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Nonprofit Leadership, It's Time to Start a Conversation*
Brian Kreeger • Nov 24, 2021
Leadership falls are far too common
for Christian nonprofit organizations. Leaders have fallen for various reasons: money mismanagement, addictions, arrogance, mistreatment of ministry staff, sexual sin, etc.
Ultimately, the blame for a leadership fall is almost always a leader’s own-decisions they made, actions they took, words they spoke. Scripture is very clear concerning individual accountability, especially in leadership.
But wise leaders and accountability structures understand there are many facets of the role that can create stumbling blocks in a leader’s Christian walk. Those stumbling blocks can manifest in the leader choosing to succumb to their fallen humanness and wandering down the wrong path.
(This blog focuses on starting a conversation centered on preventing the fall of nonprofit leaders. I write it from a Christian perspective, but all leaders will benefit. Be sure to sign up to receive these articles via email every Tuesday at
briankreeger.com as well as taking a look at previous blog articles. In addition to receiving these articles two days before they hit social media, you will receive the article "5 Early Indicators of a Christian Nonprofit Leadership Fall" along with the Contents, Introduction and the Appendix (My story) of my book,
The Courageous Ask: A Proactive Approach to Prevent the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders.)
While there is no question a leader must be proactive in keeping their path straight, those around them-especially their board of directors-have a role to play. The board has a unique opportunity to alter that path. But they must be proactive.
I maintain strongly
that communities surrounding our leaders have time after time watched them as they are stumbling, and then acted surprised when they fell. If we’re honest, most times after a leader falls, those closest to a leader recognize they saw it coming. Yes, hindsight is 20/20.
Too many times people don’t react when they see it happening. Onlookers don’t know what to do, or they don’t have the courage to act. Or they may sit back and tell themselves that someone should do something, not realizing they are that person.
When an individual leader falls, many times an organization fails, or is at least damaged and deemed stagnant for a period of time as they regroup. The fall, which typically is of a personal nature, ends up in the lap of the board.
Many falling leaders can be saved if those around the leader take a proactive approach by listening and acting on the warning signs.
Some of those early warning signs
include: the leader’s loss of true identity, re-prioritizing of their life, credit absorption, listening deficit, and adrenaline addiction. I go deeper into these in a report I have written that can be received free by
signing up for my newsletter.
Being alert to these possible early indicators requires two things: board engagement and personal relationship that includes attention to the personal life of an executive.
You might say, “Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, the personal life of a Christian nonprofit leader is none of our business.”
Oh, but to a certain extent it is. You exhibited this when you hired your executive. Your executive was not hired based solely on their resume, were they? You conducted an interview that helped you determine who they were/are. You asked them questions- many spiritually based- that would help you determine if they have the personality to create the culture you are looking for, if they can handle the pressures of the job description, and if they have the charm and character that will represent your nonprofit well in public. These are very personal qualities.
Again, most leadership falls have personal issues at their core. But yet if you were to search the internet for board responsibilities, it is rare that you would find a listing that addresses the personal life of the executive.
Yes, I recognize there is an appropriate level to this monitoring. But most of what I am asking you to consider comes from a conscious effort at a personal relationship with the leader and simple board engagement. I can assure you, leaders crave it. During the course of doing business, increased board engagement can also reveal some of those early signs of a fall.
It’s pretty easy for a board
to analyze data points and financial goals. Most of these are simply black and white, success or failure, and must be done. Holding a leader accountable to a set of key performance indicators is so much easier than getting down in the muck of their personal life.
This is where it gets sticky and uncomfortable for board members, and no one likes sticky and uncomfortable.
Without a conscious effort by the accountability structure to care for the leader in a responsible but personally compassionate way, the personal issues that are harbored by many executives will end up in the board’s lap.
A fundamental change must take place.
Allow me to end with this question….What hurts a nonprofit organization more: missing the year-end budget by 20 percent, or the organization experiencing the ugly public fall of their executive? Should be an easy answer.
It’s time to incorporate that easy answer into the way our nonprofit organizations are run.
It’s time to start a conversation.
Be Courageous!
Be Proactive!
Be sure to sign up to receive these articles via email every Tuesday at briankreeger.com. In addition to receiving these articles two days before they hit social media, you will receive the article "5 Early Indicators of a Christian Nonprofit Leadership Fall" along with the Contents, Introduction and the Appendix (My Story) of my book, The Courageous Ask: A Proactive Approach to Prevent the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders.
*Special Note: The above article will be found in the next edition of Outcomes from the Christian Leadership Alliance.
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Executives -pastors or nonprofit executives in our context- are put on a pedestal. It’s not that the typical person necessarily believes they belong there or desires to put them there. But it is human nature that this happens. The general public often places much higher expectations on leaders than they do on themselves. Sometimes it is appropriate, and the leader has put themselves in that position. In some cases, it is simply scriptural. For instance, James 3 points out that those who teach will be judged more strictly, thereby heightening the expectations of those who lead and teach. But what about when we accept, and enact, those elevated expectations and forget the humanity of our leaders? Often a community heaps on a leader the expectation that they are to perform with the perfection of Jesus and not simply be a Jesus follower and disciple just like them, but with a unique calling and heightened responsibility. Too many times when a leader shows human imperfection, the respect we have for them is damaged. Leaders fall under strict judgment, and we forget they are no less fallible than us. The imperfection they have colors any positive experience we would have had with them otherwise. While most of us acknowledge this strict, hypocritical judgment and recognize it as not being how we want to treat our leaders, it is a difficult battle to fight in our own attitudes and minds. No matter who the leader is, they are not Jesus. But please allow me to reverently make some comparisons. (This blog focuses on starting a conversation centered on preventing the fall of nonprofit leaders. I write it from a Christian perspective, but all leaders will benefit. Be sure to sign up to receive these articles via email every Tuesday at briankreeger.com as well as taking a look at previous blog articles. In addition to receiving these articles two days before they hit social media, you will receive the article "5 Early Indicators of a Christian Nonprofit Leadership Fall" along with the Contents, Introduction and the Appendix (My story) of my book, The Courageous Ask: A Proactive Approach to Prevent the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders. )
You are the community, no matter what formal role you play in a particular organization, or if you play any role at all. My blog articles typically focus on the roles the leader and the board have in preventing the fall of Christian nonprofit leaders. But I contend that the community that exists around organizational leaders and boards has a role as well. In fact, a community’s role can many times be much bigger. My next few blog articles will focus on the role of the community in preventing the fall of Christian nonprofit leaders. (This blog focuses on starting a conversation centered on preventing the fall of nonprofit leaders. I write it from a Christian perspective, but all leaders will benefit. Be sure to sign up to receive these articles via email every Tuesday at briankreeger.com as well as taking a look at previous blog articles. In addition to receiving these articles two days before they hit social media, you will receive the article "5 Early Indicators of a Christian Nonprofit Leadership Fall" along with the Contents, Introduction and the Appendix (My story) of my book, The Courageous Ask: A Proactive Approach to Prevent the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders. )
