Executive Sabbatical Changes Organization, Too

Current Executive Searches

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION ENDS 

 MAY 31, 2012    

A Two-Day Event  

Founders & Long-Term
Executives

 Register Today

Early Registration: $375
(before 5/31/2012)

Registration Fee: $450 
Includes: continental breakfast and lunch,
all session materials, a comprehensive resource CD and a complimentary book by either Tom Adams or
Don Tebbe!

Seats are Limited 

 

Register Now! 

 

Back to Top

Executive Sabbatical Changes Organization, Too  

A New Vision Means Big Changes for the Leader and the Staff      

How does a founding or long-term executive learn to let go? How does letting go affect the organization? This article, continued from the last issue of Leadership Guide, explores how an executive learns to let go. 

Eliot Pfanstiehl

Eliot Pfanstiehl, CEO of Strathmore (Strathmore.org), a major performing arts center near Washington, D.C., came back from his three-month sabbatical recharged. He had new ideas and was ready to start a new stage of his work with the organization. But what about Strathmore? Was it ready for him?

A key question for Pfanstiehl as he left on sabbatical was, "who am I without Strathmore?" He had been the leader of the organization for close to three decades. The organization's identity and his identity were deeply entwined. His sabbatical, during which he talked to a number of people about their visions for retirement, readied him to rethink his job and his future.

As he prepared to return, Pfanstiehl reviewed what he knew about himself. "I was looking at my Myers-Briggs. I am an 'ENFP.' That means I have my eyes on the future -- that's my best and highest use of whatever time remains to me." He also thought about the lessons he'd learned from retirees about the importance of preparing mentally for a "new act" in the future (whether that future includes retirement or more work). He knew he wanted to find a worthy mission for his next act.

"I came back and made a decision to empower my number two person. I split my CEO & President title and gave my second the role of President. Her job would be to manage the day-to-day operations. Mine would be to focus on the vision and important organizational relationships. This would let me get my head out of the weeds."

Reentry challenge opens new doors

That sounds great, but Pfanstiehl had been gone three months. That's enough time for staff to begin to develop new relationships. "When I came back after being gone three months, I had not given thought to reentry. And yet that was the greatest shock of all. When you leave, new connections are made among the people that remain. When you reenter the system, there's conflict. This is a great lesson!"

Pfanstiehl easily admits that he was hurt at first by the way his relationships with staff had changed. "This is the deep, dark secret of every executive: If I go, will people still love me? The sense that 'I am no longer listened to or useful' was hard." Ultimately, though, the challenge of reentry helped him develop a new vision for his position. "I had gone on sabbatical to become a better, fuller person. When that settled in, I began to see the difference between the CEO and President positions." For Pfanstiehl, an important part of the lesson of reentry was that although he previously believed he had empowered staff, they were not fully empowered until he left. He had to learn how to nurture their newfound power even as he resumed and renegotiated his leadership role. But he also was heartened. "Staff grew every bit as much as I did when I went on sabbatical. This gave me confidence that they will continue when I leave."

Pfanstiehl's new role, as CEO, has a special focus: developing a vision for what Strathmore will be like in the year 2020. Since returning and redesigning his job, he has interviewed fifty constituents of the organization about its future. He is now in the process of developing scenarios based on those interviews, which he will present to the board.

He likens his new position and his new "self" to piloting a zephyr tethered to the organization. No longer embroiled in the day-to-day, his value to the organization is that "I can see further from my new vantage point and help point Strathmore in the right direction. It's a different perspective."

And that new perspective is one he may never have gained had he not mustered the courage to venture from his organization.

Back to Top  

Did you miss the first article?  

March 2012 Issue 

 "One Month, Three Questions, Five Thousand Miles" 

We've got you covered. Click Here 

Back to Top