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Succession Planning

Rev. Patrick L. Clements | posted 12/10/2007
This article provided by the Engstrom Institute

Leadership succession planning for the nonprofit or church ministry is one of those areas that is often neglected in the development of board policies. The mistake is to minimize the impact of a leadership change on the organization. A lack of policy to deal with succession will no doubt lead to speculation and concern among staff, key donors, and other constituents.

This sort of planning both for an emergency and a planned separation should be a standard board policy and part of the routine planning of any ministry organization. The need for a policy is not contingent upon the age of the incumbent in the leadership role, but rather is a reasonable and necessary step in the development of the organization as it matures.

The major themes that should be covered in a succession policy are:

• An emergency plan to be invoked in the event of the death or disability of the key leader;
• A planned retirement provision, which would also include adequate provisions for the termination of the executive at the determination of the board;

See also:

 CEO retirement, death of CEO, succession planning, succession policy