Lack of Planning for Leadership Turnover Persists, Study Finds

Less than a quarter of nonprofits have a succession plan — a troubling statistic when 67 percent of nonprofit leaders say they plan to leave their position in the next five years, according to a new study.

“I was surprised by how boards seem to be kind of largely abdicating the responsibility of the oversight of the leadership function,” said Adrian Sargeant, a professor of fundraising at the University of Plymouth and an author of the report. “There seems to be quite a hands-off approach.”

The study, commissioned by the Concord Leadership Group and supported by Bloomerang, Boardable, and DonorSearch, asked more than 1,140 nonprofit leaders about their leadership style and results.

Marc Pitman, CEO of Concord Leadership, said he expected to see more groups establish succession plans in recent years.

“I hoped it would be better,” he said. Echoing a colleague’s take, he called the study’s results “dismal and dismaler.”

The study backs up other recent research on turnover and succession, including a 2016 report from Concord Leadership, which found a high percentage of nonprofits don’t have strategic goals or succession plans, imperiling their chances of long-term survival.

A separate 2014 report found that more than two-thirds of groups do not have a formal succession plan for senior leaders, and only 14 percent reported a goal to form one.

Too Many Conferences

The new study also concluded that nonprofits have “an unfortunate emphasis on conferences and seminars,” and Sargeant said they should focus more on rigorous, tailored training programs specific to the needs of the staff.

Sargeant suggests boards should be supportive of leaders’ personal interests and value leaders’ time and not let them get bogged down by administrative duties that could be handled by another employee at a lower cost.

The study analyzed four leadership styles: servant leadership, transformational leadership, charismatic leadership, and transactional leadership. It found servant leadership, in which a leader focuses on the needs of the employees, to be the most popular, with over 53 percent of the responses.

Servant leadership “may help drive a culture of philanthropy in a nonprofit organization, thereby facilitating fundraising and income generation.” Transformational leaders are idealists, charismatic leaders focus on persuasion, and transactional leaders focus on fulfilling the obligations of a contract, which typically means setting goals and monitoring the outcome.

Pitman said he’s concerned leaders don’t spend enough time tracking and following through on goals.

“How can you know if you’re making progress if you’re not measuring it?” Pitman said.

Positive Signs

On the bright side, Pitman noted that the study results suggest nonprofit staffs hunger for leadership training, mentoring, and coaching.

Pitman and Sargeant suggest that board members, leaders, and emerging leaders should seize the desire for training and better leadership and have the sometimes awkward conversation about succession for the sake of good governance.

“The real value of the planning process is it helps organizations to think about the future in a structured way,” Sargeant said. “And it’s the process itself that adds value to an organization, not just the plan they come up with.”