A 5-Point Plan for Grooming Future Nonprofit Leaders

By Kirk Kramer and Preeta Nayak, Bridgespan Group

Surveys consistently show that nonprofit organizations are acutely aware of their leadership development gaps, but unsure about how to address them. The nonprofit leadership teams that Bridgespan has surveyed single out leadership development and succession planning as their most glaring organizational weakness by a margin of better than two to one. Reserach steered us to a straightforward five step "Plan A" for building the future leaders of your organization:

1) Engage senior leaders - you need board and senior staff buy-in and regular discussion at the top of the organization

2) Map out a vision of the future leadership team - what will your leadership team need to look like in 3 years and what people/skills will be needed?

3) Develop future leaders - you need commitment to finding and building the best talent on a day in and day out basis.

4) Seek new talent to fill the gaps - no organization can grow every leader internally and outside perspectives are important

5) Monitor and improve the process of developing leaders -ensure you are making progress toward your goal. Find a way to measure and reinforce your efforts.

Read the full Bridgespan article.