One of my clients, a non-profit CEO, is having a rough time at his association: the members are angry, and threatening to impeach the entire board of directors. The directors, they say, are not managing money well, and have transgressed any number of by-law stipulations. “Let’s replace them all immediately,” these members screech! With anybody willing to run, their letter stipulates.
So here’s my friend, caught in the middle. The current leadership is facing a credibility crisis, and the louder opponents are organizing a takeover by anybody who has a complaint or concern—at best, questionable criteria for leadership
What to do? As most of us know, no matter how skilled we are as managers and how carefully we tread through the jungle of politics, we are employees at will, and the ‘will’ of our employers can sometimes be quirky, unpredictable, and even downright illegal. But it really doesn’t matter how good we are as managers, or how erratically our employers think: the fact of the matter is, we are vulnerable to losing our jobs for reasons that have nothing to do with competence or honesty.
It’s good to know when to cut your losses.
That was my advice to my client. We’ll work through his problems as best we can, trying to mend and heal his association, but he needs to develop his alternatives, his “Plan B”. If the worst case scenario actually occurs, and he finds himself in the office parking lot with a cardboard box filled with his personal belongings, what does he do next?
I have a very dear friend, now retired as an association exec, who always kept his resignation letter in the top drawer of his desk. He would tell his directors that it was there, and all they had to do was get a majority of board members to agree to sign and date the letter, and he was out of there. A little drastic perhaps, but he was recognizing the inevitable possibility and controlling the situation.
I don’t recommend that position, though it does have some merit. But to my client, I did recommend the following:
1.Keep a copy of relevant documents on file at home or in your safety deposit box. Those documents include your employment contract, performance evaluations, your benefits and insurance papers, and any agreements you may have signed when you were hired—perhaps a non-compete clause, or some other stipulations. Be familiar with all of those papers.
2.Keep copies of any personal papers or correspondence from work on a separate disk or thumb drive and carry it with you when you are not in the office. Keep your computer and desk clear of anything which could be misinterpreted by some rabid critic or in some way used to discredit you in the future.
3.Don’t keep any office equipment or supplies at home—or if you must, say, borrow the association camera, leave a paper trail that says you checked it out and specifies when you expect to return it.
4.Read this article: “Getting Fired”. Even if you’re very secure in your job, this is a good introduction to the process, important for any ‘Plan B’. Pay particular attention to legal issues you may need to consider. Note that termination of employment has financial implications that stretch beyond the loss of regular income: what happens to your benefits, severance pay, insurance, and retirement funds? And after you read this article, go back and look at your employment contract and compare it to those items mentioned in the article.
5.In your support system, include a personal attorney (not your employer’s), a counselor or coach, and a plan for where you will find your next employment. Or, if you’re not going to go back to work, think about how you will fill your time in ways that are healthful and meaningful to you.
6.Be prepared for loss. I found out that as a Realtor association executive, many of my friendships were my peers in organization management. Those relationships will disappear, and can leave a large hole in your life.
Of course nobody wants to think about these things. But even the best of us get axed—we all know horror stories of someone who came back from vacation and found his desk emptied or was told that her contract would not be renewed by the newly-elected board of directors. The point here is not to act in panic, desperation, or anger—but do understand your all options and prepare for the next phase of your life.
Judith, I totally agree with your suggestions and the whole notion of "keeping your eyes" open when working at the pleasure of any board. I would also point out that behind these types of job endings are often silver linings that would not be realized any other way. How many times have you heard someone say, "I didn't like it at the time, but it was the best thing to happen to me!"
Many people in jobs they are unhappy with still don't leave these positions out of fear or even misplaced loyalty. My experience has shown me that when an executive finds they are basically not in sync, rightly or wrongly, with a board or executive team, and have made honest efforts to find common ground, it is probably time to move on.
When you are doing something you love and are teamed with people with a common mission the results you can realize are unlimited. Conversely, when you are in a toxic environment, where most of the company/team energies are being spent internally to protect ego/power positions it is hard to get much accomplished. If that is the situation, I recommend people see if for what it is and if you can't effect a change, have the confidence to look for something more in alignment with your vision and values. When you find that environment energy is spent in the right direction, providing products/services,whatever , to your customers instead of using that energy to manage the internal soap opera.
A behind the scenes look at organized real estate--what works in an association, what doesn't, and what a long time AE sees as challenges facing the industry from the viewpoint of its professional organization.
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