Leadership Development

If professional athletes work with coaches, why shouldn’t you team up with a thought partner to improve your game? You can’t see your own swing, and you can’t step outside your own mind. Let us guide you in growing into the best leader you can be, the one your organization needs to advance its impact in the world. We can work on more vibrant results, an articulated vision, and what it would take to surround yourself with a better support system for success.

We love training, and know its value in the business and nonprofit worlds. We can customize a training plan for your team that covers areas such as governance versus management, leadership development, empowerment, organizational decision-making, increasing the effectiveness of meetings, staff supervision, communication, and board roles and responsibilities.

Sometimes it’s important to step back so you can see the bigger picture and focus on the horizon instead of the view right in front of you. Retreats offer an opportunity for boards and staff to take a breath, learn, and re-energize. Talk to us about your particular needs, and we’ll co-design and facilitate a half-day, full-day, or multi-day retreat.

Leadership transitions are pivotal times in the life of nonprofit organizations. Even the strongest organizations can experience some degree of upheaval as a result of changes in senior management—executive director, development director, board chair. If not managed well, this change may impact funding, staff morale, or strategic direction. In addition to identifying the right new leader, the rest of the nonprofit must be ready to effectively orient him or her to the organization and position them for success.

Rainmaker assists senior leadership in navigating leadership transitions through:

• Executive coaching for senior leadership.
• Creation of a search committee and search process that will lead to the identification of a well-matched leader.
• Review of job descriptions, search postings, and marketing materials used for candidate search.
• Development of an on-boarding plan for welcoming and orienting new leadership and post-hire support for all leaders.
• Support for interim leadership—board, staff, volunteers.
• Staff/board retreat—strengthen your team and forge forward.

We find that organizations that are supported through leadership transitions have a more effective search and that new leaders are more likely to remain in their positions after five years.