Skip to main content

Make a Clean Exit

Image
By
WHEN AN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DECIDES TO LEAVE she walks a particularly tricky tightrope from the time she announces her intentions until she flicks off the lights in her office for the last time.  The length of the tightrope is one issue:  some believe that once you announce you need to be on your way as quickly as you can engineer it; others feel it must take several months in order to tie up loose ends or participate in an overlapping transition period.  Then there are a handful of others who announce a year or so ahead of their intended departure for reasons that may have everything to do with finishing milestone capital projects or completing major gift solicitations (and these folks more often than not it seems are announcing their retirements, not moves to new organizations).  So far this year,  colleagues of mine have used (are using) all three scenarios.   
Regardless of the length of the tightrope, the tricky part involves the emotions that come with a pending departure and how they're handled.  Once a person decides to leave, his head is in a different place -- he's made a critical mental transition. (Note to Boards: not a good idea to try to talk a person out of leaving who's already made up his mind to do so.  If you're successful, won't there be just the tiniest bit of 'what if?' hanging over everything?)  Once you've announced, it can be really tough to remain engaged with the people and the work -- the folks and projects you never really liked you might be inclined to ignore because they'll soon be someone else's problems.  The projects you began you will now leave unfinished so you may be inclined to move them into the filing cabinet or, perhaps, the wastebasket.
Or, you might worry that all your lynchpin initiatives -- your vision -- will get dumped by your successor.  You might spend your final weeks and days figuring out how to prevent that. (Note to You: if you haven't been able to institutionalize a guiding vision and values in your organization, you won't likely do it on your way out.)
As much as your departure is an opportunity for you, it is also an opportunity for the organization you are leaving.  It's an organization's opportunity to reassess and recalibrate without the pressures of personality (yours) or of loyalty (to you).  It can be freeing and unnerving at the same time (remember, that's how you felt when you made your decision to leave?).
My advice about departing is make it a clean break.  
  1. Put as much of the big, hairy stuff to bed so that the new E.D. isn't surprised (there'll be enough surprises without finding out that your grant funding is in jeopardy because you failed to sign off on the final report before you left).
  2. Don't allow yourself to be a sounding board for unhappy staffers or board members once the new boss is hired.  What good does that do except fuel division?  Or are you the type that enjoys a little organizational arson?
  3. Stay out of the picture in deference to your successor's need to establish herself.  That means:  don't become a volunteer, take on special projects or a consulting role, or offer to serve on any committees unless expressly invited by your successor.
  4. Do not serve on the governing board of your former institution.  It's weird -- and it can send really bad vibes to your successor because it elevates you to a commanding position over him.
  5. Refrain from maintaining an office at your former institution (see #3).  It's also confusing to many -- some will figure that since you still have an office, you must still be in charge.
  6. Don't drop in for a visit with your former staff unless expressly invited and you've gotten an OK from your successor (this opens the door to being a sounding board - #2).
Once you decide to leave, it's not about you anymore. 

Image:  Untitled from jagosaurus
Labels:

Comments

Jweitz said…
OMG! Thank you. I knew this, but it is exactly what I needed to read the day before I announce my departure of a position of 8 years. If I have served the organization well, the infrastructure should be there to carry on without me. The angst right now is more on my end, but your words speak volumes.
August 3, 2011 at 1:07 AM
Anne W. Ackerson said…
Thanks so much for your comment! And good luck to you.
August 4, 2011 at 8:37 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Would Make You Turn Down an Invitation to Join a Board?

By
THERE'S SO MUCH WRITTEN ABOUT RECRUITING BOARD TALENT, I thought I'd spend a little time thinking about it from the prospect's point of view. Clearly, there are boards where the line is long to get on them. But what would make you turn down an invitation? Here's a short list to get the conversation started: 1. You've had no prior exposure to the organization. Your immediate reaction is "did you pull my name out of a hat?" (Is that lady in the picture the head of the Nominating Committee?) Seems as though there must be a hidden agenda at work (like you're rich and once you become a board member you'll pour all your resources into the organization) or the organization is simply looking for any warm body to fill a seat. 2. The organization doesn't have a good reputation. There's something to be said for street cred. An organization that's floundering may be strengthened by your participation or you may find yourself sucked into...
16 comments
Read more

Three Most Important Nonprofit Executive Director Soft Skills

By
If you were asked to narrow down the list of executive director qualifications to the three most important, which ones would you identify? Would the list consist of soft skills, hard skills, or some combination? Would your list be based on the great ED you are or one you've worked for, or would it be your wish list for the ED you haven't been fortunate yet to work for?  This was an assignment in my recent online class in leadership and administration for the American Association for State and Local History . I asked the class to review three-five advertisements for museum directors and analyze what these listings intimated about the organization’s past experience, current focus and goals, and future aspirations. Then, I asked the class to identify what they consider to be the three most important qualifications they would look for in a director. (Okay, so there's more than three if you dissect my three big groups.)  Soft skills outnumbered hard skills, although ...
28 comments
Read more

What to Do With Dead Wood on Your Board?

By
MY POLL ASKED WHAT ONE BOARD DYNAMIC YOU would change this year and the top response was "remove dead wood". For my first post on this topic I'd like to start with two obvious facts: 1) most boards have some non-performing or under-performing board members AND 2) most boards already have mechanisms in place for removing dead wood...or at least the non-attending dead wood. Those mechanisms are found in the Bylaws and perhaps in a board job description. Few boards, it seems, invoke these mechanisms, mostly out of fear of offending the offender. We end up side-stepping the dead wood, dancing around it, ignoring it, wishing mightily it would go away. Oh, and complaining about it. So, even though the dead wood isn't doing much, it's sapping the energy and focus of many others. (There must be a Law of Physics about this!) Where to start and how to implement? While removing dead wood is not the most pleasant of responsibilities, it does not need to be -- and s...
2 comments
Read more