I recently saw a post from someone in the non-profit arts leadership space. She was working with an organization whose executive director retired after 20 years of service.
The board of the organization asked her why they were having trouble keeping a new executive director for more than a year or two.
Her answer, taken straight out of a leadership book...
When an organization undergoes a transition in leadership, the people need to transition as well. Otherwise it's just a rearranging of the chairs.
I found myself scratching my head. This made little sense to me. And it took all my willpower to keep from responding with...
No. I think they just hired the wrong guys. Did they think to...I don't know...maybe ask THEM why they left after a year or two?
It's easy for music schools and arts organizations to make things unnecessarily complicated.
For example, it's become standard for an organization to have an in-house marketing team hire out to an outside marketing agency, which probably then outsources to an ads agency.
It makes no sense. Why hire marketers to use money to hire other marketers? Why bother having the in-house people to begin with?
Debt piles up, the mission is forgotten, and little impact is made.
It's easy to forget that the simplest solution is almost always the most effective.
Make your mission clear. Hire the most skilled, passionate people you can who love your mission. Pay them what they need to feel valued, appreciated, and that their work matters.
And then, stand back and watch magic happen.
It really can be that simple.
