How Do I Recruit Leaders?
Having the right people in the right leadership roles is key to helping an organization fulfill its mission. The problem is, it can be very difficult for a nonprofit’s current senior managers to step back and consider the leadership team objectively, particularly when they’re already stretched thin handling the day-to-day challenges of their jobs.
The following materials can help nonprofit executive directors, board members, and other staff better understand the needs of their organizations, the nonprofit leadership landscape as a whole, and the best ways to attract, develop, and sustain a highly qualified and committed leadership team. The "Deeper Dives" section provides more detail, including tools to help nonprofits conduct effective hiring processes and ease new senior managers' transitions into their new roles.
Our Latest Publications:
(The Chronicle of Philanthropy; David Simms)
For nonprofit leaders in today’s challenging environment, investing time in developing an organization’s current and potential leaders might feel like a luxury. But the capabilities and capacity of the top team determine the organization’s future—a future that may require meeting new and even greater needs. Most organizations simply can’t increase the difference they make any faster than they can develop their people—individually and collectively.
(Harvard Business Review; David Simms)
This collection of Harvard Business Review weblog posts written by Bridgespan Partner David Simms shares his insights on the topics of nonprofit careers and leadership.
Getting Started:
(Bridgespan Group)
An introduction to Bridgespan's perspective on what it takes to assemble a qualified, engaged team, and how such a team can help an organization increase its impact. This set of tools includes processes and templates for developing position profiles and assessing internal candidates.
Executive Search Services
For more details about Bridgespan's executive search offerings, please visit our Search Services page.
The resources in this toolkit are designed to help nonprofit leaders effectively communicate what their organization seeks in a candidate. Included in this set: a guide to writing a job description, and a series of sample job descriptions for various senior-level management positions.
(Bridgestar)
Developing and implementing a thoughtful hiring strategy helps ensure the right match between an organization’s needs and potential employees. The resources in this toolkit outline an effective hiring process, and offer guidance for nonprofit leaders seeking to build an effective, engaged team.
(Bridgespan Group; David Simms, Carol Trager)
Despite the economic downturn, nonprofit organizations in 2009 anticipated challenges in finding candidates who are both qualified for the roles and who are cultural fits with their organizations. This report provides results of a broad survey of nonprofits, identifying and analyzing specific challenges, and offering guidance for nonprofits filling leadership roles.
Deeper Dives:
(Bridgestar; Karen DeMay)
Karen DeMay, a senior director on the Bridgespan Group’s executive search team, has worked closely with dozens of nonprofits as they navigate the hiring process. She explains in this interview how several of these organizations have changed their approach to hiring, and what those changes have done to help them identify the right candidates.
Patty Stonesifer, the former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, talks candidly about the experience of transitioning from the for-profit world into the nonprofit sector.
(Bridgestar; Wayne Luke)
Finding the right candidate—or the right nonprofit job—in a tough economic climate takes preparation, perseverance, and an inherent sense of optimism.
(Bridgespan Group; Thomas J. Tierney)
Many nonprofits struggle to attract and retain the senior talent they need to fulfill their missions, and this leadership challenge is only becoming more acute. This summary introduces and provides a link to the white paper, "The Nonprofit Sector's Leadership Deficit," outlining recruiting challenges and three critical imperatives that nonprofits face to build leadership capacity.
Video:
Why Citizen Schools Created a COO Role
Emily McCann, chief operating officer (COO) of Citizen Schools, a national network of apprenticeship programs for middle school students, discusses the challenges of creating and stepping into the COO position in this trio of video clips.
The above links to part one of a three-part series in which McCann discusses why Citizen Schools needed a COO. To view parts two and three, click on the links below.
Third-Party Resources:
Many third-party resources provide valuable insight into recruiting leaders and nonprofit careers. We recommend the following:
This 2008 national study conducted by the Meyer Foundation in partnership with CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, The Annie E. Casey Foundation and Idealist.org, surveyed nearly 6,000 next generation leaders about their interest in taking on senior roles in nonprofits. Results of the survey uncovered that there is a skilled, committed, and diverse pool of next generation leaders who would like to be nonprofit executive directors in the future. However, significant barriers stand in their way: work-life balance, insufficient life-long earning potential, lack of mentorship and overwhelming fundraising responsibilities which may prevent many younger nonprofit staff from becoming executives.
(Harvard Business Review; Thomas J. Friel, Robert S. Duboff)
No one is in a better position to get an incoming CEO up to speed than his or her predecessor, whose insights and accumulated wisdom are uniquely valuable during the transition and even beyond. Nevertheless, candid, in-depth discussions between outgoing and incoming CEOs rarely take place. Friel, formerly the chairman and CEO of Heidrick & Struggles, and Duboff, the CEO and a cofounder of HawkPartners, conducted numerous interviews with people who had been through at least one CEO transition to find out why those discussions don't happen as a matter of course and how best to draw on the knowledge of a departing leader in this article from the January 2009 issue of the Harvard Business Review. (Subscription required.)
This comprehensive national study from CompassPoint surveys executive leadership at community-based nonprofits. The report provides data on executive turnover, compensation, career plans, retirement, and more, from information culled from nearly 2,000 surveys. It also identifies skills community-based leaders most want and need to develop professionally, and how they’re developing them.
(Jim Collins)
These short excerpts from the monograph Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking Is Not the Answer, published in 2005 by Jim Collins, briefly explores the flawed notion that becoming "more like a business" is the answer to becoming a great nonprofit organization. Highlights include a description of the Hedgehog Concept—the act of attaining clarity about how to produce long-term results—and describes where nonprofit leaders find it beneficial, and how having the right people on the bus is highly important in a nonprofit organization.
This 2008 survey provides insight into the growing trend of baby boomers (44 to 75 year olds) seeking "encore careers": careers in which they combine earning personal income with finding personal meaning, and making an impact, through the work they do. Highlights of the survey include the concerns they have about seeking encore careers, as well as the satisfaction and positive results those already in encore careers are experiencing.
This 2008 survey reflects on the nonprofit employer side of finding and hiring encore workers. Highlights include the benefits nonprofits find in their experiences working with encore workers, as well as the concerns some have in terms of employing late-career or recently retired workers.