Guiding Growth: How Align Team Mastered Leadership Transitions and Strategic Planning

Brittany Ashby began her work in organizational leadership over twenty years ago. Through her tenure, she has led notable organizations such as the Wyoming Economic Development Association. While growing nonprofit organizations, she has also been growing personally as a leader and strategic planner. Earlier this year, she was promoted to President & Managing Director of the Align Team after serving as Vice President for nearly 9 years. “Our mission is to create strong communities by partnering with nonprofits, government and businesses for more impactful, successful organizations and programming. That mission resonates and I’m proud of our organization's growth and the impact we have been able to make through it,” said Brittany.

Leadership transitions and succession planning require considerate thought and intentionality. Algin’s leadership team and board understood that and implemented their own best practices when planning for the exit of one organization leader, another to the Chief Transition Officer role, and Brittany’s transition to President. “We help economic development and nonprofit organizations with long-term strategic planning. Succession planning is often a part of that. We always recommend bringing in a third party to facilitate group sessions and generate the plan – someone without bias,” said Brittany. “When it was time to develop our own strategic plan, we hired someone from another state to ensure that the process went smoothly and was effective.”

Their strategic planning process was inclusive and aligned with their motto of “One Goal. One Team.” Each team member and board member were invited to participate. Through this process, they identified that they had done a good job of preparing for executive transitions but had not addressed the VP level that would need to exist underneath. “When hiring an internal person to lead an organization there is a ripple effect that’s created underneath. More people need to advance, be hired, and trained,” she said. As an organization, they decided to promote three people to the VP level to support executive leadership changes. They also hired additional people to backfill their roles.

“It’s been a lot of work to think through how we build a new leadership team and get them comfortable in an executive role. It’s very new for some of them, so coaching and education is part of our plan.”

The training required to facilitate the transitions and new hires was extensive. They focused heavily on training and professional development by increasing the training budget. Managers asked employees what skills they needed and wanted to develop. Even VPs with executive experience received leadership development coaching from an outside facilitator. “This was built into our strategic plan to ensure that everyone could be successful in their new role,” said Brittany.

That approach has paid off, and the organization has continued to grow. “Growth is exciting. It also requires us to do things differently. We have had to evaluate our process and approach to work, find ways to be more efficient, and have expanded to include some virtual team members. Previously, we were all in Cheyenne.” These types of transitions aren’t easy and can lead to staff turnover when people aren’t comfortable with change. “Fortunately, people have handled the transition very well because we included the entire company in the strategic planning conversation. We lost a couple of people along the way who did not like the change of who they reported to or what their position looked like, but the majority of our team has had really strong buy-in and is excited for the future of our company and the organizations we support.”

Ultimately, the Align Team proved to be their own best client. By implementing the strategic planning process and including stakeholders at all levels, they were able to prepare for leadership changes and succession planning in a meaningful way that will support their continued growth.