Better Late than Never

Better to write a late thank you note than never to write one at all. Or wash the snow, sand, salt or gunk off your car than leave it there forever. Or finally start exercising after promising for years. Or fire your executive director. What exactly is stopping you? Why would you procrastinate when costs of putting this off are simply too high?

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(As an aside, for those great executive directors, those you wish would stay for ever, it is not better late than never to demonstrate your appreciation. Or raise the money to give a well-deserved raise—to him/her and the rest of staff—or to hire a number two. Or do that annual performance appraisal. If you wait too long to do any of this, you may find you have a vacancy to fill).

To quote another valid cliche, “ you snooze you lose.” The longer you snooze and put off firing that underperforming executive director, the more the organization—and, that means your clients, staff, donors, partners—lose. Plain and simple. And yet, we see this all of the time: boards “grappling”—in quotes because they aren’t really grappling at all; they are procrastinating, hoping for…. Well, I’m not really sure what they are hoping for—that what has finally become so blatantly apparent will suddenly autocorrect? Not happening, folks.

I understand wanting to get your ducks in order, wanting to do things carefully and in accordance with how your lawyer has advised, wanting things done in a manner that poses the least risk for the organization, and all of that good stuff. But that should take months, not years? And yet we see the years time frame again and again and again. I get it: it isn’t easy or pleasant to fire someone. But the failure to do so more often than not proves even more difficult and unpleasant as you work to clean up, right the ship and move the organization forward—if that is possible.

Think about the costs. Several examples have unfolded before my very eyes. Organization A. saw problems with the executive director not too long after he was hired. It didn’t take long before staff started grumbling about controlling and abusive behavior. The board itself started experiencing the controlling behavior, with reports not being presented, pushing back hard when questions were asked, passive aggressive behavior, secretive behavior, and the list goes on. The board wanted to be nice; tried working with the executive director, suggested a coach, then backed away from their own suggestion. And finally, after several years of putting off the inevitable, the board fired the executive director. What they had seen and experienced was the tip of the iceberg. There was embezzlement, favoritism that was overplayed to the point of violations of federal law, fabricated reports to funders, and this list, too, goes on and on. This is a board that wasn’t doing any part of its job and when it finally woke up, took way too long to take the ultimate action.

It is important to recognize that when a board gets wind of something, it is generally true that the board finally got wind of something, but that “things” have been going on long before. Thus, the need to move quickly—not drag feet, make excuses, think it isn’t that bad. Because the reality is, it is usually much worse. You just haven’t peeled the onion yet. So, get the due diligence done, do what the lawyers say, but do it immediately! Because waiting is only going to make the mess you have to clean up that much worse. Waiting is not going to make the mess disappear; it is just going to make the mess—well, messier.

Another organization was running out of money—and quickly. The executive director told the board it wasn’t her job to raise funds; it was the board’s. She was explicit that she was not going to do anything in that quarter. Truth was, she hadn’t been doing anything in any of the quarters of her job. But the board just sat back and waited…for a long time. For what, I’m not sure. It wasn’t until the ability to make payroll came into question that the board finally moved and let the executive director go, while keeping on other staff. What was gained by delaying the inevitable? Obviously, nothing, though much was lost.

And still a third. (And, I promise, each of these situations has come to my attention within the last month; these aren’t stories that I have amassed over the years). Here a staff member suggested to a board member that perhaps the board should look a bit more closely at the financial statements—something it had not been doing. It wasn’t looking at all, let alone closely. Yup, embezzlement and theft of property in a small community where bad secrets are hardly ever kept. But it took over a year for the board to fire the executive director, while all the negative behavior continued. Then, once the deed is done, it’s time to call in those costly forensic accountants, do a comprehensive inventory (something which had never been done) and start working on the spin to preserve the reputation of the organization.

Better late than never in each of these cases? No question about it. But there shouldn’t have been the wait. But how much more damage was done while the boards dragged their feet? Did more malfeasance happen? Likely. Did staff morale suffer? Absolutely! Was the mission pushed forward in a positive trajectory? Hardly. Did a downward spiral continue? Certainly.

When things aren’t going well and right, there is a direct relationship between the length of the delay and the deleterious effect on the organization, boards have but one choice: move quickly. It is the only principled action to take.