Reviving the Exectuive Director Evaluation

In a few hours I will sit down to provide a new Executive Director (hired spring 2011) a performance review. I am a board member of the nonprofit run by this director. As part of my organizational service and because I believe in taking time for reflection, I will be in that room.

This week I don't have the time for this meeting. My plate is full of work from paying clients and personal commitments long overdue but I will be there. I was quite surprised at the lack of board participation when this topic came up on an agenda a few months ago.

Several follow up emails from the board president to collect feedback went virtually unanswered.

According to The Compass Points Daring to Lead Study, only 45% of nonprofit CEO's receive a performance review. A recent Board Source article sites a destructive paradigm that develops as a result, "Resentment comes from the executives, who are too often either resentful of the review process or even more likely and paradoxically, disgusted with the board for not conducting one."

Before writing off the review of an organization's Executive Director as another task on a long to do list consider the opportunity it presents for the entire organizations and your senior leadership. This review offers the strengthen the working relationship between the ED and board, build confidence in the organization, identify and address challenges in the overall program and praise your leadership team on jobs well done. In the day to day management of a nonprofit the opportunities to get a balcony perspective on things are rare and yet those are the opportunities for rich dialog and growth.

My challenge to board leaders is this: make the commitment to an annual review of your organization's Executive Director, breathe life into the process and look for the rewards it offers the organization.

Tips for Breathing New Life Into Executive Director Review Process

• Provide board members with a framework for feedback. For example, ask each member to provide three comments on the director's performance in the following areas of organizational competency - Leadership, Management, Planning and Assessment, Budgeting and finance, Fundraising, Marketing and Public Relations, Professional conduct

• Start the process with a written self-assessment from the Executive Director about their performance over the last year.

• Busy board? What about the board president sending a survey with an embedded rating system for each question. Survey Monkey is a terrific tool and offers a free version.

Remember to finish the review looking forward. This review isn't an isolated activity, it's part of a process. Come to the meeting with two to three performance objectives for the coming year, this builds the foundation for the conversation next year.

Learning to Learn

When I bought my first road bike, I remember staring in awe and terror at the clippless pedals before I had even handed over payment. I learned to ride a bike more then a decade before but the notion of clipping my feet to my bike while riding seemed impossibly foreign.

My first day on the bike I rode a total of ZERO miles, instead I asked my husband to patiently stand in the driveway, holding the bike steady as I practiced clipping in and out. Day two, I took the bike to a school yard and practiced on the grass before I hit road. Once on the road every intersection had me panicked, an opportunity to full system failure.

The first summer I owed the bike I road the 150 mile, two challenge - MS Bike to the Breakwater. I entered the race fully confident in my skills handling the bike and going the distance, I was on my game. The first day I rode conservatively but intentionally, fueling up at each available support station and finished the day feeling great. Day two I woke up feeling better then I could have imagined. I jumped on my bike and rode with confidence, charging town lines (a little sprint game I play with my husband) and smiling brightly as we past family and friends at the day's half way point. The final support station is 14 miles from the finish line, we pulled in to grab a quick snack before the final push, I was beaming. Still in conversation with one of the volunteers I went to get back on my bike - I clicked my right foot in at the bottom of the peddle stroke, stood up and fell over. Yup just like that - WACK - I was on the ground.

Three years later, I ride without thinking about my clippless pedals. Clipping in and out are ingrained. I am not longer a new learner.

Getting to this point took trust, practice and time. It took falling over in front of my friends, strangers and at inconvenient times. It took a willingness to be vulnerable, insecure and accept that failure isn't the end of the road.


This American Life Host, Ira Glass produced a wonderful piece about the process of learning, a reflection on his development as a story teller and learning curve with radio.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
http://transom.org/?p=6978





This lesson came up today in a conversation about new learners and social media. It might seem like a strange connection to make but all of the same emotional components I experienced on my bike, follow us in our personal and professional pursuits. We can choose to name them, bring attention to them, laugh about them and work through them or we can choose to ignore them and allow them to stop us from learning. I will continue to opt for the former and work to help my clients do the same, even if it means falling flat on my butt sometimes.

The Five P's.

This week has been looming in my icalendar for some time - new client meetings, lots of drive, a weekend of event planning. Before the calendar rolled into October I was prepared for this one to be a beast.

When I see these weeks coming I take extra time to get as much done in advance as I can. This may sound crazy but that includes proactively cleaning the house, freezing dinners and scheduling in blocks of time to exercise. After many of these weeks managed by gross consumption of Red Bull, whatever food happened to be in the office and intermittent bouts of sobbing a bathroom, I've learned how to pace myself.

There is however one variable that I can't solve for - other people.

Last night my cell rang, long after any reasonable definition of "business hours", even if we are talking - I'm on the east coast and you are calling from California, forgetting while you are still in the office, I am in my pj's drinking a glass of Pinot.

I let the phone go to voicemail. This is a huge step for me but an essential one for keeping my sanity, preserving sleep and my marriage.

It was dark out as I got ready to leave the house this morning to sneak in a hike, with my friend Wendy, before I dove into work. In the car headed to the trail, I listened to the voicemail.

In short the message was a semi-frantic cry for help from a collaborator who's piece of the puzzle was a mess days before the project deadline. I spilled the story to Wendy sighting the inquires I made over the last few weeks to check on the status of this piece of the project and the obtuse answers I received.

Wendy stopped me mid-sentence and said, "This is your week, poor planning on their part is not an emergency for you." (One of my all time favorite quotes). "And maybe you should share the five P's with them."

I immediately thought back to Kindergarten trying to recall the five P's, all I could come up with was a single P and three R's.

"I give up. What five P's?"

Her husband's five P's (a former Marine so also the US Military's five P's)

Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance

The situation is not quite right to share this advice with last night's caller but it is certainly worthwhile wisdom for your personal life, professional life and everything in between.

The Five P