The best way for nonprofits to address and prepare for the nonprofit leadership deficit over the coming years is to change our own ways of thinking and operating so that we can attract and retain new leaders. This is not an unsolvable challenge, this is not a crisis, rather it is a challenge that nonprofits have to be willing to face head-on and ask some hard questions about how we can change the ways we’ve always done things. Our old ways aren’t working, and in fact are contributing to the reluctance of young leaders to take on leadership positions in nonprofits. I just heard some interesting observations along these lines from the Bridgespan Group via a podcast featuring Tom Tierney on Social Innovation Conversations:
- The growth of the nonprofit sector is fueling a demand for leadership talent. This demand is increasing more rapidly than leadership talent is available, creating a leadership “deficit”.
- Nonprofits have to recruit outside talent for leadership positions 2/3 of the time. In contrast, the business only recruits from outside the organization 1/3 time. We need to do a better job of developing leadership from within.
- The best way to organizational capacity is having the right person in the right job – not fundraising, not programs.
- Nonprofits should make creating a superb leadership team a top priority. Half of the battle is simply asking the question, “how can we build a better leadership team?
- Boards need to embrace organization-building as one of their responsibilities and think about succession planning, leadership, etc.
Tom tells it like it is. The answer to the leadership deficit lies within our own organizations. If nonprofits can find new ways of working, they will find new leaders to do the work.
Thanks to the Maria and the NP2020 Facebook Group for the link!
