Managing Leadership Transition for Nonprofits: Passing the Torch to Sustain Organizational Excellence - Hardcover

Dym, Barry; Egmont, Susan; Watkins, Laura

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5 ratings by Goodreads

9780137047659: Managing Leadership Transition for Nonprofits: Passing the Torch to Sustain Organizational Excellence

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0137047657 ISBN 13: 9780137047659

Publisher: Ft Pr, 2011

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For nonprofits leadership transitions are a time of exceptionally high risk. Here, three internationally-respected experts show how to systematically identify, introduce, support, and monitor leaders in ways that enhance rather than undermine their performance. They explain why leadership transitions are so challenging for nonprofits, and show how to replace chaos and crisis with proven, sustainable leadership transition plans.

Writing for all nonprofit board members, leaders, aspiring leaders, and stakeholders, the authors demonstrate how to:

Maintain organizational momentum, continuity, and credibility through the transition
Find leaders who align well with your organizational values and its evolving culture
Avoid fighting, rumors, accusations, and the common mistakes that derail nonprofit leadership transitions
Build a sturdy bridge between departing and incoming leaders
Set appropriate expectations for both boards and leaders, and guide them to complement each other successfully
Plan succession and continuity for the long-term
Use transitions to advance the organization’s mission

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From the Back Cover:

“Leadership transition is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities faced by an organization. Leaders know that leaving well is the last great gift a leader can give to the organization. Managing Leadership Transition for Nonprofits is an indispensable guide for leaders across the sector.”

--Frances Hesselbein, President and CEO, Leader to Leader Institute

“Invaluable guidance on the most neglected topic in nonprofit management--leadership changes at the top. A trio of very successful practitioners--with deep experience in the full range of nonprofit roles--provides a highly readable and useful conceptual framework and practical tools, with a focus on the essential responsibilities of nonprofit board members. A distinctive strength of this book is that it provides advice on both how to avoid common problems and also on how to seize the positive opportunities that are presented by leadership transitions.”

--Rob Hollister, Dean, Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, Tufts University

“Managing Leadership Transition for Nonprofits demonstrates the importance of leadership continuity. As the baby boomers retire and relinquish the reins to a new generation, the process is as critical to the continued strength of the organization as are the leadership qualities of the successor. There is a crisis afoot in America’s nonprofits, and this book identifies the solution.”

--Vicki Donlan, author, Her Turn: Why It’s Time for Women to Lead in America

“Transitions of leadership are often scary and volatile moments in an organization’s history. Yet, they can also be used as strategic moments to bring clarity to the organization, reinforce direction, and align a new leader with the organization for the next chapter of growth and social impact. This book captures not just the steps in a transition, but the overall strategy to keep an organization vibrant and healthy over the long term. It is a guide for building the foundation of a leadership culture that will position organizations toward healthy and natural CEO transitions.”

--Ned Rimer, Co-Founder and formerly Executive Director, Citizen Schools; and Founder & Executive Director, Chronic Care Community Corps, EDC

“The number one responsibility of a Board either for profit or nonprofit is managing risk, and the number one risk is transition of leadership at the top. The authors have done an excellent job in identifying a major issue for all companies and present a roadmap that is logical, thorough, and a good approach to succession planning for directors to follow.”

--Bud Bergren, President and CEO, The BonTon Stores, Inc.

Find the Right Leaders for Your Nonprofit--And Help Them Succeed

For nonprofits, failed leadership transitions are widespread--and they can be catastrophic. Few organizations know how to manage successful leadership transitions. As a result, they often fall victim to common, avoidable errors. In this book, three leading consultants on nonprofit leadership present a systematic, proven approach to successful transition.

In this book, three internationally respected experts in nonprofit leadership show how to identify, introduce, support, and monitor leaders in ways that give them a far greater chance to succeed. You’ll learn how to build a sturdy bridge between departing and incoming leaders; avoid debilitating contention, rumors, wrangling, accusations, and loss of momentum; develop boards and leaders that balance and complement each other; evolve organizational culture and define leadership roles that align with it; nurture tomorrow’s emerging leaders; and much more.

Whatever your mission or role, this book will help you manage the entire leadership cycle--helping your organization succeed through one generation of leadership after another.

Leadership and the challenge of transition

Why nonprofit leadership is so challenging, why transitions fail, and what to do about it

Clarifying the fundamentals of effective leadership in your nonprofit

Aligning mission, vision, strategy, governance, and leadership

Why and how to professionalize your transition process

Replacing crisis and chaos with effective transition plans

Getting “new beginnings” right

Planning succession and continuity for the long-term

About the Author:

Barry Dym, Ph.D., is Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership. During his wide-ranging career, Dr. Dym has been an organization development consultant, executive coach, psychotherapist, entrepreneur, author, researcher, and teacher. Currently, Dr. Dym is the Executive Director of the Institute for Nonprofit Management at the Boston University School of Management.

As a consultant, Dr. Dym specializes in executive coaching and team building; strategic planning and implementation; aligning strategic direction with organizational capabilities; and the management of change and key organizational transitions.

He has founded and directed three other organizations–The Family Institute of Cambridge, The Boston Center for Family Health, and WorkWise Research and Consulting–and a journal, Family Systems Medicine. He has served on and advised many boards of directors.

Dr. Dym has written four books–Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations, Leadership Transitions, Couples, and Readiness, and Change in Couple Therapy–and many articles, including “Utilizing States of Organizational Readiness” (OD Practitioner), winner of the Larry Porter Prize as the best article on organizational development, 1998-1999, “Resistance in Organizations: How to Recognize, Understand and Respond to It,” “Integrating Entrepreneurship with Professional Leadership,” and “Forays: The Power of Small Changes.”

Dr. Dym received his A.B. and his Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and a Harvard Five-Year Prize Fellowship.

Susan Egmont is principal of Egmont Associates, an executive search firm for nonprofit organizations and for corporations, foundations, and academic centers with nonprofit interests. She has more than 30 years of experience in nonprofit management, including youth development, education, workforce development, healthcare, children’s issues, the arts, and in organizations fighting hunger and poverty. Susan’s passion is excellence in nonprofit management and matching vital organizations with effective leaders. Her clients include foundations, academic institutions, peace and justice organizations, socially responsible investment companies and nonprofits, human service groups, community health providers, environmental coalitions, arts organizations, education reform efforts, and other nonprofits. In addition to executive transition work, Susan has consulted extensively with nonprofit organizations in board development, strategic planning, human resource issues, and program development.

Susan was formerly Executive Director of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts’ foundation for children’s health and Deputy Director of the Boston Private Industry Council. She was the director of a contemporary dance company and spent eleven years in management at the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

Susan holds an MBA from Emory University and is a Certified Association Executive and Certified Fund Raising Executive. She served on the founding boards of directors of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management, the national professional association for nonprofit consultants and management assistance centers, Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, the statewide association, and Atlanta’s Nonprofit Resource Center (now Georgia Center for Nonprofits).

Laura Watkins is principal of Dovetail Associates, a consulting firm that provides integrated services to nonprofit organizations with a focus on strategic planning and organizational development, senior leadership transition, and executive coaching. Laura’s passion is to build a nonprofit sector to sustain a healthy democracy. Her clients include organizations of all sizes, regional and national coalitions, and nonprofit boards of directors seeking to reorganize operations to achieve their mission.

Dr. Watkins works with organizations to develop coalitions around shared strategic visions. The outcomes of these strategic alliances have ranged from shared facilities and administrative staff to collective purchasing, and integrated programming and training to developing joint grants and fundraising initiatives.

Laura was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of Patriots’ Trail Girl Scout Council in Boston, Massachusetts. She has worked in the nonprofit sector for 30 years. She has served on the board of directors of Leadership America, the Children’s Trust Fund, the Chamber of Commerce, Charles River Museum, and the National and Community and Service Commission.

Dr. Watkins received her B.S. from the University of Missouri, MPA from George Williams College, MBA from Illinois Benedictine College, and Doctor of Philosophy in Organizational Development from the Union Institute. She has directed nonprofit organizations across the country during her career. Dr. Watkins has given innumerable seminars to nonprofit organizations and taught courses in Non-Profit Management at Suffolk University and Northeastern University.

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