A leadership trend that has emerged over the past few years is coming to a head, bringing with it a new set of recruitment and talent engagement challenges and opportunities in 2025.
Leaders in the nonprofit sector and higher education have been serving shorter tenures and experiencing higher turnover rates since the pandemic. As a result, many organizations are now being led by individuals who are relatively new to their positions.
These leaders enter brimming with fresh perspectives and innovative ideas. To make their visions a reality, they are now building and engaging their leadership teams to achieve maximum alignment and impact. As new leaders transition into this phase of their tenures, they face a dual challenge: building teams that can both support them individually as well as align with broader organizational goals.
This trend presents both challenges and opportunities.
On the one hand, new leaders who waver on hiring create risk for the entire organization—one of the biggest regrets leaders have is not building their team fast enough. On the other hand, the cost of a misaligned hire can be significant, costing organizations in time, money, and morale.
As leadership recruitment experts, we’ve observed how this shift is reshaping hiring processes and strategies for a wide range of organizations. To help you own your power and harness the opportunities inherent in bringing on new talent, we’ve outlined key insights to help new leaders and their organizations navigate new waters, ensuring they make confident and impactful recruitment decisions that set them up for success.
Define Your Priorities
For leaders stepping into roles with limited experience, the process of building and managing their leadership teams can feel overwhelming. It’s easy to get bogged down by the pressure to make the “perfect” hire. The key is to gain clarity on your most essential needs and set your expectations accordingly.
Start by defining what matters most to you and your organization:
- What are the critical skills and experiences your leadership team needs?
- What attributes will help someone thrive in your environment?
- What kind of support do YOU need as a leader rolling out your plan for your organization?
- How are you going to assess and balance these priorities?
Clear priorities based on a careful assessment of how your current team works and what it needs will act as a guiding light, cutting through uncertainty and enabling thoughtful decisions.
Embrace the Opportunity to Shape Your Team
As a new leader, you have the chance to shape your team in ways that reflect your unique vision and leadership style.
One of your first tasks will be to understand your team, getting to know its strengths and weaknesses. While it’s imperative to understand that employee turnover can present challenges and you should strive to create a culture where people enjoy long tenures, when turnover does occur, you will be prepared to take advantage of that moment to move your organization forward.
Don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo or bring in candidates who align with the future you’re building. In addition, it is important to consider values alignment and the complementary competencies a new hire might bring to rounding out your team. This means balancing quantitative and qualitative assessments that encompass both the hard and soft skills needed to succeed in your organization.
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Share Your Vision and Create Alignment
One of the biggest risks for new leaders is failing to align their hiring goals with the broader organization. Misalignment often stems from differences in vision—struggling to balance immediate needs with long-term strategies or to manage competing expectations from various stakeholders.
Early in your tenure as a new leader, you’ll invest in sharing their vision, clearly communicating how your hiring priorities support that vision, and building internal buy-in and support. Take ownership over the task of socializing your hiring plans with organizational leaders, key stakeholders, and your larger team. A well-aligned recruitment process, driven from the top, strengthens team cohesion and reinforces your ability to lead effectively.
In the End, Own Your Decisions
In today’s environment, hiring processes have become more deliberate and multi-layered. While it’s important to be thorough, it’s also important to remain decisive and keep a steady pace throughout the recruitment process. The drawbacks of indecision—in lost time, higher costs, and diminished morale—can be significant.
Seeking input from colleagues and stakeholders and carefully weighing options are important and contribute to a culture of trust and collaboration that will pay off down the road. But ultimately, the decisions are yours to make. Decisiveness will keep promising candidates engaged, strengthen your leadership presence, and inspire confidence across your organization.
Move Forward with Confidence
The challenges of leadership turnover may feel significant, but they also represent a moment of transformation for organizations and leaders alike.
By focusing on clarity, alignment, and intentional team-building, you can turn these challenges into opportunities for lasting impact. As you navigate this pivotal phase, remember: strategic hiring is not just about filling roles—it’s about shaping the future of your organization and leaving a legacy of strong, purpose-driven leadership.
Your Nonprofit Executive Search Partner
At Lindauer, we partner with mission-driven organizations to find the leaders who will propel their causes forward.