How an Arts Nonprofit Developed a Succession Plan

“What would we do if our executive director spontaneously combusted?”

It’s a comical question, but it makes a serious point about the importance of preparing for leadership transitions before they occur. Staff members at Dancers’ Group, a small nonprofit that promotes dance in San Francisco, posed the question while thinking about ways to prepare emerging leaders for greater responsibilities at their organization.

They realized that they needed a succession plan. So they undertook a planning process that resulted in a “living” transition document — one that can be amended as necessary. The plan is a blend of recommendations specific to Dancers’ Group and exercises designed to help other organizations conduct their own succession planning. It is available for download at the end of this article.

Developing the Plan

During the course of a year, staff members at Dancers’ Group met regularly with a consultant at CompassPoint, a nonprofit advising firm. First, the team prepared interview questions and then talked to nearly 15 people from organizations of similar size that had been through a leadership transition or who had knowledge of succession planning.

Next the organization turned inward, analyzing work processes, employee responsibilities, and staff members’ ability to understand the nonprofit’s finances.

The organization emphasizes cross-training among staff members and encourages “solid sharing of institutional memory,” so Dancers’ Group was already fairly well prepared for a potential transition, says Michelle Lynch Reynolds, program director. But staff members recognized that “one of the dangers of having a very charismatic, capable leader is that relationships with external stakeholders can lean really heavily on that,” she says.

Opportunities for Improvement

The team identified several ways the organization could better prepare for a leadership transition, such as giving more employees the chance to represent the nonprofit publicly, so that supporters do not “hear from one voice all the time,” Ms. Reynolds says.

The team also saw the need for board members to expand their knowledge of nonprofit financial management. So they held a session to strengthen board members’ understanding of the organization’s finances.

Because the team had the luxury of time, it created a list of questions to raise during a transition when it could be easy to get caught up in logistics. They also identified elements of their organizational culture they consider special and realized that many were tied to the current executive director.

“As people come and go in an organization, cultures change,” Ms. Reynolds says. “I think that can be a really hard piece of the conversation. It’s not just who is going to do the work, but how might the organization change culturally after a departure.”

The succession planning process was not too uncomfortable for Dancers’ Group, Ms. Reynolds says. But she advises other nonprofits to “push through the awkwardness of some of the conversations.”

“Not every conversation about transitions is easy and fun. These are hard conversations — to talk about mortality and legacy,” Ms. Reynolds says. “Be confident that it’s worthwhile.” Your future depends on it.