Dr. Fram's latest missive focuses on what he believes could be the correct qualities of a nonprofit CEO. See what you think. I've added my own thoughts in purple.
NONPROFIT BOARDS HIRE AND CEOs MUST ACT!
By: Eugene Fram Free Digital Image
Whenever the time is ripe to select a new nonprofit CEO, I think of the old joke that says “…every person looks for the perfect spouse… meanwhile, they get married.” By the same token, nonprofit board members seek perfection in a new ED/CEO– and find that they must “settle” for less. I am troubled both by the "joke" and the belief that a board must settle for less than who they seek. I believe that the realistic board doesn't settle but embraces the qualities they selects and decides what role each will play acknowledging a need to fill any gaps for the organization with another solution. But there are certain definitive attributes that are essential to his/her success in running the organization. With the pressures of increasingly slim budgets, fund development challenges and the difficulty of recruiting high quality employees, the 21st century ED/CEO must be action oriented and come equipped with at least a modicum of the following abilities: *
- Visionary: It’s all about the organization’s future. The ED/elect should bring or at least begin to cultivate a deep concept of where the nonprofit is, should be and what the trajectory should look like. He/she can do that by immersing himself in the mission field—reading widely and remaining in contact with regional and national leaders in the field. A state-of-the-art CEO should be available for consultation with colleagues with similar issues. Included in his span of vision are potential disruptions that might affect the organization– and how to help the board focus on and implement appropriate change. I believe that the ED must have a vision for how the organization can achieve what the board has deemed as ITS vision. The ED must also understand their role in managing toward this operational vision.
- Board Enabler: The new chief understands the limits of his/h operational responsibilities and the governance overview role required by the board. To build trusting relationships with the board, she/h realizes that transparency is key. Board relationships are just that: relational and transactional. A good ED gets it right on both counts.
- Fundraiser: The optimal fundraising relationship is a partnership between the CEO and the board. Board members must be alert to outside funding opportunities and the CEO, alert to funding opportunities from sources related to the mission field. Once an opportunity is identified, the CEO and the board work closely together to develop a proposal and to meet with the donor(s). If the organization has a development director, the person filling the position must be brought into the discussion at an early stage. I have not seen many board members who are alert to what outside funding opportunities - they believe this to be the ED's job. I also have seen few board members work on developing a proposal. Board does best in setting vision and mission and approving agreed upon strategies and do best when they recognize an ED's proposal as moving these components forward in addition to participating in asks when there is a match.
- Communicator: To be organizationally successful, the Board and CEO must be in a position to interact with a variety of stakeholders: government officials, donors, vendors, clients and their surrogates, foundations, etc. One area in which many nonprofit CEOs need improvement is communications with the business community. It goes beyond simply joining the Rotary or Chamber groups. Nonprofit CEOs must have rudimentary knowledge of many businesses so they can interact intelligently with business leaders they encounter in development efforts. This information can be about specific organizations they are approaching or general knowledge acquired from perusing publications like Business Week or The Wall Street Journal. Sure, if businesses are a source of support?
- Spokesperson: Although some suggest that the volunteer president must be the spokesperson for the nonprofit, I suggest that the Executive Director/CEO must hold this position for several reasons.
- If a volunteer becomes a president/CEO, he/s may acquire some liabilities that other directors don’t have. The executive director must be the CEO. Some nonprofits have given the chief operating person the title of president/ceo and the senior board person, board chair. This eliminates confusion that often surrounds the ED title when contacting business or government officials.
- The volunteer president does not work in the organization daily and does not understand its nuances as well as the CEO.
- In a crisis situation, the media may contact board members. It should be clearly understood that the CEO is the only person to comment to the media.
- In ceremonial situations, it may be appropriate for the president to be a spokesperson.
- The CEO needs to become the “face” of the organization because volunteer presidents come and go, some annually. Um, ok to a point but I think the Chair and CEO should take opportunity that matches best for one or the other or both.
- Team Builder: She/h needs to build a strong management team, some of whom, over time, may become capable of becoming an Executive Director. The CEO, as head of the management team, needs to be sure all staff are performing well with some being bench strength to move to higher positions. Strong management team AND strong manager.
- Tone Setter: The CEO needs to set an ethical tone where everybody feels free to express their suggestions for improving the organization. This tone, in various ways, must also be communicated to all stakeholders by the Executive Director. OK
- Performance Monitor: Hopefully the board has a rigorous and fair system for evaluating the CEO and the organization, and the values of this system are embedded in staff evaluations. OK
* http://nynmedia.com/news/lucky-13-what-should-we-expect-from-a-nonprofit-ceo