Asian Philanthropy Forum

Last Acts of Responsibility: Planning Leadership Transitions

Priya Viswanath is an independent consultant and author based in New Delhi, India. She shares with us her transition from CEO of CAF India and the importance of an organization's need for strategic planning in the post below. This article was originally posted on Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy (CAP). Priya can be reached at priyakviswanath@gmail.com.

Since May 2009 when I left CAF India, Noshir Dadrawala has been requesting me to write on two issues - leadership transitions and the second on the importance of strategic planning for non-profits. It was too close for comfort for awhile so I promised him I would think about it and cover it soon. 

A series of events in the last few months – incidences of affront, forgetfulness and disdain meted out to fellow professionals and more recently an appeal from a colleague to focus on leadership as a part of a series of Capacity Building Training finally has me writing this. As it always happens before I start work on a column (quite by accident), I also came across a series of articles that focus on these subjects. In April, I read “The Last Act of a Great CEO” by Thomas J. Friel and Robert S. Duboff which was a complete eye opener. Earlier this week, I read the recent issue of Forbes India which had a cover story on ITC and their dynamic, visionary CEO Yogi Deveshwar, transitions, impact et all. And this morning while searching for a piece of inspiration, I listened to Steve Jobs commencement lecture for the 100th time. While all articles focused on for-profit CEOs they were all educative and almost all of it had inspired wisdom. Often I hear people say or have remarked myself that the non-profit sector does not have the luxury of grooming successors (for economic reasons) like a TCS or an ITC, but where the sector lacks in money, they more than make up with passion and commitment. The question, as I have often seen is less about the money and more about the will of organisations to streamline much needed processes in areas such as organisational management.

My own transition plan was guided by a business mentor and endorsed by the Chairman of CAF India. As I was approaching the last year of my second term in office, I reflected deeply about the organization, its new Strategic Plan that had just been put in place a few months earlier, the vision and energy that the organisation needed to execute an ambitious much needed plan. The Trustees of CAF India and management of CAF UK – (the parent) were on board, staff were excited, we had some great companies and NGOs partnering us in the last couple of years and CAF India was definitely on an upward trajectory. But I was physically tired, had just turned 40 and the transactional nature of the business, day-to-day operations were frankly boring me. 

I started thinking about what I wanted to do for the next 10 years of my life and clearly this wasn’t it. Having even thought that unmentionable thought, I panicked, went off on holiday to Indo-Chine with a friend and had what my colleagues tease me about – “a Laos moment”! I decided when I returned I would give CAF a year’s notice (effectively not renewing my contract). I came home and announced it to some key folk who had helped us develop the strategy and they gave me valuable advice on the process I should adopt. To cut a long story short, it was a year of great planning, searching and eventually great joy and sadness having effected a good transition to plan, but having to leave a great team and an organization where one had spent 6 years. CAF UK was very pleased with the transition – in fact a senior colleague wrote and said the process should be benchmarked for other international offices. Others including colleagues were shocked at the year long notice. But I felt it was only appropriate and the right thing to do for the organisation’s well-being. When word got out, I had many interesting, lucrative offers but I stuck it out, did not jump the ship and can live with my conscience today.

 Organizations for many leaders are like babies. You nurture them, you help them take big steps and small and like a parent would, you have to do what is right by them. That includes planning an effective transition. I have often wondered, like many of you probably have, about some great institutions and their charismatic leaders and what will happen after the founder’s life time.

More Changes in the Philanthropy World

The philanthropy world is experiencing lots of changes in the past few months. In addition to the changes I had announced in my previous post, three additional changes caught my attention.

First, John Harvey, Executive Director of Grantmakers without Borders (Gw/oB), announced his departure from the organization at their 10th anniversary conference last week. Gw/oB is a philanthropic network that is dedicated to increasing funding for international social justice and environmental sustainability groups and to improving the practice of international grantmaking. Jennifer Astone summarizes John's lessons learned and reflections in Anatomy of a Global Donor.

Meanwhile, the American Pakistan Foundation announced the appointment of Mr. Awais Khan as the foundation's first President and CEO earlier this month. Mr. Awais Khan was a partner at Ackrell Capital and held senior positions at the Venture Capital Practice at KPMG, Dimension Data and Hewlett-Packard. He has professional experience in Pakistan in the areas of financial services and government. Mr. Khan is the Chair of several leadership committees of Venture Forums and is currently on the advisory board of Cleantech Jobs Fund, an economic development fund in Silicon Valley.

Neelam Makhijani was appointed CEO of the Resource Alliance, a UK based organization working towards the building of capabilities of individual organizations and the infrastructure needed to support professional fundraising and resource mobilization around the world. Neelam is the organization's first CEO to be appointed from the Global South and is the first woman to hold the position. Neelam has worked for the Resource Alliance for six years, first running and leading education and training programs and its consulting services. Since March last year, Neelam was the deputy CEO. The Resource Alliance has some wonderful resources, including the newly published, Worldwide Fundraiser's Handbook.

Opportunity: International Fellows Program

The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society is accepting applications to the Senior International Fellows Program 2010. The program provides an opportunity for the professional development of Third-Sector practitioners from outside the United States who are decision-makers in their professions. It offers fellows time away to explore new strategies, increase the sector’s impact in your country or region, seek networking opportunities with colleagues in the field globally, and aim to strengthen community philanthropy. This is a professional development opportunity for Third-Sector senior practitioners to support community philanthropy and help build capacity in their home countries.

Fellows are based at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, where they attend weekly seminars, explore the work of key agencies and foundations, meet with nonprofit representatives and study U.S. and international community foundation models.The research topic for fellowships for the 2010 program will be community foundations. However, proposals on other topics related to the philanthropic sector will be considered from candidates applying on a tuition or institutionally sponsorsed basis. Fellows will participate in a 1-month seminar looking at the U.S. and international voluntary sectors. The program will run from Monday October 18, 2010 through Friday November 12, 2010. Applications accepted through July 7, 2010; please visit Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society for application details.

Photo from Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society

Job Listing for 11/6/09

India Portfolio Manager, Hyderabad, India, Acumen Fund. Responsible for managing the healthcare portfolio in India, including current investments and the development  of future investments in the sector and manage compliance and operations of the Acumen Fund India office.

Charity Shop Adviser, Beijing, China, Volunteer Services Overseas.  Help The I Do Kids Fund to set up and run the first charity shop in Beijing, China.  The Fund was set up to help improve the living standards of disadvantaged children in China and to promote volunteerism. 

Asia Regional Director, New Delhi, India, Room to Read.  Provides leadership and support to seven country teams engaged in all aspects of Room to Read's operations in India.

Creativity and Innovation in the Philanthropic Sector

- by Dien S Yuen

I do not consider myself a very creative person but sometimes, I have to be creative and innovative on how I approach my work in attracting new clients that use our international philanthropic services.  During these tight budget times, we all have to innovate with the resources that we have.  We also have to create our own opportunities so we can continue delivering high impact services that exceed our client and donor expectations.  As a leader, how do you lead and manage creative people?  How do you create an environment that encourages them to excel?

Harvard Business Review has a series of articles on Leading Creative People.  In their research, they found that a "handful of creative people whose inventiveness leads to innovation are the ones that bankroll the organization for years to come."  The authors found these creative people:

1.  Do not want to be led.  I have realized that the most creative people I have worked with in the nonprofit field march to their own drummers.  They do not like being micro-managed and certainly do not want someone constantly "checking" in with them on their work.

2.  Do not care about titles and promotions.  Titles and financial gain are not the reasons creative people want as rewards.  In fact, many of those that go into the nonprofit field see these as secondary rewards.

3.  Are easily bored.  The day-to-day, same old way of working is not attractive to creative people at all.  In fact, you will hear these phrases from them: why, why not, what's more, so what and let's try this.

4.  The process by which they pioneer new insights and ideas is complex and chaotic.  I get my best ideas when gardening, pruning my plants, weeding and turning my compost each weekend.

So how do you turn creative ideas into business opportunities?

1.  Know when to impose controls on the creative process.  Requiring constant "creative moments" can be draining.  I have also found that creative people hate details.  They are idea generators and not implementors.

2.  Convince people that they won't be punished or humiliated if they speak up or make mistakes.  Remember the comment - there's no such thing as a dumb question?

3.  Ensure that all managers do hands-on work.  It seems so much easier to talk about an issue or an idea if the person you report to also understands the work well.  It also feels good when there appears to be a "democratized" process in the workplace.

From my own experiences, I can say that I am most creative when I am confronted with a problem or issue.  Like an architect that must work within certain spaces and within certain guidelines, I find that boundaries help me generate ideas.  But I don't want to feel restrained - I need the freedom to be able to find the solutions in my own way.  Another characteristic I have noticed is that I am emotionally attached to what I come up with.  It takes alot of convincing before I can back down from the ideas I generate.

How do you generate ideas?  How do you help your staff be creative and innovative?  The nonprofit field is full of creative people - now is the time to nurture those key individuals in your organization in order to create the social change necessary.

Photo courtesy of James Jordan