The New Sheriff in Town: Tips for Successfully Leading a Nonprofit Team (that Someone Else Built)

So, you’ve landed your dream job at a wonderful nonprofit! But it also means you’ll be taking over a program where your predecessor led the team for the past five, 10, or 15 years — and people have had a long time to get used to things being done a certain way.

I have been in this situation more than once in my career, and it is not easy: What’s your management style? How do you lead people? How do you learn their systems? How do you make improvements without stepping on toes? And most importantly, how do you get your staff to support you and your ideas?

I have had some truly bizarre suggestions on how to handle this.

For example, one general manager suggested that when you move into a new position, immediately make changes. It doesn’t matter how big or small the change is — just do it! That way, you’ll be asserting your authority, and everybody will know there’s a new sheriff in town.

I don’t know about you, but that is just not my style.

Another well-meaning boss suggested that I end every sentence with an expletive. He said I was just too kind and sweet — but if I ended a conversation with a curse word, people would pay attention.

Also, not my style!

Although there is no rule book or a fail-proof way that works for every organization, here are some strategies that have helped me over the years:

Stop, look, and listen.

Instead of coming in like a bull in a China shop, take the time to see what’s going on first — before you make any changes.

Sit with your staff. Learn what each of them do. Ask them what works and what doesn’t.

Often, I find my staff have excellent ideas on how to streamline and improve processes, but were never given the opportunity to voice that to their managers. Sometimes, you can even build on to their ideas.

Collaboration and communication are the heart of any successful venture. Meet with program managers and C-suite staff to get an understanding of the direction the organization is heading.

Ask what they liked about your predecessor, but — no matter who you’re speaking with — never ask what they didn’t like about them. You will find that out organically; and you don’t want to berate the person you have replaced. After all, you never know whose loyalty you might be stepping on.

Tell the staff about you.

Tell them where you worked previously. Communicate to them why you made a move to the new organization. Talk to them about why the mission statement of the nonprofit is important to you.

Give them a feel for your management style: Are you an open-door kind of person, or do you prefer to only have planned and scheduled meetings?

Give them an opportunity to tell you about their background. You may find some hidden talents and work experiences that can help you out.

Be sure to keep them on track and only discuss business skills. Too much personal information is not necessary.

Give them guidance.

Let them know the direction you have been told to lead your department/organization. I am always amazed to find staff members who have had a long history of employment in a company, yet they really don’t know what the business is about.

This happens often with administrative departments (like accounting, finance, maintenance, etc.), but can also occur in agencies with multiple programs. I have seen organizations where program knowledge is a “silo,” and one department really doesn’t know what another program does.

I have even taken my staff (accounting and finance) to visit the programs that were remote so they could gain knowledge, and also to help them connect with the mission of the organization.

I recently worked in an organization where the staff accountant, who had a 10-year history with the agency, really didn’t know much about the day-to-day operations. She was consumed with facts and figures and “kept her head down.”

I had been there for about three months and we were going through a workers’ compensation audit. She was amazed that I knew so much about each and every individual’s role in the company.

That is when I decided she needed to accompany me to some of the department meetings and go out in the field a bit to really see what we did, why we did it, who we helped, and the difference we were making in our community.

She was eternally grateful and appreciated that I took the time to explain our mission to her.

Gain your staff’s trust.

It is not easy to be the new kid on the block. You may be replacing a person who had a tight grip on the staff, and they have a bit of PTSD from being micro-managed, and are overly cautious about everything as a result.

Sometimes, though, you are brought in to replace a legend, leaving you with big shoes to fill.

I experienced a truly tough team in a medical facility I ran: There was a supervisor who had good medical skills, and the staff was extremely loyal to her. Her only downfall was that she did not have the administrative and business acumen to run the facility, and I was brought in. She was so hurt that she walked off the job. I begged her to stay, but she had made her mind up.

You can imagine how that made me look! The staff saw me as anything BUT trustworthy. I did my best, but it was hard to convince them.

We had a major accreditation inspection coming up, and I asked everyone to pitch in and help with the deep cleaning. As anyone that has worked in a medical facility and has gone through the accreditation process knows, the tiniest of specks can be catastrophic to an inspector’s eyes.

At first, I wasn’t getting much buy-in on the cleaning, so I took one of those magic white sponges, a rag, and a bucket of cleaning solution and got to work myself.

I was walking throughout the facility with the bucket in hand and gloves on. I wiped down walls; I got on my hands and knees and scrubbed scuff marks on the floors; I cleaned the corners that accumulate dust; I pulled equipment away from the walls and cleaned under them.

There were no patients there that day, and most of the staff was just checking patient charts, signing off on orders, and entering data into the computers. As I cleaned, I could see them watching me.

After about 30 minutes, a few of them asked if they could help. Then a few more did. Within no time at all, we were cleaning, talking, and working together.

That may be an extreme example on how to gain trust, but sometimes you have to prove that you’re a team player to in order to get respect from your staff.

Learn from your staff.

I cannot say enough about learning from your staff.

Hopefully, you’ll be gifted a group of employees with positive attitudes and good work skills. Learn from them. They are a vessel of important and historic information. They can help you be successful in your career. They can show you the foundations of the program or agency that you are managing.

With an open mind and an appreciation for your team’s knowledge and experience, you will understand their strengths, you will build good communication skills with them, you will gain agency expertise from them, and you will build trust and respect.

And most importantly — you will succeed!

You might also like:

• Why Human-Centered AI Adoption Matters for Nonprofits
• When the System Fails Quietly: What I’ve Learned from Sitting Between the Frontline and the Data
• A Board Member “Contract”
• Don’t Call it a Crisis Plan: How Nonprofits Can Proactively Plan for Turbulent Times
• Can Nonprofit Boards Vote By Email?

 

You made it to the end! Please share this article!

Let’s help other nonprofit leaders succeed! Consider sharing this article with your friends and colleagues via email or social media.