Why We Don't Want To Be Executive Directors When We Grow Up

"One has to wonder what this winery does to its cabernet to make it so undrinkable. This wine has an intense vegetative, barnyard aroma and very unusual flavors."

- Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Last month, I blogged on what we need to do now to close the nonprofit leadership gap and how executive directors can develop staff internally to take on leadership roles in the future. Then last week, Jessica Stannard-Friel had a great piece in onPhilanthropy.com called "What’s Driving Young Professionals from the Nonprofit Sector?" The article was a great follow-up to an earlier piece on future nonprofit leadership that Jessica did. By now, it's pretty clear that the young professionals already in the nonprofit field are reluctant to take on executive director positions: 40% of the survey's respondents indicated they were neutral or thought it unlikely that they would ever serve in such a role. The question we need to answer is obvious.

Why don't we want to become executive directors when we grow up?

All of the data available thus far suggests that there is a significant problem or problems in the nonprofit sector that makes the concept of leadership so undesirable. I think we all would agree that our sector does, indeed, have "unusual flavors", but many of the characteristics that distinguish nonprofits from corporations and government are the very reasons people are attracted to the work in the first place. Consider that people join the staff of a nonprofit because of a strong agreement and support of a particular mission, an advantage that the private and government sector doesn't have. Yet all the research that has been done to examine nonprofit retention issues points to an inconvenient truth: Nonprofits can attract workers, but cannot retain them as well as the private and government sector can. In fact, a survey conducted by Paul Light in 1999 revealed that only 44 percent of recent college graduates who were hired to work in nonprofit organizations were still working in them after 3 years, compared to 51 percent of graduates who went to work in the private sector and 57 percent who began careers in government.

But let's get back to the reasons young professionals don't want to make the leap to executive directorship. The survey respondents cited three important barriers:

1. Long working hours
2. The demands of funders
3. The demands of boards of directors

What can organizations do to mitigate these barriers? Are there ways around any of this? I remain hopeful that we can approach these problems as I have seen several promising practices that organizations are currently using in each of these areas. Let me know some of your additional solutions in the comments!

Some Promising Practices

Long working hours: Try to outsource to consultants any work that doesn't require core staff. Delegate! Cultivate and encourage a culture of work/life balance within your organization. Set an example by leaving as close to 5pm as possible every day, and over time, it will set the rhythm for your work. Try not to schedule meetings in the late afternoons and limit your attendance at social events held in the evening. Create a "fun-day" policy by which all staff leaves for the weekend by 3pm on Fridays. Learn to say "no" to all non-essential tasks that are not directly related to your organization's core work. Constantly evaluate things as either "nice to do" or "must do".

The demands of funders: Never chase money for your programs - only do the work that is within your mission. Hire qualified fundraising staff with backgrounds in evaluation and financial management to meet reporting demands. Never promise more than you have the capacity to deliver. Always manage expectations when possible.

The demands of boards of directors: Engage in peer mentoring with other executive directors around board issues. Make your conversations and interactions focused on problem-solving and resource-sharing. Cultivate a culture of open communication with your board. Train other staff to support the board and committees. Again, always manage expectations.

The bottom line: Until we can effectively address these challenges within our organizations, we can best believe no one will want to step up and take over the reigns of this country's most essential nonprofits.


Image Credit: Kiborama