. How could I let go and walk away? How could I leave the organization in a healthy position and myself feeling proud, calm and grateful?

I had attended multiple succession planning workshops, but frankly there was always the assumption of a bigger institution, a stronger board, a more robust organizational structure. I’d leave these meetings overwhelmed. How could Out of Site accomplish this transition without crumbling? In the difficult moments of our history, I felt that Out of Site was merely a house of cards – beautiful but fragile, and only I could keep it together. Was there a solid structure outside of me that could hold Out of Site together?

To figure this out, I needed to personally let go. I needed to value all those ups and downs and that knowledge I had gained. And, then I had to separate. I needed to allow others to step in. For me this took the support of an executive coach as well as a clarity about my own next steps.

Also, when I decided that it was time to leave, Out of Site was in a good spot: we had just finished a strategic plan developed by board, staff, faculty and youth. We had some steady, multi-year funding. Coincidentally, we were beginning a process to change our name.

After first telling my Board Chair, I shared the news with staff and then youth. All of this was very emotional. People were mad, surprised, scared, overwhelmed and intrigued. It was the youth who were most positive and excited – they saw me jumping off into new adventures. The adults were supportive but also understandably concerned about how the transition would affect them. There were a lot of emotions to process!

The Board needed to figure out the timeline and the transition method. After hours and hours of discussion, they made the decision to hire a Transition Consultant while also giving substantial raises to the top staff, in recognition that this would be a full year. This was all a financial stretch. But the Consultant spoke of using this process as a capacity-building time. She saw transition as a time where staff and board could step up and redefine their roles and responsibilities. Everyone found this exciting.

I was peripheral to this process. It was shocking and a bit sad for me at first, but then a relief to see the strength of the underlying structure of the organization. With coaching, I saw how my absence from the process would ensure a successful hiring outcome – no new executive director wants the founder/former ED looking over her/his shoulder. Also, this was balanced by the appreciations and accolades I was receiving: I worked hard to take in all these supportive comments and conversations.

The Board, staff and I were savvy and strategic about how we spoke to our partners and funders about the transition. And once the fabulous new executive director was hired, we held a celebratory party. Informal but also ceremonial: this was the handover. I felt deeply appreciated and honored – friends, partners, funders were all there. I was able to thank everyone including board, staff, youth and partners; and, then introduce my successor. She spoke to our community as its new director.

With a background in architecture, education and policy, Beth Rubenstein is currently a Legislative Aide to Supervisor John Avalos, of District 11 in San Francisco. She works on city budget, workforce development, children and youth policy, arts policy, and District 11 community development projects. She is the co-founder and was the long-time executive director of Youth Art Exchange (formerly Out of Site Youth Arts Center), which offers programs in visual and performing arts, and leadership development to San Francisco public high school youth. She has taught at the high school and college level, including at Yale College and Rhode Island School of Design. Beth has a BA in art history from Barnard College, Columbia University, and a Masters in Architecture from Yale University. 

Beth is a 2012 – 2017 Koshland Civic Unity Fellow for the Excelsior neighborhood of San Francisco, awarded by the San Francisco Foundation in recognition of being a “Bay Area grassroots risk taker” and for taking on “the most stubborn neighborhood problems as a personal challenge and [working] collaboratively to overcome them.”

Transition Planning for All

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This past spring, Dancers’ Group completed a Living Transition Plan, a two-part document that looks to provide guidance and strategies for the organization to be resilient in the face of any future staff changes, and to serve as a resource for other entities to use as a template in their own transition planning.

The process to create our Living Transition Plan started in the fall of 2014 with funding from the Center for Cultural Innovation, as part of their NextGen Arts Leadership Initiative grant program for organizational support. When considering a project for this initiative, we asked ourselves:

If the executive director, or any vital staff, were to spontaneously combust or otherwise disappear from Dancers’ Group, what would we need to successfully lead the organization? What skill or knowledge gaps do we have? What new opportunities would this bring forward?

From these initial seeds, we crafted an idea for a staff-led transition plan.

Dancers’ Group is a hybrid service organization and presenter of performance opportunities whose mission is to promote the visibility and viability of dance. Our vision is one where dance is situated at the center of civic life and the ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay Area dance community is diverse, resilient, and artistically vibrant. I joined Dancers’ Group as its Program Director in 2012 and have a couple of years left (eek!) before I officially age out of being what the Center for Cultural Innovation would label a “NextGen Arts Leader” – those under the age of 35. I am also an alumnae of EAP’s fellowship program (2010-2011 cohort) and currently part of the Leadership Team.

It’s unusual for staff—let alone younger staff—to lead transition planning efforts, which are frequently board-driven and embarked upon when a staff change is imminent. Because no changes are on the horizon for Dancers’ Group, the plan is “living,” meaning that we will be revisiting and updating it as new ideas, needs and perspectives emerge.

Dancers’ Group wanted to take this opportunity to imagine a plan that would be useful for us as well as other entities in our vibrant and varied dance ecosystem, and beyond. As part of our identity as a service organization, we are always trying to consider how our internal capacity-building might be reflected out to our ecosystem. Think of what emerged as a workbook. A launching pad.

Below are three key takeaways—guiding principles—excerpted from the plan that we believe can support the transition planning work of dance entities of any shape or size.  

Communication is vital. It seems obvious to say and yet it should be said, when change happens at an organization, it is critical be keep stakeholders informed. This communication can take many forms, and a priority will be to preserve and continue trust, even if the voice and primary leader of an organization has changed.

Transitions are emotional. Through any planning process or organizational change, respect and take care of the emotional well-being of those involved. This includes an outgoing staff-person, staff and board still at the organization, and the wide network of stakeholders, partner organizations, and even funders.

Recognize your cultural values. Change of leadership will certainly bring with it cultural changes in the office, impacting staff and the artists served. Dancers’ Group, for example, has developed organizational practices, the collection of which is our culture. Many of these practices came organically through the leadership of executive director Wayne Hazzard, and are further developed through the day-to-day interactions with the entire staff.

Dancers’ Group worked with CompassPoint’s Byron Johnson in the development of the Living Transition Plan, and he introduced us to the term “leaderful” (love it!) in relation to the organization’s staff. To feel leaderful means to be supported and empowered to practice and develop leadership skills. This project provided me a chance to exercise my leadership within Dancers’ Group at a level that was new to me. And, the plan that came out of this work encourages all of us to support leadership across the organization’s staff, in turn leading to greater agility and resilience when it comes time to face transitions big and small.

Download the full Living Transition Plan at dancersgroup.org/research