Succession Planning
We bring practical, people-centered methodology that honors your organization's unique culture while ensuring continuity of mission.
Leadership transitions are the most pivotal – and sometimes stressful - moments in a nonprofit's life cycle, and present opportunities to strengthen mission alignment, deepen board engagement, and position the organization for its next chapter. Too often, executive succession is treated as a crisis to manage rather than a natural milestone that holds opportunity and potential for leverage.
We partner with nonprofit boards and leadership teams to transform succession planning from a reactive scramble into a strategic process that builds organizational resilience. Whether you're an Executive Director planning your departure, a board preparing for an unexpected transition, or a leadership team looking years ahead, we help you navigate succession with clarity, intention, and confidence, and the full engagement of your community.
We bring practical, people-centered methodology that honors your organization's unique culture while ensuring continuity of mission. Engagements can be tailored to your specific needs, timeline, and budget, but typical scope of services includes:
Facilitation of alignment sessions to affirm the organization’s mission, vision, theory of change and related strategic plan.
Reviewing current and forecasted organization structures, roles, relationships and how mission delivery and programming occur now, and potentially in the future where appropriate.
Understanding key leadership roles and taking stock of the overall responsibilities, relationships and knowledge base required of these roles.
Developing a point of view of potential staff members who could be successors for these critical roles should they become vacated.
Gaining insight as to where there may be gaps in ability and readiness for the various potential successors and developing a plan for closing or bridging these gaps.
Assessing potential “flight risk” for various strong performers and potential successors and developing an intentional approach to promote staff retention.
Aligning around an arc of internal and external communication activities re: the forthcoming leadership transition.
Articulating the competencies, skills, and lived and professional experience you would like to see reflected in your next leader.
Designing the purpose, structure, and membership of a search committee (if desired).
Surfacing key priorities and conditions for success for the new leader.
Capturing the above in a coherent succession plan document that is then held confidentially between the ED/CEO and Board as the organization’s continuity plan.
