Designing A Cohort For Emerging Executive Directors.
New executive directors often get the keys before they get the playbook. Here is how associations build a cohort that grows them into the role, together.
Most emerging executive directors were promoted because they were excellent at the work. Leading a whole organization is a different job, and a cohort gives them peers who are learning it at the same time.
Who to invite
- New executive directors. In the role for under two years, still finding their footing.
- Directors being groomed for the role. Assistant directors and department heads on a succession path.
- A mix of settings. Different sizes and regions widen what the group can learn from each other.
- A small enough group. Twelve to twenty-five people lets everyone speak and build trust.
What the sessions should cover
The strongest cohorts cover the shift from doing to leading, building and keeping a team, hard conversations, working with a board or owners, and personal resilience in a role that can feel lonely.
Each session should end with one thing participants will try before the next meeting, and the next session should start by asking how it went.
The cohort is the curriculum. Peers who share the same hard week teach each other fast.
A six step structure
Set the outcomes
Decide what a graduate should be able to do that they cannot do today.
Open in person
A first in-person workshop builds the trust the rest of the program runs on.
Space the sessions
Monthly or quarterly sessions give people time to apply ideas in their own buildings.
Mix facilitators and peers
An outside facilitator brings structure; peer case discussions bring reality.
Pair each person with a mentor
A seasoned executive director gives a place to bring questions between sessions.
Close with a commitment
End with each participant sharing the leader they plan to be in the next year.
Questions planners ask
How long should an emerging leader cohort run?
Should the first session be in person?
Where does an outside facilitator fit?
How far ahead should we book a facilitator?
Chris Sund has led leadership workshops for state health care associations and delivers You Are Capable of More: Leadership as a keynote and workshop. See his work as a keynote speaker for emerging leaders, leadership workshop facilitator and state healthcare association speaker.
Chris Sund
President and COO of Uniti Med, GQR Healthcare and Nebula, and bestselling author of You Are Capable of More. He has spent the past decade in healthcare staffing, helped grow Uniti Med 10x in revenue, was named to SIA’s Healthcare Staffing 100 and serves as Vice President of the NATHO Board of Directors. Based in Nebraska. Thinkers360 ranks him a Top 100 Thought Leader in Leadership and a Top 100 Thought Leader in Coaching.
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