Erica Beal
Executive Director
School Leader Lab
Tell us about your leadership style and how this contributes to your organization’s success.
I believe leadership means unlocking others’ potential in order to make progress on tough challenges. In my case, tough challenges in service of children.
There’s no shining if my team isn’t shining. My best moments as a leader are when someone else is flourishing. I set a high bar, ask questions, and then give people the trust, accountability, and support to do the work well. I clearly define what I mean by “well.” We’ve named not just our values but the behaviors that go with them, so our values aren’t just website language; they guide how we treat each other, make daily decisions, and pursue the outcomes we strive for in service of children.
What advice would you offer other nonprofit leaders?
The nonprofit Executive Director’s most important job is to answer “question zero”: why do we exist?
If the ED can’t say why the organization exists in one clear sentence, nobody else can either. Not their staff, funders, or the people they serve.
School Leader Lab’s answer to question zero? We exist to create excellent schools for kids through leaders who get better and stay.
It sounds simple now, but it took me five years and multiple rounds of stakeholder listening sessions, drafting and re-drafting as an Executive Director, to say that answer to question zero plainly. It took even longer, after I reached my own clarity, to get to where everyone on our staff says it the same way.
Answer question zero first. Everything you build sits on top of it. And don’t underestimate how much time and energy that will take. But it’s worth it.
Second, get clear on the job before you start acting, especially if you’re following a founder.
Use your ninety days to figure out where the org actually is. What are the finances? What’s going well? What needs to be addressed immediately, in the short term and in the long term? Are you facing a turnaround? A good to great? Are you sustaining something that’s already excellent? Those are three very different jobs, and you need to know which one you have.
Ask your team and your board where they think the org is. Then ask yourself if you agree. If you don’t, spend the time getting aligned, and know that your opinion on this one matters most. For those taking over from founders, don’t assume the founder’s view of the org is reality. That’s the whole point of the ninety days. You’re forming your own opinion.
Work with your board to clarify the help that you want, or don’t want, from you founder. Boards might automatically assume you want the founder to stay on as a mentor. They may or may not be true. If you want the help, get clear on exactly what the founder will support and the timeline for that support. If you don’t want help, get your board on board with minimizing their footprint. Either way, say what you want out loud. You have more power here than you know.
I kept 100% of our staff through that transition, and our founder remained on our board and has been exceptionally helpful. It took clarity, honest and open conversations, and a clear vision of where the org is, where I am trying to take us, and what I needed. Take the time you need to form an opinion and be clear about how others fit into that vision.
What does this award mean for you and your organization?
At School Leader Lab, we believe in intentional adult professional development, so I’m excited to have the chance to do that for me and my staff.
For me, I want to learn how to scale an organization without losing impact. We are growing, and I know how intensive our model is. I want to learn from other organizations and institutions that have done this responsibly, so we hold our impact sacred as we get bigger. A few years ago, I went to Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Leadership at Harvard through a similar award from the Great Washington Community Foundation, and the models from that week are still in the lifeblood of this organization. I know what this kind of investment gives back and will use every inch of the opportunity for years to come.