Daring to Lead 2006 - Finding 2

I continue to work my way through the Daring to Lead 2006 study. I blogged last time about the study's first finding—that 75% of surveyed nonprofit executives plan to leave their jobs in the next five years. Their second finding—that Boards of Directors and funders contribute to executive burnout—begins to get into the reasons why so many executives are apparently dissatisfied.

Look at these data sets from the study, comparing the responses of executives who were planning on leaving with those who were planning on staying:

Board is not personally supportive
46% of executives who plan to leave agree vs.
19% of executives who plan to stay

Board doesn't understand ED's job
49% of executives who plan to leave agree vs.
27% of executives who plan to stay

Board doesn't value ED's contributions
32% of executives who plan to leave agree vs.
8% of executives who plan to stay

Staff don't view the Board as leaders
66% of executives who plan to leave agree vs.
48% of executives who plan to stay

The point here is obviously the higher agreement rates among executives who are planning to leave. But look again at that last data set. Two-thirds of executives who plan to leave say their staff don't view their Board as an engaged leadership body—but nearly half of the executives who plan to stay say the same thing.

The study is careful to point out that it is simply reporting on executive perception of a relationship that requires strategic effort on both sides. In other words, just because an executive thinks her staff don't view her Board as leaders, that doesn't mean her staff really think that, or that her Board isn't really comprised of leaders.

I'm curious what you think about the potential behind this statistic—that between half and two-thirds of nonprofit staffs don't view their Boards as engaged leaders. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to comment on your staff and your Board. I'm asking whether you think such a disconnect really exists in such a high percentage of our nonprofit organizations. I'm skeptical.