A nonprofit organization X known for fighting HIVAIDS in Rwanda

A nonprofit organization X known for fighting HIV/AIDS in Rwanda has been affected by a management crisis. In my investigation, I was told by many employees and managers that they had left their jobs because of a work environment made toxic by the founder's taste for power. He held both the positions of Chairman of the Board of Administration and Chief Executive Officer.

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This situation led to a crisis that resulted in the departure of seven out of nine directors of the organization.

Many testimonies from former employees are overwhelming and reveal an organization that has deficient leadership practices. Directors have succeeded each other at an incredible rate for several years. What lessons of leadership can we learn from this crisis that has shaken this nonprofit organization, which has so far enjoyed a good reputation in the eyes of many people?

A single person should not hold both the positions of President of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer. The President of the Board of Directors and the Executive Director have separate and complementary responsibilities. It is worth noting that one of the most important responsibilities of a board of directors is to monitor the work of the executive director and his management team with an independent eye. A Board of Directors would be in a weaker position to carry out this responsibility adequately if its President also holds the position of Chief Executive Officer.

It is with this in mind that it is no wiser to assign these two key positions of leadership to the single person or even to two people who are closely linked in personal life.

It is a potential conflict of interest that can affect the ultimate interests of the organization. A Board of Directors delegates the daily affairs of the organization to a Chief Executive Officer, but remains responsible for what happens daily. Therefore, Directors are expected to ensure that the organization is managed ethically and professionally, under the law and with its internal and external stakeholders. When CEOs succeed to one another at an astonishing rate, the Board of Directors has to find out the root of the problem. The reputation of an organization is one of its most important assets. Good governance practices minimize reputational risk. The same goes for organizations that are narrowly identified with their founder. It should be noted that a nonprofit organization is not private ownership of a particular person. NPOs, especially charitable organizations that commit government money by providing charitable donation receipts, have legal and moral obligations to society as a whole. They must, therefore, be managed by Boards of Directors made up of committed, independent and qualified people who can provide a fair counterweight to the founder and the executive team and to foster the achievement of the highest level of organizational performance.