Originally posted November 2005

Many factors can affect an organization's ability to grow successfully, but of all them, leadership is the most critical, says Thomas Tierney, chair and co-founder of The Bridgespan Group and Bridgestar, its talent-matching initiative.

Speaking at a recent gathering of grantees of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, Tierney said that leadership–for nonprofit and for-profits alike–tops the two next most important ingredients of growth: strategy (what one is trying to achieve and how one expects to do it) and capital.

Tierney also said there are three elements that truly effective leaders must master to become effective at leading a growing organization: the "Who Thing," the "Do Thing," and the "You Thing."

According to Tierney, leaders lead. That means they need to have a team to support them. And, at the same time, leaders must share responsibility, accountability, and rewards with those on the team. The ideal team, he adds, consists of the right people doing the right jobs at the right times. Leaders also need to be aware that during different stages of growth "the right people doing the right things" may change. Effective leaders need to be cognizant that a person who is right for the job today, may not be right for the job tomorrow.

To master the "who thing," Tierney recommends that leaders:

• Make time every day to check in with their key team members
• Focus on senior recruiting, including ensuring the organization has a rigorous recruiting process that includes a deep candidate list, resume screening process, and people skilled at interviewing candidates. Building and maintaining personal networks helps facilitate candidate sourcing. Successful organizations make sure sufficient time is invested in interviewing potential hires to assess the intangibles like motivation, judgment, character, and "fit."
• Deal with mistakes.That means acting early when the wrong person is in the wrong job.
• Build the organization ahead of its needs, rather than finding themselves suffering from having done "too little, too late."

Once this senior team is in place, Tierney says the organization and its managers must be unified in their vision. This means having a shared understanding of what's expected of everyone and the organization aligned around its goals. Too often, noted Tierney, an organization's alignment around its mission is undermined by personal interpretations. Thus, a leader must work to shape the behavior of his leadership team–to model or "do" as he or she expects others to do.

To make sure that happens:

• Set the right culture. Daily signals are important in setting the standard that the rest of the leader's team and organization will follow. (For example, setting time aside for management tasks, placing an importance on recruiting, and not tolerating mediocrity, will eventually filter throughout the rest of the organization.)
•  Have feedback loops in place. Leaders should be evaluated through performance reviews by peers and others, and all senior team members need to receive continual informal feedback about how they are doing.These situations should be seen as opportunities to promote learning. Noted Tierney, constructive criticism is a gift.
• Learn to lead by persuasion rather than by control. It is one thing to command direct reports, but true leadership is the ability to affect the decisions and thoughts of those one does not have power over–such as board members, donors, and policy makers.

Leaders must also focus on the self and making sure they're always at the top of their games and in a position to help others around them. Just like we are instructed to do when flying on an airplane: "Put your mask on first, then assist others around you." Leaders, adds Tierney, need to start with a plan for their own job sustainability to avoid burning out and losing focus on the mission at hand. After all, a leader's performance and actions will set the standard that others follow throughout the entire organization.

Tierney's tips:

• Learn through feedback. Both formal reviews and informal reviews are important for a leader's own development.Tierney suggests keeping a journal or personal improvement plan to track progress.
• "Just Say No." Leaders must make conscious and ruthless tradeoffs in choosing where to allocate their time. This includes being disciplined about taking personal time off (vacations) and taking care of their health.
• Schedule in time for recovery (short term personal time to recover from stress) and renewal.Tierney cautions to be aware of the force of inertia!
• "Be who you are" and build upon natural strengths.

Attention to building strong, well-led nonprofits is more important to society than building comparable for-profits, Tierney maintains. If a for-profit business fails, other companies are likely to fill in that gap. When a nonprofit fails, there might not be another able to fill the void and deliver needed services. Thus the best nonprofit leaders are institution builders: they deal with today while building for tomorrow.