Your First Year as Executive Director: A Welcome Guide

Dear New Executive Director,

Congratulations—you got the job! Between now and your first day on the job, there are a few things you can do to prepare for a strong and grounded first year.

1. Ask for a list of 50 people you should meet. Then meet them.

Ask the outgoing executive director, a board member, or a member of the senior staff to help you identify 50 people you should meet or speak with in your first few months. Your goal in these conversations is to pay your respects, learn from their experiences, and start to get a real sense of how people who care about the organization view its past, present, and future.

No one is too old to be included. (I’ve often seen—and, being honest, practiced—ageism in the organizations I’ve worked with and for. But now that I’m getting some years on myself, I see that the most senior individuals who love an organization have a remarkable understanding of the past and can often help pave the road to the future.)

Some examples:

• Any former executive directors (who left in good standing)

• The founder or any founding board members

• Donors who’ve included the organization in their estate plans

• Major donors—but also donors who’ve given any amount consistently over the past ten or so years

• Senior staff, and the management staff who report to them

• Longtime volunteers, junior board or women’s board members, and other affinity group leaders

• Maintenance, housekeeping, and groundskeeping staff—people on the front line of organizations often have the clearest view of what is going on. If they speak a different language from you, hire a translator.

Be prepared to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly. You’re not there to make promises or sell your vision; you’re there to listen.

Before you go to bed that night, send a thank-you email and a paper thank-you note. Let your development team know you’ve done it, and put it in the mail the next morning.

Set aside a couple of hours a day for this work over your first year. It will help you build relationships that matter, and it will deepen your understanding of the institution in ways no document or onboarding memo ever will.

2. Use your first year to lay the groundwork for strategic planning.

The first year is about listening and learning, but it’s also a time to start preparing for a thoughtful strategic planning process in your second year. Just like how the first day in a new house is the right time to make a list of the renovations you’ll get to eventually, your first few months in a new role are the time to capture observations, ideas, and patterns while they’re still fresh. Keep a journal or log.

Be proactive in setting the stage for strategic planning. Don’t wait for a donor to ask for a plan, or for the old plan to expire, or for there to be a crisis of some kind that necessitates planning. And please don’t wait for a peer organization to unveil theirs and make you feel like you’re behind.

Set aside time each week to sketch out what the process might look like—what kind of team you’ll assemble, whether you’ll want a consultant or facilitator, what timeline and tools you’ll need. Perhaps you need to work through some governance issues before setting forth on broader goals and objectives. A first phase of planning, then, could be to revisit bylaws, set term limits, and clarify donor expectations. This is often a healthy first step of strategic planning.

Summer is a good time for you as the executive director to sketch out what your timeline and plan look like. Donors and board members are often away, and even if your organization is busy serving your constituents, you can often carve out time to think about the big picture.

3. Always be succession planning.

At some point, each one of us will move along to a new role. We are replaceable—and that is a good thing. Engaging in succession planning—for your board, your staff, and yourself—is core to leadership. It also helps grow the capacity of more people at your organization and creates clear pathways to growth and professional development opportunities.

Part of this mindset also includes staying open to partnerships and even merger opportunities—including ones that might eventually make your role or your nonprofit unnecessary. If your priority is advancing the mission—not preserving your title—then all options should be on the table.

4. Understand that advocacy is part of your job.

Advocating for your cause is a core responsibility. That may mean engaging in policy, public education, media relations, or community partnerships. Don’t let anyone tell you that advocacy is outside the land of a 501(c)(3). Helping educate elected and appointed leaders, the public—and the sector—about your mission is essential to moving it forward and passing laws that can enable change to occur.

5. Have a plan for when things go wrong.

Every organization is vulnerable to disruption. If you don’t already have an enterprise risk management plan and some basic scenario planning, make that a priority.

What happens in a flood, a data breach, a public scandal, a financial emergency? How will your board respond? What’s your role? Don’t wait for an actual crisis to figure it out.

Run a tabletop exercise. Update your communications plan and phone tree. Know your local public elected and appointed officials from all levels of government and public safety. Talk through and document plans with your leadership team and board. Knowing who will do what under pressure helps everyone react in a crisis.

6. Don’t reinvent the wheel.

The nonprofit sector is full of excellent resources—many of them free or open-source—developed by great consultants and smart leaders. Use them. Use consent agendas. Use reliable templates for policies and plans. Use standard tools to manage your board, your calendar, your finances. Don’t burn energy building anything from scratch.

7. Accept that this is a very hard job.

It’s not realistic—or fair—to expect any one person to do this job forever. Executive leadership requires intense stamina. You’ll carry the weight of daily management, long-range planning, and being the emotional center of gravity for an entire institution. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing, or deeply meaningful. But know what you’re stepping into. Give yourself grace, and build systems that will help you be strong for the long haul.

Other heartfelt pieces of advice:

You’re now the face and voice of the organization. You’ll be navigating complexity, solving problems, building relationships, and sometimes holding things together when they feel like they’re coming apart. You don’t have to be perfect. But you do need to be present, prepared, and principled.

Know that your board and staff want you to lead. People generally want to know what’s expected of them. So go for it. Don’t ask open-ended questions unless you’re ready for the silence—or to deal with the answers. And don’t give your board or staff a list of options unless you’re genuinely fine with any of them being selected.

Before you ask for anything—especially money—know how much it costs and the answers to every question you can anticipate. Board members are usually not as focused on your organization as you are. That’s not a flaw; that’s just reality.

Know your board members are not your parents. You do not need their parental approval.

Your staff are not your friends. Empower them to do their jobs. Your role is to clear the path—not to micromanage it. Offer clarity, vision, calm.

Have a point of view on everything—but keep an open mind.

The mission should also be your passion. If you don’t like cats, don’t be the ED of a cat shelter. And if you find yourself realizing you don’t really care about what you’re advocating for, be honest with yourself. That might be a turning point, and it’s better to face it with integrity than to fake it and burn out.

Have a thick skin, while being vulnerable enough to lead with your heart.

Don’t drink too much at work functions—ever.

Your kids hear everything you say. Don’t complain about board members or donors by name within earshot. (They will repeat it. Possibly at school. Or worse—at a donor lunch.)

If you bring your kids to the grocery store, and they misbehave (like kids do), that will almost certainly be the moment you run into one of your major donors.

If you feel like crying or yelling at someone, take a breath. It passes.

Control what you can control. Then, the uncontrollable stuff feels a little less terrifying.

Every day is an honor and a blessing.

I’m here for you!

Sincerely,
Sophia