Managing and Leading Nonprofit Organizations

1Introduction and Purpose of This Book

I remember my first formal leadership assignment with great clarity. I had been working as a case manager serving delinquent youth placed in foster care. My executive director had called me quite out of the blue to ask if I might assist with a situation that had arisen within one of the organization's community residences for young people who were transitioning from the state psychiatric hospital back into the community. Apparently, the staff within the residence had “run off” the former program director. It was an uprising of the finest order, a vote of no confidence in his leadership such that the entire staff team was threatening to walk.

When I arrived on the site it was clear that I was not welcome. I still recall the steely greeting and the lack of willingness to engage with me, even at the most basic level. Somehow, I represented the administration and there was no way in hell that the team was going to allow me any opportunity to fill a leadership role. Over the next few months I had what could only be called a baptism by fire. As if in the pitch dark I worked carefully to feel my way through the challenges of becoming accepted as a leader by a disenchanted team. More than once I stumbled and found myself tripping over or even into one difficult situation after another. There were certainly lessons learned and each lesson came with its share of bumps and bruises. There were also breakthrough moments that were a combination of happenstance ...