Search Committee Best Practices: Setting up for Success

By their very nature, Search Committees are both varied and imperfect. They span companies, industries and continents, bringing together individuals from across an organization to share the recruitment and hiring process. Even if they understand the main goal — conducting a search for the organization’s next best leader — it’s easy for these committees to stray off-task or get bogged down in minutia, slowing down what could be an otherwise well-proven process.

So how does an organization and its Board of Directors go about building a Search Committee that is collaborative, focused and efficient? After many years of working with a variety of Search Committees, the same key attributes and characteristics have relentlessly proven to be best practices. Let’s break down how your organization can best construct, operationalize, and empower its next Search Committee, setting your search up for success.

Understand Goals & Objectives

Make no mistake: over the span of six-to-nine months, a Search Committee will embark upon a Herculean task. This ample time frame allows for forming the Search Committee, selecting a search firm, executing the search process and ultimately hiring and deploying the organization’s next great leader.

For starters, nominate and select a Search Committee Chair or Co-Chairs and choose wisely. Much of the success of the Committee will hinge on the Chair or Co-Chair’s ability to lead by example, stay on task, maintain momentum and provide opportunities for all members to be heard. This person will drive the Committee’s plan and structure while serving as a main point of contact, including for the executive search firm RFP and selection process.

As a whole, Search Committee members must understand that they will wear a number of hats including but not limited to:

• Serving as trusted advisors and servants to the Executive Committee and full Board of Directors
• Working directly with the executive search firm to strategize, launch and execute the search
• Reviewing and evaluating the credentials of candidates presented and approved for interviews
• Recommending two finalist candidates to the Executive Committee and full Board

Consider Size & Composition

We recommend that Search Committees consist of ideally five, but not more than seven members. You specifically want an odd number to break any voting ties, and Search Committee’s that exceed seven members are structurally unwieldy, cumbersome, and difficult to navigate. These larger Committees can be a nightmare to manage in terms of schedule, logistics, consistency, and efficacy.

It’s important to note that how organizations plan and execute a search is both prescriptive and predictive of how a new leader may encounter other committees when they assume the new position. Therefore, the importance of partnering with a search firm to deliver as smooth and seamless of a search process as possible cannot be understated.

We have found that the most effective and efficient Search Committees are comprised of the following Board members and other key stakeholders:

• Board Chair and additional Executive Committee members (2-3)
• Immediate Past Chair or Chair Elect (1)
• Experienced Board Member (1)
• New Board Member (1)
• Senior Staff Representative (1) (with caveats and discernment)
• Community Partner or Funder as applicable (1)

Be careful when integrating non-Board members, including senior staff or community partners. In our experience, these parties tend to introduce both “bias and baggage” to the process. While Search Committee Chair(s) should embrace and value the inclusion and voice of these committee members, they must also reinforce the reality that they have influence but no significant control over Search Committee and Board selection outcomes.

Institute Effective Member “Must Haves”

There are a host of additional imperatives that an organization should keep in mind when assembling a Search Committee. For starters, members should have prior Search Committee, executive recruitment, retention or interviewing experience, irrespective of sector. This will give them the background necessary to set realistic expectations for the search while approaching it with a strategic mindset.

Members must make a preponderance of meetings along the search timeline and be 100% invested in the process. This includes having the bandwidth and interest to both read and critically review all relevant documentation and reports that are provided in advance of scheduled candidate interviews and search milestones.

Committee members should also be open-minded, objective, and able to put aside personal agendas for the good of the whole. The best are also DEI-aligned, able to think outside the box, and adept at expressing their opinions diplomatically and respectfully. This includes the ability to consider relevant and qualified individuals who may boast non-traditional qualifications or who may be strong number-two candidates with considerable runway and upside left in their career.

Finally, in many ways, Search Committees are bound by an oath of silence similar to trial juries. It is essential that committee members commit to being both discrete and confidential. Non-disclosure agreements, while not typically necessary, should be strictly adhered to. At the very least, members must agree to keep sacrosanct all aspects of Search Committee deliberations and communications, including those with both search firms and candidates.

Ultimately, there are multiple factors that contribute to a well-planned and executed search process, not the least of which is the formation, composition, size and scope of the Search Committee. Spending the time to ensure it is well-constructed and highly functional will allow the organization to partner effectively with an executive search firm for the best possible outcome. More importantly, it will keep the best interests of the organization’s future at the forefront of crucial decisions, allowing the Search Committee to locate and deploy the right leader at just the right time in an organization’s life cycle.