Question: “We keep having so much leadership transition at key partner organizations. What advice do you have for mitigating the impact of these transitions?”
Answered by: Jennifer Splansky Juster, Executive Director, Collective Impact Forum:
Managing through leadership transitions at partner organizations is a challenge that collective impact initiatives often face. Leadership transitions can be tough as they can disrupt the continuity and trust built by a collaborative and can call into question the commitment of key organizations. So how can initiatives set themselves up for success, both in anticipation of and during the transition period?
While there is no perfect playbook, here are some tips!
Embed participation in organizational governance, not just in individual leaders. If a partner organization’s board or leadership team has formally committed to the collective impact initiative as part of its strategic plan, or signed a formal MOU committing to participation, leadership transitions become less destabilizing. The incoming leader inherits a commitment to the collective, not a personal agreement their predecessor made. Backbone teams can actively encourage this kind of executive commitment at each partner organization.
Build multi-year MOUs that survive individual signatories. If your collective uses MOUs or Letters of Commitment, shift toward institutional MOUs — signed at the board level if possible, with multi-year terms — that establish organizational commitment independent of who holds the executive role. Include language that explicitly addresses leadership transition and names a process for continuity.
Create an onboarding infrastructure for incoming leaders. The backbone team can create an onboarding package for all new participants in the collective. This onboarding package can include a short narrative of the initiative’s history and impact, a clear articulation of what participation has meant for that specific organization, data on shared outcomes, and an overview of the value and culture of the collective. It also can help to have another committed leader sit down with the new leader to walk through the onboarding package and serve as an “onboarding buddy” for the new participant … peer-to-peer credibility can often bolster the backbone team’s onboarding work.
Make the value proposition of participating in the collective clear. New leaders will likely ask: is this worth my organization’s time and resources? The backbone needs a compelling, data-supported answer, ideally in a short document that articulates what this organization has gained from participation, what shared outcomes have been achieved, and what contributions that organization has made to the work to date. This can make it easier for an incoming leader to say yes to remaining engaged.
Share stories of how participation has benefited the participating organization, beyond the collective outcomes. The collective’s metrics are important but may feel distant or abstract to a new leader who doesn’t yet know the work. Stories of benefit to their specific organization can help, such as how participating has expanded that organization’s reach because of improved coordination with others in the collective, that the partner secured funding because of the initiative’s credibility, or decisions that the organization has made because of what it learned from the shared metrics. If the backbone can collect and point to these stories, it can assist in making the case for continued commitment and engagement during moments of transition.
Diversify relationship depth at each partner organization. When the backbone’s primary relationship is with the executive director or a single senior leader, every transition can be a reset. To mitigate this, deliberately build relationships at several levels of the organization — with other leaders, the relevant program staff, or even board members. When an individual leader departs, you then have other people inside the organization who understand the collective impact initiative’s work, value it, and can brief the incoming leader with credibility.
Foster relationships across peer leaders. When partner organization leaders have genuine relationships with each other — not just with the backbone — the network becomes more self-reinforcing. A new leader who joins and quickly develops relationships with peer leaders across the initiative is far more likely to stay engaged than one whose only connection runs through the backbone. Structured peer learning and convenings designed explicitly for relationship-building (not just work sessions) all can serve this function.
Finally: Name the disruption without dwelling on it. Leadership transitions can slow things down. It is ok to say so explicitly to your backbone team, your partners, and even your funders. You can acknowledge the disruption, be honest about what it means for near-term timelines, and use it as an opportunity to recommit to the work together.
Related Resources
Some resources that may be helpful to dive further into this topic are shared below:
10: A Guide for Building a Sustainable and Resilient Collaboration, resource from The Tamarack Institute
Welcome to the Party! Onboarding New Collaborative Partners, blog by Deb Halliday
Backbone Leadership Is Different: The Skills and Mindset Shifts Needed for Collective Impact, paper by Dominique Samari and Paul Schmitz
Exploring Backbone Staffing and Peer Support Models with United Way of Salt Lake, podcast discussion with the United Way of Salt Lake.
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