Folow The Leader
A Guidefor Planning Founding Director Transition
Based on field
research in five agencies, this is the first in a series of Leadership Reports
that have a basis in research. The study is directed at the boards and
executives in organizations where the founding director or a long-term director
is retiring. Recommendations for the departing founding director, the board of
directors, the planning and search committees, and the new executive are
included. 34 pages. $15* each
As seen in Tim Wolfred's article
"Stepping Up: A Board’s Challenge in Leadership Transition” in The Nonprofit
Quarterly, Summer 2005
Worlfred, Senior Projects Director of
Leadership Services at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services in California, had this
to say about Following the Leader:
"In an
excellent booklet on the departures of nonprofit founders, Redington and Vickers
frame the executive’s final two steps as 'letting go' and 'preparing the way for
a successor.' Often a critical board
task, then, is to support their executive director through these final duties."
The departure of a founding director is
no small matter. Founders, board members and potential successors have
legitimate questions and concerns that deserve attention. What is it that
we know about this phenomenon of founding executive succession? What can
we say to those who experience it? In what follows we write for those
founding directors, board members, and successors who are having this powerful
transition experience.
We also write out of the experience of
others like you who know the power of long-term directorates and the issues
related to bringing them to a successful conclusion: Those individuals
have also wondered what to do and worried about how a new executive will fit.
This report is for all of you, since long-term directorate transitions have many
or all of the characteristics and therefore challenges of those associated with
the founding director. So while this document refers to the "founding
director," it is fair to read "long-term director" when the phrase is used.
Emily Redington
is a Program Associate at NEW (nonprofit enterprise at work) in
Ann Arbor, Michigan. Emily assists with the operation and expansion of the
BoardConnect program. Prior to joining NEW, Emily was Assistant Director of The
Jefferson Center for Learning and the Arts. She received her MA in Arts Policy
and Administration from The Ohio State University and her BA in English from
Marshall University.
Donn F. Vickers has been an executive director in organizations religious,
education, preservationsit and literary, and is the executive director of The
Academy for Leadership & Governance. He is also an adjunct professor in the
graduate program of Arts Policy and Administration at The Ohio State University.