Leader Turnover at a Nonprofit: An Opportunity to Foster Positive Change (Full Case Study)

A senior leader voluntarily resigned from Clean Climate Coalition, a nonprofit organization focused on expediting clean energy solutions to reduce climate change via governmental policies. The remaining four leaders decided to re-organize the growing organization to have (1) all functions report to them, and (2) a new organizational layer of Director promoted to run the teams. The newly promoted Chief Operating Officer, Amy Stowe, was tasked with figuring out a plan to both effectively communicate the re-organization and implement the changes. She viewed this as an opportunity to have a positive impact on the culture and employees. Amy selected Kotter’s Eight-Step Change Model (Kotter, 1996) to use as a guide for creating an achievable plan and timeline while being cognizant of organizational constraints.