When Debbie Witchey became president and CEO of the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness in October, she had replaced a long-standing executive who, she says, “for all intents and purposes” was ABHW’s founder. That has its upsides: Witchey was promised the outgoing CEO’s support during a transition period to reassure staff, board, and stakeholders. But being in an esteemed leader’s shadow meant making changes could be difficult.
To manage that dynamic, Witchey accepted the assistance but also made sure to draw bright lines around it to avoid any confusion about who was in charge. “The first week I was on, I shadowed her, and during the second week, she shadowed me,” Witchey says. “Then she went on vacation, which I think was helpful because I was doing things on my own, and I could see where my knowledge was lacking and what I needed help with.”
Having a clear plan about how to approach the early days of a new leader’s tenure is crucial, says Candance Chow, managing director and cofounder of NextGroup, LLC, a support firm for nonprofit leaders. That initial period, she says, “is a lot about building rapport and trust with the board as well as staff. Sometimes leaders will focus on spending time and developing relationships with staff, especially if they have a change agenda, but doing that with the board is just as critical.”
Witchey is doing just that, meeting with staff and board members to hear their thoughts and concerns about the organization’s direction. But she’s also clear about setting a start date for when actual changes will be implemented. “I told staff that I was not planning to change anything until the start of the new year,” she says. “There are things like the hybrid work schedule and things like that, which were important to them. So I told them that I was not going to change anything until the start of the new year, and even then, I might not be changing anything. But what I wanted to do was hear from them.”
Setting a stop date for the new executive’s listening tour can be just as important as the listening itself, Chow says, and each leader will have to determine when it’s best to start taking action. “I think sometimes new EDs [executive directors] prolong that period of listening and learning a little too long to the point that the team isn’t really sure actions are going to be taken,” she says. “And then on the other side of that, there are EDs that are hard-charging—everything is wrong, and everything needs to change. There’s definitely a balance there.”
Julia A. Johnson, director of organizational performance at the nonprofit consultancy Wipfli, says new leaders should enter the listening period with both openness and a sense of what kind of leadership the new organization needs.
“When the CEO comes into those listening sessions, I think their job is twofold,” she says. “To come in with a very open agenda and simply sink into what is being shared. The second part is to reveal their leadership style and how it aligns with the needs of the organization.”
