WORKPLACE
Cassandra Jennings , president and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Urban League , says nonprofits must do better at identifying and seeking out candidates for promotion . PHOTO COURTESY OF HEALTH NET
“ There tend to be more women that sit on those boards who are willing to do communal work , so when there ’ s a search for candidates for leadership positions , there ’ s already more women .”
Hassett says , and that ’ s an inherent management flaw .
“ I don ’ t know if the people hiring the person at the top always know what they ’ re doing ,” she says . “ We don ’ t spend as much time thinking about grooming that next group of people for leadership roles .”
The coronavirus crisis , Hassett adds , is a stark reminder to think to the
JODI HICKS CEO and president , Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California
future with care . When the pandemic hit , she immediately started thinking about leadership succession at WEAVE . Compared to companies in the forprofit sector , Hassett says , nonprofits tend to fall short in such contingency planning . “ We ( don ’ t ) do enough work around that kind of thing — thinking about who the next leader is . Are we bringing them up through the ranks , or are we just going to go pluck somebody from somewhere else ?” Hassett says the pandemic “ has increased my awareness about how challenging change and uncertainty is for many of my staff at all levels of the organization .”
Cassandra Jennings , president and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Urban League , shares a similar perspective . “ It can be difficult to have a clear path of succession planning within an organization if you ’ re not big enough ,” Jennings says .
The smaller the organization , she says , the more specific each person ’ s job tends to be , which means she may not be suited to a position that requires an overarching understanding of how all operations work .
Jennings has spent more than 50 years working in the private , public and nonprofit sectors , including a gig as adviser to Kevin Johnson when he was mayor of Sacramento . Jennings also spent six years as the assistant city manager for the City of Sacramento and
74 comstocksmag . com | March 2021