Executive Director Evaluation | By Heather Perkins

The phone rings.

Photo courtesy of kthypryn

The executive director of a local non-profit organization answers and discovers that the call is from a client who was recently assisted by the organization. The client has called to express his gratitude for the services he received and the hope that he has for the future as a result. Although short, the call is upbeat and encouraging.

An hour later, a staff member comes into the director’s office with a letter of resignation. Although she has enjoyed her position and has performed her job well, she has been offered more money and better benefits at a for-profit business. Her loss to the organization will be significant. 

Over lunch, the director meets with a member of his board who is very unhappy with the state of organization and is causing significant dissention within the board.   

How does the director process and assimilate these various interactions?  Is he being an effective leader?  How does he know?

Providing constructive feedback to the executive director is one of the most significant roles of a board of directors, but also one of the most uncomfortable.  As a result, the task is frequently avoided and the director is left to try to assess his performance based upon often conflicting feedback coming from numerous different sources.  In addition, any weaknesses in performance are left unaddressed and continue to impact the organization. 

Regardless of the context, performance reviews are a challenging undertaking.  However, the personal and organizational growth that can occur as the result of healthy review processes should not be underestimated.  Performance reviews are a gift that every nonprofit board should give to their executive director. 

A free online resource for conducting nonprofit director performance reviews that may be helpful is the Evaluating Your Executive Director (pdf) workbook from The Enterprise Foundation in Maryland. And BoardSource has several resources available (at different price points) for nonprofits evaluating their executive.

Dynamic performance review processes provide the focus and support so desperately needed by many nonprofit leaders. In addition, they facilitate the process of engaging in healthy, growth-oriented conversations. And finally, they allow the director to answer with even more confidence the next time the phone rings.