Anyone who has ever been involved with a not-for-profit will at some point be asked to serve on a search committee or lead a search committee’s search for a new CEO/President or senior officer. We have written previously about the responsibilities of search committee members and how candidates can prepare for a search committee interview. Still, we wanted to take a deeper look at the role of the Search Committee Chair. We turn to Steve Taylor, a leader in the not-for-profit community for nearly 30 years, currently serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Mission Officer of the Arthritis Foundation. Steve recently chaired the search committee for the President & CEO of the National Health Council, which has been widely viewed as a well-run search with outstanding results. Below, Steve answers the questions we are frequently asked as not-for-profit recruits using search committees.
How big should a search committee be?
I believe the ideal size is seven, including the Chairman, who should also have a vote. You could do nine or five, but frankly, if the Committee becomes too large, it can be hard to coordinate schedules. There are too many opinions in the discussions, and you want every voice to be heard. You’ll also want to ensure it’s an odd number; that way, there is no tie.
Who should be on a search committee?
Much of it depends on the position. One to three members of the Executive Committee should be on the Search Committee and supplement that with volunteers who represent different parts of the organization. I recommend looking at the various responsibilities of the position you are trying to fill. Which volunteers can best represent and understand these responsibilities? The key to a successful search committee is to want members with different perspectives who live in various places. On the other hand, you don’t wish to search committee members being so free-spirited that they are substituting their vision for that of the Boards.
The ideal Search Committee member understands the organization’s history and future vision.
And that is so important when selecting volunteers to serve on a search committee: they need to be familiar [with], embrace the board’s vision for the organization, and represent different constituencies.
Should current employees sit on a search committee?
Many organizations wrestle with this question. Sometimes, it makes sense, especially when long-term employees understand the organization. But this is only a choice with challenges.
- If there are internal candidates for the position, it can be challenging to ask a colleague [to] make an unbiased choice.
- Secondly, a committee staff member may have a different strategic view of the organization than a high-ranking volunteer or board member.
- Thirdly, it can be sensitive for an employee to be involved in salary discussions involving the successful candidate.
I typically recommend that one of the Search Committee members serve as a liaison to a group of employees or staff. In my recent search for the National Health Council, I led the search and maintained contact with the senior leadership team. While I did not discuss individual candidates, I asked the search firm for their opinions on the type of leaders we were seeking and communicated the progress of the search.
Who selects the search firm, and what should be considered?
I emphasize the importance of a strong partnership with the search firm. You want it to be a partnership, not just a firm presenting resumes. The chair should have meaningful input on selecting the search firm because they’ll be the one working [most] closely with them. Of course, the Search Committee reviews proposals and meets with several finalists. Ultimately, the Chair of the Search Committee should have a strong voice when selecting a search firm.
For me, it was critical that the search firm had experience organizing and administratively providing infrastructure to the Committee so that I and the Committee could focus on the candidates.
The chair should rely on something other than the Search Committee or search firm to coordinate all tasks. Sometimes, the chair must facilitate meetings or deal with scheduling or personnel challenges. The search firm should be willing to do more than search, as many search committee members have full-time jobs.
I advise my colleagues running search committees to be specific about what they want the search firm to do.
Do you want them to:
- Attend search committee meetings?
- Set the agenda for search committee meetings.
- Provide interview questions.
It would be best to hire a search firm to do anything the Search Committee and its Chairman cannot or do not want to do due to time restraints.
It is a given that a search firm needs to have a robust Rolodex, but I’m still trying to figure out how to evaluate that. [laughing] You can determine recent searches a search firm has conducted for similar positions as we evaluated search firms, some listed searches that were conducted more than a decade ago! That was a lifetime ago in the not-for-profit world.
Finally, I believe you need to find a search firm that is upfront and honest with you about who the lead staff will be—and that you have the opportunity to meet with that lead staff to ensure compatibility and understanding of the process you envision—before you finalize your selection on a firm.
What allowances did you make during COVID-19 in the most recent search you chaired?
Overall, it worked out well. In specific ways, the process moved more efficiently, given that the Search Committee met via Zoom and the search firm, and we interviewed the candidates for first-round interviews via Zoom. One advantage we had as a search committee was that we all knew each other—some better than others—and this familiarity allowed us to work together well virtually.
Once we narrowed the process to our finalists, we asked them to meet face-to-face, socially distancing, wearing masks, etc., with another search committee member and me. Despite adapting to video conferencing, meeting the candidate personally makes a big difference. A candidate willing to invest the time to travel to a meeting and meet a group of people, some in person, some virtually, was critical to the final steps of our process.
We were able to observe how they handled themselves in the middle of a pandemic, watch how they coordinated their presentation, and even how they arranged the papers on the conference table. In a virtual interview, you have yet to learn if the candidate has sticky notes on their computer screen providing possible hints to questions. That was important to us because that’s what the job is going to be (ultimately):
- Face-to-face meetings.
- Working with different constituencies.
- Being able to communicate and think on their feet.
Interestingly, we ended up with the same candidate if we had searched COVID.
As a search committee chair, how do you handle candidate withdrawals and surprises?
As a search committee chair or member, you understand that many candidates are currently in good positions, and you are hoping to attract them to your organization. You can’t get too nervous about that. It is part of the process. You reach for candidates; some attract, and some lose. And if a candidate pulls out, they should do it in the search process rather than later.
As for the second part of your question, as chair, you have to be flexible, responsive, and agile because issues arise that must be resolved quickly. Several times, I had to reach out to committee members individually to keep the process moving, either because a problem arose on a Friday night or because there was not enough time to call a full committee meeting. You establish that at the beginning of the search so there is a clear understanding. In every search, minor decisions may be made by the chair or by a smaller group on the Committee because trying to get everyone together all the time isn’t possible. Still, ultimately, the big decisions are made as a group.
How much time does it take to do a good job?
The time required ebbs and flows during the search. If you have a good search firm, as we did using The Alexander Group, there’s less time initially because you allow them to do the search and trust their judgment on the candidates they’re presenting. The search committee chair can focus on the higher-level items most important to finding the right candidate. Once the interview process is underway, you must be available for the search committee, search firm, [and] staff as the process unfolds. A significant time commitment is required from the chair. The organization needs someone who can commit time because you’ll never finish the search if it is not a priority.
Who should be the chair?
Choosing the right search committee chair is critical to a successful search. The chair needs to be a leader in the organization who understands its past and future vision. It does not have to be the current board chair. It could be a past board chair who might have more time because the position differs from the current board chair. It is essential that the chair can lead without supervision and is trusted by the board.