By Betsy Nelson

Special to The Daily Record

July 8, 2010

If you've served on a nonprofit board, there's a 50-50 chance you've faced or will face the challenge of replacing your chief executive.

What happens when the skilled and committed leader, who knows everyone and is beloved by all, leaves? Or maybe you have nagging doubts about whether the leader of a cause and organization you care about is the leader it actually needs.

The connection between organizational effectiveness and effective leadership is obvious and undeniable. But knowing how to build and sustain an effective team of leaders is less clear. What can your nonprofit do to get and stay ahead in today's environment? How do you rethink and retool for the 21st century?

Tom Adams, local author and president of TransitionGuides, a Silver Spring consulting company specializing in leadership services to nonprofit organizations, demystifies how to successfully attend to nonprofit leadership in a new book, "The Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development Guide: Proven Paths for Leaders and Organizations." Adams shares stories, best practices and specific tools to aid nonprofits in strengthening leadership and effectiveness.

Adams' argument is simple: Increased attention to nonprofit leader development and leader transitions will significantly increase the results of organizations and the sector. The power of this approach is exemplified in many local examples. Here's one:

The Maryland Food Bank faced the retirement of its 35-year executive director and relentless leader, Bill Ewing, in 2007.

"We were concerned about how we would do in fundraising without Bill and his network," said Marty Brunk, the organization's board chair. "The TransitionGuides approach provided us the framework to successfully transition to our new CEO, Deb Flateman. The food bank has grown and is thriving as a result of managing well this transition, despite the economy."

Keys to successful leadership

In addition to planning for executive succession and transition, Adams' book covers these topics:

• Power of emotions: Practical approaches to surviving and growing personally and professionally in the face of the many day-to-day challenges of being a leader.
• Founder transitions: Advice to founders and the organizations they helped create on how to successfully let go of dependence on the founder.
• Racial and generational diversity: Practical tools to assist organizations in becoming more inclusive and diverse, while learning how to fully engage leaders across generations and from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
• Talent management and leader development: Individual and organizational actions don't have to depend on big budgets to move organizations to being more "leaderful."

The bottom line for nonprofits is results - positive change for our community and services we can count on. To achieve this, we need talented and committed leaders who will sustain and grow our results.

Attention to leader development and leader transitions is a proven path that deserves our attention. Simply said, "It works."

"The Nonprofit Leadership transition and Development Guide: Proven Paths for Leaders and Organizations" can be obtained through www.transitionguides.com or www.amazon.com.

Betsy Nelson, executive director of the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers, writes every other week for The Daily Record.  She can be reached at 410-727-1205 or bnelson@abagmd.org.