Executive Transition Resources

An executive transition is a critical time for a nonprofit. It can bring both uncertainty and opportunity to an agency’s future. As a growing number of baby boomers near retirement in the non-profit sector, greater attention has been given to executive turnovers, with an increasing number of publications and services devoted to this area. 

Articles & Reports on Executive Transition

• A Succession Planning Primer
• Do You Need an Interim Executive Director?
• Five Essential Facts for Weathering a Change in Leadership

Links on Executive Transition

Web Resources

• Annie E. Casey Foundation
  Offers links to executive transitions material that can be downloaded in a PDF format, including:
  • The Nonprofit Executive Leadership and Transitions Survey 2004
    Provides results from a web based survey of over two thousand executive directors from nonprofit organizations
  • Executive Transitions Monograph Series 
    A series of monographs devoted to executive transition management, including:
    • Capturing the Power of Leadership Change: Using Executive Transitions Management to Strengthen Organizational Capacity. (2004, Volume 1).
    • Interim Executive Directors: The Power in the Middle. (2005, Volume 2).
    • Founder Transitions: Creating Good Endings and New Beginnings: A Guide for Executive Directors and Boards. (2005, Volume 3).
    • Up Next: Generation Change and the Leadership of Nonprofit Organizations. (2005, Volume 4).
    • Staying Engaged, Stepping Up: Succession planning and executive transition management for nonprofit boards of directors. (2006, Volume 5).
• CompassPoint
  • Wolfred, Tim, and Jeanne Peters. 2001. Daring to Lead: Nonprofit Executive Directors and Their Work Experience.
  • Wolfred, Tim. Winter 2002. “Stepping Up: A Board's Challenge in Leadership Transition”. The Nonprofit Quarterly. Volume 9, Issue 4.
• Greater Worcester Community Foundation
  • Randall, Gail, and Suzanne Maas. 2004. Executive Director Tenure and Transition in Southern New England.
• NeighborWorks
  • Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation. August 1998. Managing Executive Transitions. NeighborWorks Publication.
    A handbook developed from the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation’s Community Development Leadership Project; offers recommendations and resources for organizations experiencing executive transitions
• TransitionGuides
  Provides a general overview of executive transitions, offers a resource section with links to articles and book suggestions on the topic of executive transitions and produces an e-newsletter, TransitionLeader

Publications

• Brinckerhoff, Peter. Generations: The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit. Fieldstone Alliance.
  Discusses implications and offers advice on the Baby Boomers’ retirement from the nonprofit sector
• The Nonprofit Quarterly. Winter 2002. “Departing? Arriving? Surviving and Thriving: Lessons for Seasoned and New Executives.” Volume 9, Issue 4.
  This issue is sold out, but a compendium of articles from the issue is available for purchase.
• Karen Gaskins Jones. Spring 2007. “Preparing an organization to sustain capable leadership.” The Nonprofit Quarterly, Volume 14, Issue 1.

Videos on Executive Transition

• What is the difference between executive succession planning and executive transition planning?
• What is the difference between executive transition and executive search?
• How should managers and staff plan for an executive transition at their nonprofit?
• What are the priorities for a new executive director’s first three months?
• When does it make sense to bring in an interim excecutive director?
• What actions should the departing executive director take to support a beneficial transition?
• What are the top three actions a board should take when the executive director resigns?

TSNE Services

TSNE’s Executive Transitions Program helps you find just the right person to lead your non-profit organization in Connecticut, Massachusetts or Rhode Island. We’ll work closely with your board and staff to prepare the organization for positive change.