Leadership Development for Artist Organizations

I belong to dozens of artist societies and organizations, and I’m always dismayed when I see one (or more recently, several) of them making plans to dissolve. The reason they give to their members is always the same – they aren’t able to recruit new board members.

 

I recently read an editorial in the newspaper that stated the problem quite simply –  

 

“The current leadership is derelict one of their primary responsibilities – leadership development at every level, but particularly at the senior management level. Whether they are corporate CEOs or local school boards, leaders must be engaged in continuous succession planning to ensure that when the current chief departs, for whatever reason, there are candidates in waiting.”

 

Volunteering to serve as a Director of an organization is a selfless act and is truly commendable, but we all have to go one step further. In addition to volunteering to serving on boards, each and every one of us needs to take on the role of mentor and make an effort to reach out to recruit and train potential new leaders. 

 

All the organizations that have recently dissolved have a major flaw in common – the leaders asked for volunteers, but attached so many arbitrary conditions that they made the positions untenable. 

An example, a couple of years ago I volunteered to take over the position of website director for a watercolor society. I already had experience administering their website and others using that same platform, so it would have been fairly easy for me to take it over. However, after I offered to volunteer, the position grew to include much of the duties of the exhibit chairmen, workshop chair, and even the secretary. While it shrank the duties of other board members, the position became too all-encompassing of many different roles. Even worse, I would not have any access to any of the software and internet platforms until after the current key holder had left office – which is a set-up for failure.

 

Nearly a year after I volunteered, I still had not been allowed to transition into the job and I resigned out of frustration. The timing turned out to be perfect, however, as I soon afterward was able to successfully volunteer to work on exhibits for a much larger and more prestigious artist society. So successful, in fact, that I was soon offered (and accepted) the position of website director. 

The difference between the two organizations is that the second one welcomed me and allowed me to start right away to do the jobs, while the society that I turned down is still struggling to find and keep volunteers in the skilled positions and they still can’t seem to recruit any board members. 

Here's some tips that I learned along the way that have proved helpful when recruiting and mentoring new leaders...

 

Don’t micro manage:  Be available to answer question, but let the new person work on their own. Allow the new person to work at their own pace and on their own schedule. Remember, it’s not the process of work that’s important – it’s the results. For instance, a new newsletter editor will likely want to design the layout using the software that she is already experienced using, rather than learn a different software that the previous editor used. If her end result is a great newsletter, did it matter which software she used to design it? Absolutely not.

 

Share resources and tools:  In order to ensure that the new person is able to do the job, she must have access to the necessary tools and resources required for the position. This could mean administrative access to the website, social media, membership files, archives, image files, etc. It’s important to share these items with the new person so that they can be fully prepared for the job and ready to do the work when they start their position.

 

Don’t be jealous:  The success of the new person does not diminish the legacy of her predecessor, nor anyone else. In fact, a good mentor will cheer her protégé on, and be proud of her accomplishments. A good mentor will be proud of her protégé and hold her up as an example of her own good teaching methods.

 

Be open to new ideas:  New people bring new ideas with them, and that’s how successful organizations grow and prosper. It’s important to encourage everyone to share their ideas openly and candidly and let everyone discuss new ideas and brainstorm together. Never be afraid to let other people come up with ideas; it seldom creates problems and it usually creates solutions.

 

Although I only recently started my new job on the Board of Directors of the National Watercolor Society, I’ve already started looking at potential candidates that I can start training for my position. The people that helped me transition into my role were extraordinary mentors, and my goal is to do the same for volunteers that follow after me.

 

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Annie Strack earned Signature Membership in dozens of international artist societies and is an Official Authorized Artist for the USCG. She draws from her previous career in corporate management to build her successful art career, and since 2005 she’s been sharing her business and marketing expertise with the readers of Art Calendar, Professional Artist, Crafts Report, and other magazines. She’s served on the Board of Directors for dozens of organizations for over 40 years.