Recently, I started researching and writing a new book directed at helping small nonprofits do succession planning and leadership development even when they don’t have the budget or resources for a formal program.  

I’ve been humbled by the response and how much people have been willing to either share their experiences or introduce me to others who could speak into the book.  And I’ve learned A TON so far.  Some of it has reinforced what I’ve already seen or thought, but there’s been some really great insights that I would have never thought of alone.

Here are two I’ve found super interesting with some takeaways you can consider to bring into your own work.

Insight #1: Succession planning is even MORE urgent at smaller organizations

Two of the big misconceptions people have about succession planning:

1. It’s only necessary when the Executive Director is planning to leave (either by retirement or new job opportunity or whatever)
2. It’s only for bigger organizations where there’s lots of layers and moving pieces.

Both are wrong and short-sighted.

Because when you have a lean team of 20 or less people, it means the chances of only 1 person knowing how to do a particular process or having access to a set of documents or signing authority is near 100%.  And that’s a huge risk – if that person has to step away for any reason or they just stop showing up, no one else can help cover.  It’s more catastrophic than if you were at a larger organization.

I feel it in my own work all the time, especially in my private practice as a therapist.  It’s only me by myself, what happens if I get sick or am somehow unable to do anything for an extended period? 

• Who would reach out to my clients?
• How would they get into my systems? 
• Do they know all the systems I use? 
• Do they have access to my passwords?  
• Can my clients trust whoever reaches out to them in the event of my absence?
• Will their care be properly passed on or put on hold?

As you can see, it’s not about me and my legacy, it’s about providing continuity of care for my clients.

The same goes for your team and organization.  It’s about providing continuity for the work you’re doing and the community you’re serving.  It’s not a “someday” problem where you have the luxury of tackling it when things calm down or you get some more resources – no one can predict the future and the sooner you address it, the less headaches there are later on.

But what can you do if you have no idea where to start and no resources?

Start here:

1. Have everyone start documenting all the work they do – processes, steps, relationships (for now it doesn’t matter digital or paper, but digital might be faster)
2. Create a single repository of where all this information will live and how people will access it
3. Start doing some sort of cross-training or inter-discplinary learning – if you’re under 20 people, even as simple as a monthly/quarterly meeting that is focused on learning what other people do. If you’re over 20 people, you might want to consider specifically identifying pairs or trios to cross-train.

You can see from these basic tips that it’s not costly, just intentional effort.  But if someone is unexpectedly out, this is the difference between continuity of services and hours of headaches and reinventing the wheel.

Insight #2: You need to take control of your calendar

One thing I’ll always remember from my boss at my first professional job was that during busy periods when we cancelled weekly staff meetings and other important multi-disciplinary work was that she would say, “when we get past this busy period and things calm down, we’ll get back to those meetings”.  

Spoiler alert – things never calmed down.  Magically, other important things or urgent problems would crop up and we’d have to deal with those instead.  It was only when we finally decided we had enough and needed to get back to these rhythms that we made the time for them.

When I talk to Executive Directors and CEOs, they often struggle with finding time to focus on stuff they think they should be doing – community outreach, advocacy work, big picture strategic visioning.  They’re often stressed by having to either pick up the slack somewhere or being pulled into work they shouldn’t be involved with in the first place.

One founder/ED I interviewed shared that she was successful in offloading a lot of the daily work and focus on building community partnerships, advocacy meetings, and public facing stuff.  Curious, I asked her how she managed to fit all that in.

She told me a Board member  wisely told her that it doesn’t matter how much she tries to free up her calendar, something will always come up to fill it.  Instead, she should just fill her calendar with meetings and work that she wants to be doing and that will force her to prioritize.  

And for her, it worked.

By booking meetings doing the public-facing stuff she needed/wanted to do, it forced her to delegate tasks to her direct reports and forced her to get comfortable letting go of stuff she didn’t have time for.   *cue fireworks and lightbulb in head*

This is exactly the reverse of how we often approach the problem, but it makes perfect sense.  How can you implement this same approach?

Start here:

1. Track your schedule for one week (do a time study – whenever my clients do it, I have them track in 15 minute increments for the week.  It’s time consuming, but there’s no substitute for this)
2. List out the activities you want/need to be prioritizing/focusing on and how much time they’ll take and how often.
3. Review your time study and ruthlessly delegate out stuff that doesn’t need to be you doing it.  

Notice the pattern?  Again, nothing costly, just requires your time and intentional effort.

Stay tuned 

I’m a learner at heart, and this is the best part of the entire process, getting to learn and share what’s been sparking my brain.

As you follow along to this blog and my book progress, I’ll keep sharing insights and tips.

If you found this helpful or have additional tips, please reply back and let me know!

If you know someone else who might benefit from this newsletter, please share this with them!

And if you need help with your succession plan or leadership development, I’m offering free one-time consults, just find time on my calendar here:  https://leadership-potential2.neetocal.com/meeting 

See you next time!

PS – if you’re looking for professional development for your leaders on a budget – my imPACT Leadership Academy was designed for sustainable, effective development on a budget.  Learn more on my site here: https://www.myleadershippotential.com/impact