Late last year, Imagine Canada, one of the nation’s prominent voluntary sector think tanks, released the following document — Leadership Perspectives: Interviews with leaders of Canada’s charities and nonprofit organizations.
The document surveyed 32 sector leaders across numerous sub-sectors on a wide range of issues. Perhaps the most striking revelation to emerge was the belief that there is a dearth of new leadership to take over as stewards of the sector when the current crop retires or moves on.
Setting aside the various reasons for why this belief exists (it would take up a whole other article), CharityVillage wanted to find out how some of the sector’s major organizations are addressing their future leadership needs, and whether mentoring from within is a viable and practiced solution to the problem.
And what better place to start than with the purveyors of the study: Imagine Canada.
Imagine that
One key sentence in Imagine’s Leadership Perspectives notes that the “challenge of recruiting staff for senior positions and renewing their organizations with younger staff posed a particular problem. It was recognized that the sector may not be well equipped to deal with generational change, particularly at the leadership level, as baby boomers retire.”
Georgina Steinsky-Schwartz, president and CEO of Imagine, revealed to CharityVillage that she had recently informed her board of her intention to leave her post by 2009. When asked how her organization would go about replacing her, and how it went about succession planning in general, Steinsky-Schwartz said her personal approach, as well as that of Imagine, was more “informal” but challenging.
As a charitable organization leader, “you’re kind of juggling succession planning with all the other things that are going on in your environment,” she admits.
“Certainly, every organization has its own way of approaching [the search for new leaders],” she adds. “As a general point, you have to look at the size of the organization. Imagine, while not a tiny charity, [has] a relatively small staff of about 20. In terms of our structure, as with many smaller organizations, we don’t have a series of highly structured mentorship, training programs. It’s different if you’re a very large corporation with 40,000 employees. Then you can do your own succession from within. But for a mid-sized organization, [leadership searching] has to be quite different.”
That said, Steinsky-Schwartz notes that the likely scenario for finding her replacement will entail a series of meetings and searches between her and Imagine’s board, where they will discuss potential candidates. While she doesn’t rule out the possibility that Imagine might find an internal candidate to replace her, it seems unlikely.
“I think for smaller organizations, looking internally for succession planning is not always a realistic option,” she says. “So what one tries to do is create linkages with similar organizations and get to know who the other people are and…have the opportunity to look at them as possible successors. For smaller organizations, there has to be a broader view beyond the actual organization itself. That’s how I’ve always encouraged my board to approach it.”
Still, Imagine does take some pains to try and encourage growth from within as much as it can, Steinsky-Schwartz explains. Among other things, the organization fosters upward mobility by:
- Paying for key staff to become members of accredited professional organizations.
- Holding professional training sessions for staff.
- Encouraging skill set enhancements.
However, she concedes that “it’s not always easy” for staff in small and mid-sized organizations to acquire all the experience they need to move into the top jobs.
“We require specific skill sets in certain areas. It’s not always easy for people to move from one job to another,” says Steinsky-Schwartz. “So you almost have to look at other organizations for people doing similar jobs there who could be approached. It’s a cross-organizational approach rather than just looking internally.”
When asked whether the latter approach could be seen as merely exacerbating the problem by essentially cannibalizing leadership within the sector, Steinsky-Schwartz responds, “I’m not sure cannibalizing is the right term. Nobody is forcing anybody to move. It’s more a matter of giving opportunities to people who might want to move within the sector. But there are also some organizations that are looking outside the sector. I’m the perfect example. I was recruited from outside the sector.”
Thinking big, brother
In contrast to Imagine’s strategy, another notable organization has taken a different tack on the question of mentoring and the all-important leadership search. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada (BBBSC) has decided to rely on some for-profit strategies to retain and prepare its future leaders.
Bruce MacDonald, president and CEO of BBBSC, says his organization – with a national staff complement of 18 – uses a five-point framework for its HR practices, adopted from Hewitt’s Global Best Employers Study. “We have agreed to work toward continuous improvement in the five characteristics for best employers: inspired leadership; unique company culture; focus on growing talent; strong sense of accountability; and aligned HR practices and excellent execution,” he explains, adding that there are sub-categories within each of the five areas.
According to MacDonald, who was the VP of marketing for the charity for nine years before ascending to his current position, two other senior staffers are products of internal training and a commitment to the cause.
He notes that the use of the five-point system has allowed the BBBSC to “create a robust talent pipeline” and promote from within. “We have been working on both of these areas with career development and training conversations built into our performance appraisal system. That way, we can identify aspirations for staff and work to provide them with the proper training to be able to assume a new role. This is part of the formal mechanisms for all staff,” he says.
As for his own position, he says that when he does decide to move on from his role, it’s likely that the BBBSC board will do an expansive search for candidates.
“We have a number of vice presidents, and conversations are being held or have been held to see if any of them have leadership aspirations,” says MacDonald. “When I decide to leave, even if there is a primary internal candidate, it is likely that the organization will do a full search. It is important to see if any individuals from our local level might be interested in moving to the national level. We currently have a number of national staff that have come from a local Big Brothers Big Sisters agency, so we have started to really ‘walk the walk’ in terms of promoting from within.”
But MacDonald also acknowledges that he does set aside some time to personally share experience with potential protégés who have indicated their long-term aspirations to become leaders within the national charity. “I am working to provide them with leadership opportunities to round out their current skill set.”
Five ways to find and/or groom new voluntary sector leaders(from the Leadership Perspectives survey)
1. Boards should target “Baby-boomer” senior executives in the for-profit sector who want to “do something more meaningful” with their careers.
2. Embrace youth and emphasize staff training programs for internal growth.
3. The sector should strive for more multi-cultural awareness.
4. Existing leaders should exchange knowledge amongst themselves.
5. Beef up recruitment and retention plans for new employees.
Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf is president of WordLaunch professional writing services in Toronto. He can be reached at andy@wordlaunch.com
