Does it worry you to hear that a recent study, entitled Addressing the Leadership Challenge: Non-Profit Executive Directors’ Views on Tenure and Transition in Alberta, revealed that 82% of executive directors expect to leave their current position within the next five years, and 36% figure they’ll move on within the next two? Does it surprise you to know that salary and benefits are not top contributing factors? In fact, it is job quality and job satisfaction that are key in retaining leadership in the nonprofit sector.

Salary or satisfaction?

That’s good news according to report co-author Carlo Jensen, director of consulting at the Calgary Centre for Non-profit Management. While some executive directors may move to another ED position within the sector, many will exit the sector for the corporate or public sectors. The nonprofit sector simply cannot compete with the compensation levels offered by either of those sectors. But with some effort, it can compete on the job quality and satisfaction levels. As Jensen puts it, “If we can keep executive directors satisfied, keep the job quality high, then they are not going to look at compensation types of rewards and we will both retain and attract leadership.”

Interestingly, survey respondents said that salary ranked seventh (out of nine) in terms of importance when accepting an executive director position. However, when asked about the biggest hurdle they predicted for attracting the next generation of leaders, the response was ‘compensation’. Jensen explains the potentially contradictory findings as part of a professional evolution. “When people first join the sector they are engaged by the mission. As you get into it, and as that mission becomes a part of you, it loses some of its effect on you. You start looking for other forms of reward and usually the next form of reward is salary.” He encourages boards to find creative ways to make mission and values current and motivating.

What constitutes job quality and satisfaction for executive directors?

If the good news is that nonprofits can compete on the level of job quality and satisfaction, it’s important to know what that entails for executive directors. A previous study out of Calgary, conducted by the Institute for Nonprofit Studies at Mount Royal College, focused on exactly that.

As one of three National Learning Initiative pilot projects, institute director Keith Seel combined research out of the US and UK that identified how vulnerable the executive director position is with the Canadian Policy Research Network‘s (CPRN) research on job quality and satisfaction in the nonprofit sector. Says Seel, “Our concern was that if we were going to be losing a lot of people due to job quality and job satisfaction issues, we needed to do something in terms of our understanding of how those things come together. That was the genesis of our project.”

Peer learning circles foster job satisfaction

The project involved a facilitated peer learning circle for nine executive directors from small- to medium-sized organizations in Calgary. The EDs met to discuss job satisfaction issues and committed to taking an action related to that month’s topic. The most surprising part for Seel was watching a shift in the locus of control – something he hadn’t even considered going into the project. “The language of the EDs changed,” describes Seel. “At the start it was, ‘the board is to blame. the funders are to blame.’ It was an external projection, but as the peer learning circle process unfolded, the language switched to ‘I’ language. I heard, ‘I can do this. My responsibility is this…’ There was a big shift in thinking.”

The executive directors in Seel’s peer learning circles also discussed salary. At the outset of the process, salary was not the primary reason people felt dissatisfied with their job. The major dissatisfaction revolved around job design and the structure of the organization. However, by the end of the project, participants addressed those issues and salary moved to become the most dissatisfying factor. Seel concluded that pay and benefits will not be the primary reason an executive director chooses to leave a position, but if their job is poorly designed and if the organizational structure is bad on top of that, pay and benefits will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. As he explains, “More money and a lousy job will not make people happier. But if you pay the same but really improve the job a lot, a person is more likely to say, ‘I love my job…I don’t get paid enough but I love my job and I’ll stay with you.'”

Peer support comes in different forms

Peer support for executive directors is also an important element of the work at the Niagara College Centre for Community Leadership. “Being an executive director in such challenging times not only requires an amazingly diverse set of skills, it can also be a lonely place – particularly in smaller organizations,” says manager Brenda Herchmer. “We do our best to provide opportunities for executive directors to connect and share with their peers.” At the centre, that takes the form of bi-monthly ED networking breakfasts, informal roundtable training sessions, and extensive use of listservs.

At Leadership Winnipeg, managing director Martin Itzkow works with a mixed group of business, labour, voluntary and nonprofit, community, and government leaders. The cross-sectoral group works as a team to address larger community issues. In the process, the various groups learn how to communicate with each other and recognize that all sectors are important to a community. The advantage explains Itzkow is that executive directors “now have a new network of peers that are cross-sectoral. It’s breaking through those silos.”

In Montreal, Santropol Roulant‘s executive director Vanessa Reid took the initiative to create her own peer support networks – both within the sector and outside of it. “When I first started and I realized I was in deep, I found two mentors – one in Toronto and in Montreal – who two years earlier had both gone through what I was going through. It was incredibly valuable. It gave me confidence.” She’s also mobilized an informal group of young women who call themselves “The Wonder Women Network”. This group consists of 25-35 year old women who founded or are running organizations or initiatives in Montreal. Her peer network reaches out even further to include people who aren’t executive directors, are not necessarily located in Montreal, but who are interesting, creative thinkers. These are people she can think with and gain perspective.

Reid firmly believes that organizations need to take care of themselves before they can take care of others. Organizations work well when their staff is taken care of and that definitely includes the person at the helm, the executive director. In order for executive directors to be effective, they need to be satisfied and engaged. While salary should not be downplayed, organizations need to focus on providing a well-designed position and a clearly defined organizational structure, while also maintaining a motivating mission and encouraging opportunities for peer support.

Louise Chatterton Luchuk is a freelance writer and consultant who combines her love of writing with experience at the local, provincial and national levels of volunteer-involving organizations. For more information, visit www.luchuk.com.