Have you ever counted the number of board of directors meetings you have planned? Well, I have, and the number will come to exactly 250 when I leave the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), Alexandria, Virginia, in December 1998 after 18 years as president and chief executive officer.
After 30 years as an association manager and leader, 25 of them as CEO, I decided that I need to pursue new challenges. My job at ASTD--managing a $21 million budget and overseeing a 135-person staff, serving 64,000 members--has been the best I've ever had. It has combined working with and for terrific people, and the chance to serve an organization whose purpose makes a great contribution to society. This time, I won't be looking for a new association to lead. Instead I will be searching for work that uses my knowledge of corporate training systems worldwide and nonprofit organizations.
To allow me to exit this job with the association firmly set on its future course, the board, staff, and outside experts spent many months setting future directions for ASTD. This enabled the board to agree on the selection criteria for a new president and to appoint a selection committee comprising board members and one staff person.
My decision in 1995 to leave set in motion a three-year transition process (outlined in the accompanying table, "ASTD Key Decisions in Transition Process") that is monitored by ASTD's officers. The plan stemming from the transition process has five objectives, each with a financial incentive attached.
Transition plan objectives
Initiating new programs and services. This objective centers on institutionalizing by 1998 programs and services that are critical to achieving ASTD's vision. They include creating a new performance-support product line, integrating our research function, and institutionalizing our newfound success in the international market. Ensuring steady growth of existing products and services. This objective ensures the association's success while reducing my personal involvement. It means delegating responsibility for day-to-day operation of our core business to executive and management staff. Enhancing ASTD staff capability. The transition plan aims to equip staff to meet current and future needs. Part of this objective involves transferring my relationships, networks, and institutional memory to the organization. Embedding vision and practices. Our objective here is to integrate staff and board members in a process that will connect them to ASTD's vision and strategy for the future. The process of developing a new strategic plan has been extremely helpful and has had the unexpected consequence of helping us with transferring institutional memory. Staff is currently developing a new set of values to be approved by the board. Ongoing. This includes setting annual objectives with the board. I will spend less time initiating new programs and leading existing ones, and more time transferring responsibility to others and embedding vision and practices. Progress report
So how is it going now that we're two thirds through the transition, with one year left before my departure? That depends on whether you're asking about operational or emotional progress.
The transition plan and selection process are going extremely well. The hardest parts are about to start, but I believe we've laid a good foundation in our planning. We have a new organizational strategy. If ASTD continues to grow, I will enjoy the opportunity to leave the organization during good times.
Considering staff. Acknowledging the fact that a major change in staff leadership can be extremely hard on employees, I have been communicating with them throughout the transition process. This has helped ease uncertainty and ambiguity about the future. The more transparent the CEO makes the transition process, the better. Left to its own, the grapevine will create fear, distortion, and mistrust--the last thing an organization needs during a major change.
Working with the board. A volunteer board of directors has a real challenge in selecting a chief executive who can implement a new strategy and whose values are consistent with the organizational culture. ASTD's volunteer leaders have been very respectful of my contribution to the process, yet clear about their responsibility for ultimately selecting the new president. Maintaining that respect for our roles during this process will be one of the keys to a smooth transition.
On a personal note, this is a time of letting go of the past and moving toward the future, and this period has its ups and downs. I am excited by the opportunity presented by the future and sometimes apprehensive about what might be possible. At the same time, I am sad to leave a really wonderful organization made up of such great people. The one thing that I have learned about myself is that while it is necessary to let go psychologically and emotionally, I really won't be able to give less than 100 percent to the job until I walk out of the office for good.
Curtis Plott, CAE, is president and chief executive officer, American Society for Training and Development, Alexandria, Virginia. |
