Succession planning: a dialogue for leadership continuity
Date
2017
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Nonprofit organizations, including cultural institutions such as public gardens, typically practice succession planning less frequently than organizations within the for-profit sector. Despite research that indicates a significant number of nonprofit Executive Directors will retire in the near future and that public gardens arguably assume one of the highest levels of risk in the nonprofit sector due to differences in generational workforce trends, the extent to which succession planning is practiced within the American Public Gardens Association (the Association) membership is unknown. Therefore, the objective of this research is to understand the extent to which succession planning is practiced within the Association membership. ☐ This research utilizes two strategies in the collection of relevant data: quantitative and qualitative. In the quantitative strategy, a Screening Tool was distributed to Association membership leaders to identify research participants and gather a baseline of data regarding succession plans among public gardens. ☐ The qualitative strategy involved three methods. The first method, Interviews, was conducted to provide greater insight to the responses of the Screening Tool and to gain an understanding as to why an Association member garden did or did not have a succession plan. The second method, a Focus Group, was conducted to understand the perception of succession planning as it does or does not relate to public gardens; the position of not having a formal plan including, but not limited to, barriers or reservations on approaching the subject; and what would be most helpful for future transitions. The third method, which included Case Studies and one Alternative Case Study, was completed to assess how public gardens utilize succession planning to address issues in leadership continuity, however formally or informally, through direct observation and semi-structured inquiries. ☐ The results of this study revealed that the extent to which succession planning is practiced within the Association membership is limited; even organizations with succession plans are admittedly new to the process. ☐ Most participating organizations did not have succession plans, because they were unfamiliar with the costs, processes, and impacts associated with the planning process. Organizations with succession plans were motivated by necessity, the desire to improve upon past transition efforts, and the desire to build leadership throughout their organizations. They characterized the costs as minimal and the process as positive, but have not yet been able to quantify the degree of their plans’ successes. ☐ Despite a desire to prepare Association member gardens for leadership transitions through long-term objectives, increased flexibility, and effective communication, all of which are characteristics of succession planning, organizations without plans do not perceive this as the strategy to accomplish this objective. ☐ One reason succession planning may be a limited practice within the Association membership is due to a lack of understanding of the subject as a practical strategy for leadership continuity. To adjust for this, further dialogue surrounding the subject is encouraged. The more succession planning is understood as an accessible, proactive strategy within the Association membership, the more comfortable Boards and leaders may become with the subject, leading to increasingly open dialogues, strategy experimentation, and communication of trials and triumphs within the membership.