Leadership In Crisis: It’s Time to Act
The nonprofit sector is the third-largest private employer in the United States. The financial, human and community impact nonprofits aim to achieve are endless and have a significant role and place in our society. The stakes are high.
As a sector, we have been facing a talent crisis for several years, and this dilemma is likely to continue to evolve over the next decade, especially since many baby boomers are rethinking their priorities and beginning to transition workforce contributions as a new generation of leaders emerge.
All it takes is a glimpse around the boardroom and our inboxes to see the explosion of C-suite and director job openings to know that the void in talent trends prevailing over our industry is in crisis, and it is time we do something about it.
Why aren’t we prepared to shape the development of the next generation of nonprofit leaders and why should we care? That is a topic for another day.
But…
With the great need to recruit and place nonprofit leaders knocking at the front door, we cannot ignore our responsibility to develop them in the first place. Leadership training abounds on the world-wide web, giving us access to mounds of evidence-based research, logic models, and scores of reading materials and how-to-guides, for developing leaders. Why aren’t we making a dent in raising future nonprofit leaders?
Fact: Every nonprofit executive I know cares about developing others (Thank You). But we are simply not doing enough to give them the space to learn and grow. We intentionally recruit and aim to retain talent, but it takes more intentionality to grow them. Consider the following factors:
Invest in Leadership Development: Nurture and retain talent by paying for and encouraging participation in community-centric immersion programs like Leadership Fort Worth or Dallas (Name Your City). The experience creates a positive environment for hands-on learning and develops beneficial relationships.
Place Importance on Soft Skills: Beyond technical expertise, leadership roles require strong soft skills such as communication, empathy, adaptability, and emotional intelligence. By recognizing these skills in recruiting staff, be intentional about developing these skills in potential leaders.
Know Your Competition: What makes your organization different from the other 1.7 million nonprofits in the nation? Define your mission value in terms that are meaningful for talent and remember that motivation factors shift by generation. Identify your internal target market for leadership development and start pairing them with seasoned professionals. Engage with your teams to further define what inspires them to explore how they use their leadership skills and develop them. Another out of the box solution is to host a “Mission Focus Session” and target a market of potential recruits to engage with you and provide feedback on talent recruitment.
Infuse Resources to Recruit and Retain Leaders: Examine salaries and benefits, pathways to earn recognition rewards, define professional development, and cross functional training opportunities for staff and to attract new talent. See the best in every individual and help them stretch and grow their skills, knowledge, and experiences.
Expect Agile & Adaptive Leadership: Given the rapidly changing landscape of nonprofit work, adaptive leadership approaches are vital to successful leadership. Creating a culture that reinforces and inspires leaders to adapt quickly to changing circumstances, pivot strategies, make informed decisions and inspire their teams are essential skills and important to your mission.
Recognize People Inside Your Organization: Take the time to identify rising leaders and the skill potential of your current team. Develop skills-based learning tools and foster collaborations (across departments) to guide teams to explore their leadership skills and style. Leaders are expected to involve their teams in decision-making and create a sense of shared ownership.
Resilience and Well-being: New recruits and existing employees put well-being on the top of their list and make work-life balance a top expectation. This balance may look different for different people – helping individuals self-regulate their meaning of balance and navigate work and life builds resilience. Flex time, additional paid time off and hybrid work models must be considered.
Executive Advancement: Team members dreaming of a career path to lead a department or join C-Suite leadership will need a well-rounded role and varied leadership experience. One critical area lacking in aspiring nonprofit leaders is direct experience and accomplishment in fundraising. If you are cultivating a member of your team for future leadership – place them in active fundraising planning, cultivation, and solicitation activities. Every nonprofit leader needs to know how to raise money.
However, do not forget that discovering and honing an individual’s leadership skills takes on new heights when practiced while achieving success and learning from failure.
My own leadership path over four decades was driven by passion for work, and a sheer determination to succeed. Add in a mixture of varied experience and a few complete leadership failures coupled with recalibration and learning, it is worth it. Early in my career others saw a potential diamond in the rough and groomed my talents and I worked hard for it. With guidance and encouragement from incredible colleagues and mentors along the way, a mindset for constant learning and stretching is required because developing as a leader is intentional and equally rewarding work.
Chief Operating Officer, Barbara Shelton, CFRE, has been with M. Gale since 2018. Barbara is a veteran fundraiser and former nonprofit executive. She has almost 40 years of professional experience and has worked with a wide variety of nonprofit organizations as well as consulting.
