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Research & Insights / Time to Lead, Learn, and Grow: Sabbatical Reflections

Time to Lead, Learn, and Grow: Sabbatical Reflections

By Marinell Rousmaniere and Ruth Mercado-Zizzo

Last year, the EdVestors Board aproved an organizational policy that makes full-time employees with at least 10 years of service eligible for a paid 3-month sabbatical. This summer, CEO Marinell Rousmaniere took the first EdVestors sabbatical, with VP of Programs and Equity Ruth Mercado-Zizzo serving as Acting CEO.

Many colleagues and partners have asked us about this experience, prompting us to share what we learned along the way. We hope our reflections are helpful to other organizations considering or preparing to implement a sabbatical policy. Below, we refer to ourselves in the third person for clarity, and “we” refers to the entire leadership team at EdVestors.

Nonprofit leaders often view a sabbatical with a mix of excitement and (perhaps mostly) trepidation. Will critical decisions stall? Can the organization function smoothly? Is it possible for the leader to truly disconnect? These questions were on our minds when EdVestors CEO Marinell Rousmaniere took the organization's first paid sabbatical in its 25-year history. Reflecting on the experience, several conditions enabled a smooth transition and a successful summer for the organization.

Conditions for Success

Laying the Groundwork

Before EdVestors adopted a sabbatical policy, the EdVestors leadership team and the Board developed a temporary succession plan. The plan mapped the CEO’s core responsibilities and documented the CEO's key relationships and who in the organization shares them. The plan increased the leadership team's shared understanding of responsibilities and external relationships. When preparing for Marinell’s sabbatical, these documents helped the leadership team ensure operational tasks were covered and consider scenarios that might arise during her absence.

The leadership team also developed an internal and external communications plan to share the news about Marinell’s sabbatical. Internally, this included sharing the information at a full staff meeting and in individual supervision follow-ups, giving staff space to ask questions and express concerns, and setting expectations about what might shift. Externally, it meant reaching out individually to a few dozen key donors and partners, plus communicating via newsletter and social media to all stakeholders.

Making it a Team Effort

Marinell’s sabbatical gave each leadership team member the opportunity to try new ways of working and stretch themselves in areas they wanted to strengthen. Rather than placing the full range of CEO responsibilities with the Acting CEO, Ruth Mercado-Zizzo, who also continued to carry her existing VP responsibilities, we distributed responsibilities across the leadership team. We also created a peer-support and shared-supervision structure among the leadership team. These structures enabled and encouraged collaboration as leadership team members worked with colleagues in new ways throughout the sabbatical term. The Board engaged actively and supportively, with the Board Chair and Vice Chair continuing their bi-weekly check-ins with the Acting CEO.

Defining Communication Protocols

We learned from peers with sabbatical experience that fully stepping away was key for both the staff member on sabbatical and the team carrying the work forward. We collaboratively established clear criteria for deciding whether to reach out to Marinell while she was away (see below). These criteria helped the team sort through issues that arose while the CEO was away and provided key insights on how to strengthen the organization's decision-making going forward.

Escalation Criteria
Before reaching out to the CEO on sabbatical, the EdVestors leadership team evaluated four specific questions:

  1. Reputational Impact: Is the issue going to have a major upside or downside to the organization's reputation?
  2. Financial Risk: Is there an unexpected financial or donor issue at a significant threshold (in EdVestors case, over $50,000)?
  3. Critical Breach: Is there a significant legal, personnel, or safety issue?
  4. Leader Blindspot: Would it reflect poorly on the organization if the CEO were unaware of the issue and heard about it while out and about in the community?

Strong Foundation of Trust

A sabbatical cannot succeed without deep trust at all levels—with the Board, between the CEO and Acting CEO, and across the leadership team. Because our leadership team has cultivated a solid base of trust, stepping into new dynamics felt supportive and possible. This was especially true for Ruth and Marinell, who have built a strong, trusting working relationship over many years. This supportive foundation enabled Ruth to step fully into the role of Acting CEO, keep the organization running as usual, and feel comfortable advancing key organizational priorities and goals. For Marinell, her trust and confidence in the entire team enabled her to step away without worrying about the organization's work or health and to use the time to rejuvenate.

Key Considerations for Teams Preparing for Sabbaticals

This first sabbatical experience strengthened the team's leadership skills and decision-making abilities while offering a fresh perspective on team structures and capacity. It catalyzed the creation of operational redundancies and highlighted areas where we can strengthen these backup systems and relationships going forward.

After our first sabbatical experience, we recommend the following to other teams preparing for a leader's sabbatical:

  1. Test Your Redundancies Early: Treat sabbatical prep as an opportunity to assess organizational health and to identify areas to strengthen. Be aware of and plan for the downstream effects of a senior staff member stepping into a new leadership role.
  2. Trust and Empower Individuals on the Leadership Team: An acting role isn't just about maintaining the status quo—it's an opportunity to advance strategic goals and build confidence across the team, strengthening the organization as a whole. Ideally, it also serves as a valuable professional development opportunity for the leadership team.
  3. Protect the Disconnect: Clear rules of engagement allow the leader on sabbatical to truly rest, ensuring they return recharged and ready for what’s next. Clear staff coverage and communication with external partners can ensure the leader doesn't have to catch up on three months of work upon return. Build in “re-boarding” time to brief the returning leader on the headlines of what they missed and what was learned.
  4. Extend the Learnings: Mine the learnings generated during the sabbatical period and integrate them into the work. Consider the successes and challenges of shifts in decision-making, distribution of work, and processes, and how successes can be continued in the work ahead.

Adopting and implementing a sabbatical policy can be a daunting prospect when nonprofit organizations and leadership are stretched to capacity. However, we believe our decision to offer long-time staff dedicated time and space for well-deserved rest and rejuvenation, and the opportunities this created for other leaders to step up, has strengthened the organization's collective muscle to carry out its mission and work more effectively. Our hope is that the lessons from our preparation and experience can encourage and equip other organizations to offer and implement this benefit.