Building Interim Trust and Transparency after the Hard to Follow Executive

In this article, I shared my opinions on whether or not to place a board member into an interim role after a departure (hint: the answer is no). In this article, we’re going to dive into what happens next, once you’ve hired an Executive Interim. 

In the case of a sudden and surprising departure of a long-term leader in the company, organizations may be dealing with a situation that BoardSource calls “the hard to follow executive.” 

Often this situation happens after the retirement or death of a company founder, but it doesn’t only apply to company founders–a hard to follow executive may be a “highly entrepreneurial executive” or a “long-tenured leader” with seven plus years in their role. 

These leaders and executives hold an awful lot of knowledge about their role and its intersections within the organization, and/or they may have had an enormous stake in the company’s vision. That departure often brings incredible stress because the organization's culture, performance expectations, relationships,  and the overall foundation can be very precarious and at risk. 

The first priority after a hard to follow executive leaves the organization is to maintain stability. Even the most stable of organizations that have been offering services in the community for some time and have an impeccable reputation in their community can crumble if an executive transition is not navigated properly.

This is also a powerful opportunity in this interim space to rethink roles altogether. One of the biggest challenges during this time is the balance between keeping everything operating as usual, but also taking the opportunity to rethink organizational structure and hierarchy, which is sometimes once in a lifetime for an organization to really look at its foundation in a time when change could be made.

A Culture of Trust and Transparency

Key to any interim leadership is building a culture of trust with team members–and this trust needs to start right away. 

Hold space for the exiting leader’s legacy. Ask questions during information interviews with staff and board members about what they appreciated about that leader. This is especially sensitive in scenarios of death, illness, or a surprising termination. Staff usually appreciate an opportunity to process their difficult feelings of grief around the loss in the company. 

Trust moves at the speed of a relationship–you can't have continued success and impact in the community if there's not trust. And so one of the things that you'll want to look out for if you need to bring an interim into your space is that they are well equipped to build trust quickly and transparently.

Transparency is also paramount in interim leadership scenarios. It’s important to be upfront about the timeline of the interim period and its impact on the team. Take the time to explain why you’re making certain decisions, and try to anticipate what the team’s questions and worries will be.

If you plan on making a new hire quickly and are already starting the search for a new executive, tell the team that, so they know what to expect. Let team members know if they will need to be involved in the interviewing process or if their managers or other executives will be less available during the hiring process. 

If you plan on having a longer interim period, explain that to the team as well. There are plenty of reasons to have an extended interim period after a departure. You may want to take the time to do a strategic deep-dive and find opportunities to innovate, or perhaps you want to launch a new fundraising campaign and want the interim leader to oversee it from start to finish. 

Another thing to keep in mind, especially as you are thinking about bringing on a professional interim executive director, is to make sure that you are establishing boundaries. Your professional interim should come in with their own ability to hold strong boundaries around relationship building and how much access team members will have with them. They will also need to be able to enforce and uphold boundaries that are appropriate with the board of directors and the staff, creating channels of communication that are consistently maintained. 

Katie’s Way

In a previous interim role at a nonprofit that supported underprivileged women in building their careers, I was asking questions about what things that staff members most appreciated about their leader, Katie, who had unexpectedly passed away. And I noticed a consistent answer kept coming up as I was doing one on one interviews. 

When Katie styled a client, she would take photos of many different ways the clothing items could be made into different outfits. She sent the clients away with their complementary clothes along with these styling photos to help them remember what made them feel their best. 

Another thing that kept coming up is her relationship inside the community and her desire to put her own goals and aspirations aside in service of the mission of the organization. Employees, board members, the general public–even the mayor of the city–all said that Katie was legend. She was selfless and went above and beyond the mission to ensure that everyone had what they needed. This included support like child care, bus passes, connections to job opportunities, and more–and not just for clients, but for community partners and other nonprofits too.

As an organization, we decided to honor and memorialize some of those practices, and we named it Katie's Way to honor her legacy. 

Human Centered Response

In any interim scenario, there may be emotional reactions running the gamut from anger, abandonment, depression, grief, and more. 

All of these human emotions come into play when we think about the continuity of services and your team showing up in their best ability to continue doing the work. Depending on the culture of your organization and the values that you espouse, it might be a good idea to consider holding some specific sessions and bringing in someone that's an expert on workplace grief or workplace culture.

There may be employment benefits that your team can take advantage of, such as access to therapy or other wellness benefits. Allowing the team to express their very human emotions in the face of this stressful period goes a long way toward creating a culture that people want to stay in for the long term. 

When interviewing potential interim candidates, ask questions about how they build trust, maintain transparency, and communicate within the organizations they lead. Ensuring a cultural fit is one of the best ways to start the trust and transparency process on the right foot. 

Do You Have a Plan in Place? 

One thing that nonprofit leaders can do today to prepare for future workplace transitions is to have a conversation with the executive leadership team and talk through what it might look like if the organization needed to bring in someone on an interim basis for a short term absence, whether expected or unexpected..

What does it look like when the current CEO goes on vacation, for example? I can hear you now … “Naomi, our ED or CEO hasn’t been on a vacation in years” (this is problematic AND that’s a topic for another time). What’s the plan when your executive leader is out of the office for a week or two at a time? 

Explore, get creative, and think about what the organization would do if it was four weeks instead of two. What if someone needs to go away for a work project based sabbatical or a rest sabbatical? What if it was six months? A year? 

It's most important that the team, the nonprofit staff and not the board of directors, are the ones that build an interim succession plan. The board of directors can be notified that it exists, but as we’ve discussed, the board does not manage the operational day-to-day of the organization. 

This might feel overwhelming if you’re only newly starting to think about succession planning and proactively preparing for executive leadership absences. It doesn’t have to be difficult though, and I can support you with the additional capacity to get this plan put in place.

Take Action to Support Your Organization

If you’re ready to discuss your organization’s plan for absences, reach out and schedule some time to discuss how I can support you in boosting your organizational health. 

Sign up for the Leaving Well Newsletter. 

Listen to Episode 51 of the Leaving Well Podcast: Interim Executive Leadership and Leaving Well