LKD Consulting Group

May this coming year be a canvas of beautiful moments, a tapestry woven with joy, love, and fulfillment. May you find the courage to chase your dreams and the strength to overcome any challenges that come your way.

Your nonprofit CEO has resigned. Oh, no! What to do? It’s time to activate your succession plan. What, you don’t have one (more on that in my next article). Here are some steps your Board can take to address the situation:
1. Accept the resignation: The Board should officially accept the CEO's resignation and express gratitude for their contributions to the organization. Ensure that all necessary legal and administrative procedures are followed.
2. Appoint an interim CEO: In the absence of a permanent CEO, it's important to appoint an interim CEO to maintain continuity and leadership within the organization. The interim CEO can be an existing senior staff member, an external candidate with the required experience and qualifications or sometimes even a qualified board member.
3. Activate the emergency succession plan: If your organization has an emergency succession plan in place, follow the procedures outlined to address the sudden departure of the CEO. This plan should provide guidance on identifying interim leadership, establishing clear roles and responsibilities, and ensuring the organization's stability during the transition period.
4. Assess immediate needs: Evaluate the immediate needs and priorities of the organization during the transition period. Determine any urgent tasks or decisions that need to be addressed promptly, such as ongoing projects, financial management, or staff concerns. Delegate responsibilities to the interim CEO and relevant staff members to ensure smooth operations.
5. Communicate with stakeholders: Transparent and timely communication is crucial during a CEO transition. Inform your staff, board members, donors, and other key stakeholders about the resignation and the steps being taken to ensure a smooth transition. Address any concerns or questions they may have and provide reassurance regarding the organization's continued commitment to its mission.
6. Establish a search committee: Initiate the process of forming a CEO search committee responsible for conducting a comprehensive search for a new CEO. Define the composition and responsibilities of the committee, ensuring representation from the board, staff, and relevant stakeholders. It is vital to identify the essential qualities, skills, and experience required for the future CEO. Update the job description and establish the salary range that works within your budget and fits with the requirements and current market.
7. Develop a CEO transition plan: Work with the interim CEO and the search committee to develop a comprehensive CEO transition plan. This plan should outline the key milestones, timeline, and activities involved in the search process for the new CEO. It should also address knowledge transfer, communication strategies, and any additional considerations specific to your organization's needs.
8. Engage a consultant or an executive search firm if your board doesn’t have the bandwidth: Depending on the resources and expertise available within your organization, you may consider bringing in an outside consultant to manage the search process or engaging an executive search firm to assist with the CEO recruitment process. Consultants and search firms have experience in identifying and evaluating suitable candidates, streamlining the search process, and ensuring a successful appointment.
9. Evaluate and update governance practices: Take this opportunity to assess and strengthen your organization's governance practices. Review the CEO succession planning process, consider any lessons learned from the transition, and make necessary improvements to ensure a smoother transition in the future.

Each organization is unique, and the specific actions taken may vary depending on your circumstances. It's important to involve key stakeholders and seek professional advice as needed to successfully navigate the CEO transition.

As a reminder, nonprofit organizations rely heavily on their CEOs to provide vision, strategic direction, and operational guidance. However, the tenure of a CEO is finite, and their departure can create a big hole in the organization. Unexpected departures and crisis can occur. To mitigate risks associated with leadership transitions, nonprofit organizations and their Boards should prioritize CEO succession planning and have or develop a comprehensive plan. Get started now!

For help with your succession plan or recruiting process, please schedule a free 30 minute consultation at https://calendly.com/lkdconsulting, email me at [email protected] or call me at 305.790.6404.

Today, we are celebrating the strength, determination, and resilience of women everywhere. Happy International Women's Day!

I am thankful for you! Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving full of gratitude and love!!

Do you have a proper new board member orientation process in place? If not, you need an effective board member orientation process to get your new members up and running. Here are just a few best practices to conduct a successful board member orientation:

1. Generate a New Member Welcome Packet
Start your onboarding process by creating a new board member welcome packet. This should be presented to them in advance of the first board meeting. It allows them plenty of time to read, review, and come up with relevant questions before the meeting. The following, at a minimum, should be included in your packet:

*Background history, success, and accomplishments of the organization
*Roles and responsibilities of the board directors
*List of the current board members and other key staff
*Financial reports, including the approved budget for the year
*Audit reports, bylaws, and amendment rules and procedures
*Minutes from previous board meetings
*List of committees and their members
*Calendar and schedules for upcoming meetings and events

Consider issuing a binder or board handbook containing all this information, or you can go paperless and provide digital documents and files for easy access for your board at anytime from anywhere.

2. Acquaint New Members with the Organization
Apart from the items above, you should help the new members to understand how the organization runs, its processes, culture, and the roles and responsibilities of each staff member. Each member should know exactly what is expected of them and how to go about their duties and responsibilities.

For example, they should be aware of the organization’s mission, purpose, and policies, such as conflict of interest disclosure and whistleblower policies. Whether through consensus or voting, let them know how the decisions are made in the organization. Remember, all this is in addition to helping them understand their duties and responsibilities as board members.

Be sure to mention the organization’s daily activities and the framework of operation. You can also cover other staff’s specific roles and duties, like the treasurer, secretary, and administrators. Strongly encourage them to visit your sites or programs to understand firsthand what it is you do and who you serve. This information, plus the new board member welcome packet, can serve as your board orientation checklist.

3. Assign Each New Member a ‘Board Buddy’
You don’t want it to take several months, a year, or two before a new board member develops the courage and confidence to express their views at the board meeting. Instead, you want them to instantly hit the ground running and contribute in meetings and to the organization.

For this reason, consider requesting a veteran board member to act as the board buddy or mentor to the newbies. This is an easy ask and is a minimal time commitment. They can interact with the new member 1-on-1, answer their questions, and follow up to ensure they navigate the initial board sessions smootly and seamlessly.

For help with your board orientation process, please schedule a free 30 minute consultation at https://calendly.com/lkdconsulting, email me at [email protected] or call me at 305.790.6404.

With just over two months left in this year where are you at with your strategic plan? We’ve all heard the saying, “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Yet, many nonprofits overlook the importance of strategic planning to the success of their missions. Where are you at With a strategic plan in place, nonprofits can have the greatest possible impact on their communities, maximize their fundraising dollars, and ensure they stay true to their missions.

The strategic planning process helps an organization clarify its mission and goals, make informed decisions about current realities, anticipate and respond to change, target spending appropriately, and reshape programs, fundraising and other aspects of operations to be more effective.

Don’t make the mistake that many nonprofits make which is to complete the strategic plan and toss it into a drawer. A nonprofit strategic plan should be considered a fluid plan or a living document which can and should be modified around changing circumstances.

It’s helpful for nonprofits to break down the strategic planning process into the following five steps:

Complete a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis
Decide on Your Nonprofit’s Goals
Get Input from Key Stakeholders
Make Every Goal a SMART ( Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Time-related ) Goal
Execute the Strategic Plan

Creating a strategic plan is only the first step toward achieving success and sustainability for your nonprofit. The most important step and perhaps the most difficult to manage is its implementation. The organizations that have learned to “live the plan” will build their nonprofits through a series of well-developed strategic plans. Those who don’t plan, or plan but don’t execute, will often experience slow to no growth.

For help with your startegic planning needs, please schedule a free 30 minute consultation at https://calendly.com/lkdconsulting, email me at [email protected] or call me at 305.790.6404.

Everyone’s talking about it, everyone has an opinion on “quiet quitting”, and many organizations are facing it. “Quiet quitting” stems from avoiding meaningful conversations upwards, laterally, and downwards. Stop looking at the spreadsheet for a moment look at the people. Get curious about the reality of working on the front and middle lines. How much unwanted turnover do you have? What is the rate of absenteeism? Where are you short on resources, including staffing? Put yourself in your managers’ and your employees’ shoes. Ask your mid-level to tell you how many of the salaried employees are working overtime without a bonus or without pay.

Marlene Chism. author of "From Conflict to Courage: How to Stop Avoiding and Start Leading" writes that the antidote to “quiet quitting” is to face the issues head on — to stop avoiding and start leading. She shared her ten questions to get a meaningful conversation started.

1. Are our decisions aligned with our stated mission?
2. Do we see people as cogs in a wheel or as valued partners?
3. When do we withhold resources to cut costs?
4. Are we only looking at the spreadsheet and not the entire picture?
5. What is the connection between turnover and burnout?
6. Do we offer leadership development to our chosen leaders?
7. Are managers managing up but not managing down?
8. What is our definition of performance?
9. Is behavior part of performance in our organization?
10. Do employees feel they have a voice and a choice?

If someone had the courage to start the conversation perhaps we could stop “quiet quitting,” quiet firing and all the other forms of avoidance that contribute to workplace conflict.

For help with your talent recruitment needs, please schedule a free 30 minute consultation at https://calendly.com/lkdconsulting, email me at [email protected] or call me at 305.790.6404.

Sam Walton's rules of business, posted on the Walmart museum wall. I particularly like "Listen to everyone in your company". Which one resonates with you?

• Commit to your business.
• Share your profits with your associates.
• Motivate your partners.
• Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
• Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
• Celebrate your successes.
• Listen to everyone in your company.
• Exceed your customers’ expectations.
• Control your expenses better than your competition.
• Swim upstream.

“Given one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution.”

—attributed to Albert Einstein

The first step to designing an effective strategy for your organization is to develop a clear problem statement.

Life is made of precious moments. All we have to do is celebrate these everyday!