The First 100 Days: Investing in the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leaders
Ensuring long-term leadership and success for your organization
Being a nonprofit leader is a privilege and responsibility. Leadership provides unique opportunities to nurture and mentor staff for career growth and future leadership roles. A sense of purpose and passion are what generally guide those seeking employment in the nonprofit sector. They want to be a part of something larger than themselves, share their ideas, and ultimately be heard. This next generation utilizes meaningful work in the nonprofit sector as an opportunity to provide significant and tangible value to their communities, even as they foster and grow their careers. How current leaders engage new staff in their first 100 days may determine your organization’s future growth and success.
Limited investment by boards and donors in leadership development has extensive adverse impacts, namely, the loss of talent to other organizations and, eventually, other sectors. The growing number of nonprofit leaders leaving their organizations has grown noticeably in recent years. According to a 2015 study by The Bridgespan Group:
One in four nonprofit C-suite leaders “left their position in the last two years, and nearly as many planned to do so in the next two years.”
According to Adam Rubin, RENEW’s CEO, “based on these predictions, the nonprofit sector would need to replace the equivalent of every executive leader over the next eight years.”
Be A Leader, Not A Statistic
A recent survey by Workhuman — a performance management and employment engagement platform — queried 800 human resource leaders and practitioners for their insights on human workplace efforts and performance management practices. It showed that 47 percent of managers surveyed said they did not receive any new leadership role training. These are staggering numbers, demonstrating where priorities rank in many organizations today.
Astonishingly, 93 percent of the managers surveyed said they need but are not receiving training regarding coaching and leading their staff.
Budget data supports the results of the Workhuman survey. According to the paper, The Business Case for Investing in Talent (Kapila, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2014), the private sector spent an estimated $12 billion in leadership development in 2011. While nonprofits only invested $400 million. This spending is 0.03 percent of the sector’s $1.5 trillion in total annual expenditures (Kapila, 2014).
Furthermore, the paper Under-Investing in Social Sector Leadership published in the Philantopic (Callanan, 2014) noted that while businesses spend $120 per employee annually on leadership development, the social sector spends just $29.
From a giving standpoint, as is highlighted in Hirschfield’s paper Investing in Leadership to Accelerate Philanthropic Impact (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2014), donor support for leadership development was less than one percent of overall giving from 1992 to 2011 (Hirschfield, 2014).
Empower by Engaging
Every leader-to-be must start somewhere. Most, particularly those entering the nonprofit sector, join an organization with wide-eyed aspirations to make a difference. These leaders-to-be take pride in their jobs, gaining a sense of fulfillment, even self-actualization, through their successes. Initially, they may not even think of or see themselves as growing into a leadership position. Still, they desire to better themselves by serving others, a solid foundation to build upon. To quote author and management consultant Peter Drucker:
“Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.”
How current leaders engage these new employees in their first 100 days within the organization may determine future growth and contribution. Ask them if they feel like they:
Are part of the team?
Make contributions that matter?
Have the space contribute?
Are asked and encouraged to share their ideas?
Are listened to and respected by managers and leaders?
Feel engaged?
Have a seat at the table?
If these questions cannot be answered with a resounding, “Yes!” then there is a problem.
Provide a Seat at the Table
The current leadership, including board members, must cultivate a sense of purpose and passion for growing sustainably. Leading an organization through challenges and toward sustainability is one thing, but inspiring your staff to want to do the same while allowing them to realize they can. This trust and confidence building ensure your organization's continuing impact — for them and the future leaders they inspire. Simon Sinek wrote in his seminal book Start with Why:
“Leaders don’t have all the great ideas; they provide support for those who want to contribute. Leaders achieve very little by themselves; they inspire people to come together for the good of the group. Leaders never start with what needs to be done. Leaders start with WHY we need to do things. Leaders inspire action.”
All nonprofit staff, interns, and volunteers should feel they have a seat at the table. Their energy and passion can be infectious, revitalizing a burned-out executive or manager who has been firing on all cylinders for too long. Nonprofit leadership can realize the potential of new staff and long-term success for the organization by actively managing and engaging them in the first 100 days. There are enough challenges facing nonprofits today. Staff retention does not have to be one of them.
In short, the talent your organization already draws in ideal candidates from diverse backgrounds for future leadership roles. This is why the first 100 days are vital in determining if your staff is willing to rally behind you, surpass expectations, and reach a potential they may not even know they have. But that does not come without the time commitment and financial investment to mentor and provide coaching.
It is too familiar for current executives and those in leadership roles to be immersed in the “now.” This short-term mindset is the antithesis of growing leadership as an investment. Investment in staff with limited time and scarce resources is not always easy and is often challenging. But by committing the effort and discipline to invest wisely in your team, the organization will gain sustainable and substantial long-term results. Ensuring your work is impactful and lasting — not only for you but for those who come after you — is the real goal and measure of success when it comes to leadership.
Edmund Settle is an Executive Coach and can be reached at edmund@edmundsettle.com. Leveraging over 20 years of international human rights and development experience, he works with nonprofit leaders to maximize their organizations’ impact.