Start Succession Planning Now...

I wanted to share with you all some notes from a roundtable about succession planning that I attended at a recent Arts Town Hall Meeting. It was given by Therese Martin who's been through 8 successions as either an ED or board member and had some good thoughts on how (and when) to plan one.

So:

ONGOING NEEDS IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY OR RAPID TRANSITION:

• groom a promising internal staff member for a potential successor, invest in professional development across all staff so shifts and promotions can be made easier, identify someone on board who has time and skills who could serve as an interim ED if something happens
• Train cross functionally among staff so if illness or sudden transition happens, others can pick up duties. There should also be at least one or two board members who are up to date on, and have skills to manage, the financials.
• ED should document important relationships with funders, partners, etc. Three good options are:
• Sending emails to yourself with the subject heading [ED Notebook] after important conversations with funders, board members, etc.
  
• Internal blog or wiki that all staff can access
• Keep a notebook in the office with documentation (could be lost in the shuffle)
• Important thing is to use one method consistently and make sure others know the system you use and how to access it in case of an emergency
  
• Document processes (workflows, project management tools, budgets with notes, account info, etc.)
• Gantt chart to all board members at each board meeting- not discussed, just for contingency- gives info update to each member so that if an emergency happens, there are at least 14 copies of vital information and status of projects that can be used by someone to pick up and carry on activities.
• Have a money reserve that sits on the balance sheet that will help cover costs of the next transition (search, consultants, etc)
  

WHEN TRANSITION FIRST BECOMES APPARENT:

Hopefully the ED will 3 months notice or more... Ideally there can be a few weeks of overlap.

Board:

• Form an outreach committee to talk to funders and major donors to let them know a transition is coming and explain the plan and ask for continued support.
• Form a search team- decide what skills needed for next phase of growth (marketer, fundraiser, capital fundraiser, financial manager, generalist)
  
• Form an "on boarding" team to help orient new ED- may need increased board and staff retreats to get everyone up to speed and make a new org plan that fits the new capacity level.
  

UPON HIRE:

• Talk to new ED about how they might want to handle their transition out of the organization- If the relationship is good and the ED just wants to move on, then s/he could perhaps take a 6 month sabbatical and then join the board, or maybe just a friendly parting of ways. But Terese said it is a good idea to have the conversation early on and to check in every year or so.
• Start thinking about transition in terms of "ongoing" items above from day A.