When Does an Emerging Nonprofit Leader Emerge?

Someone recently said to me: ‘Rosetta, you do so much professional development, don’t you think you’re ready for the next level now?’ Then, one of my mentors said that she believes I’m ready to lead a small nonprofit since I have more experience than many of the executive directors did when they founded their organizations. And I hadn’t thought of it that way. As I get ready to do my week in residency at Columbia’s Middle Management Program in January, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I will determine when I’m ready to assume a greater leadership position in the sector.

Put simply, when does an emerging leader emerge?

The advice I gave to participants on my recent webinar presentation was that you’re on your way if you’ve mastered these areas:

A clear area of expertise
Strategic, long-term thinking
Strong writing & communications ability
Organizational skills
Managing projects from start to finish
Strong interpersonal & supervisory skills

So what do you do when you can check all of those items on the list? Isn’t there something else? A few months ago, a funder said to me, “the best skills come from experience managing people and leading a nonprofit, not from educational programs”. Well, I’ve done both, though more on the education side. So maybe I am ready to step it up and try a challenging new leadership role with more people management, but where? I’d love to be a Deputy Director of the organization I work for now, but unfortunately that position does not exist. If I want to move my career and leadership to the next level and manage a staff, etc. I would have to make moves. It sucks, but this is the dilemma for most nonprofits, since our structures don’t really allow for upward mobility, especially in smaller organizations. A 2006 Guidestar article, Shortage Decade: Where Will the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leaders Come From? points out these depressing facts:

According to a recent survey released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, fewer than 15 percent of small nonprofits with zero to five staff have deputy director positions, and under half even have program manager or director positions.

There are currently few opportunities for nonprofit employees in their 30s to take on significant leadership or management challenges; there are few middle management positions in general and older, more experienced baby boomers seek many executive director positions.

Young people interested in the sector are trying to compete for these jobs by getting nonprofit certificates and graduate management degrees. The number of these types of programs has blossomed in the past few years. Unfortunately, these degrees and certificates are unlikely to equal the credibility that many boomers have amassed from their longer work experience.

So what’s an ambitious young nonprofit professional to do? Right now, my solution is twofold:

1) Look within my organization for stretch assignments to help me grow, so I’ll be that much more ready when the perfect leadership opportunity becomes available.

2) Serve as a productive board member on the two boards on which I sit – DC Creative Writing Workshop and DC Central Kitchen.

As for my current stretch assignment at my organization, one of the things I have been doing the past couple of months is organizing a series of educational events and implementing the beginning stages of a new leadership program we’ll be rolling out next year. It’s great for me because it breaks up the monotony of the other work I do, and also allows me to use three of my five signature strengths: love of learning; creativity, ingenuity, and originality; judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness. Now mind you, neither one of these new responsibilities is in my job description, but creating and managing these projects allows me to utilize my strategic thinking, organizational, and management skills all at once.

And that’s exactly the kind of experience I will no doubt draw upon when it’s time to me to emerge.

Photo by majamarko

Michele

Rosetta, I think that you’re stretch assignment strategy using your signature strengths is a really good one. When I was in my 20s and really dying to take on “higher level” jobs, there weren’t a lot of options available to me, in part because I was considered too young for the part. What helped me–and has continued to help–is for me to think about my career as a series of interesting projects. Yes, part of the reason to move up is for the status and salary increase. But I know you and part of it is simply that you’re looking for new challenges and new ways to use your creativity and talents. That can happen in a lot of ways, not just through your organization or your current role (as you obviously know).

My point is that you’re modeling something really important–keep seeking the assignments that will stretch and build your skills, even if you’re not in the position to move up. These will help you move on, but they also keep you engaged with the work and your profession.

Great post!