Who’s Holding the Strategy?
When Retention, Turnover, and Transitions Collide
✍🏾 Hey Y’all, It’s Fall
You ever notice how strategy starts acting brand new when someone leaves? Suddenly, no one remembers who owns what, and “we’ll pick that up next quarter” becomes the office anthem.
That’s the moment strategy needs a driver, not a dreamer.
Interims, fractionals, consultants—whatever you call us—we live in that space between “what now?” and “we’re back on track.”
Our job isn’t to babysit a transition; it’s to keep the strategy alive while everyone else catches their breath.
This issue is all about that sweet spot, how to lead through the messy middle without losing your mission.
Retention Isn’t an HR Problem—It’s a Strategy Problem
In the last issue, we used the “What’s Really Going On Here?” (WRGOH) framework to unpack one of the sector’s most persistent pain points, staff retention.
This time, we’re moving from diagnosis to prescription.
Because if WRGOH is where we uncover what’s broken, KISS—Keep It Strategic, Sweetheart—is where we fix it.
KISS is where strategy stops being theoretical and starts being useful. Each edition, we’ll take a common nonprofit challenge and show how your strategic plan can actually guide the solution, using the MACT™ framework to turn vision into action, one step at a time.
And this month, in the debut installment, we’re talking about retention, culture, and the leadership capacity it takes to make both sustainable.
Staff retention is one of the trickiest issues for small and midsize nonprofits. You can set bold goals in your strategic plan, but without senior-level capacity to drive them, those goals often stall.
That’s where fractional leadership comes in.
A fractional executive isn’t a consultant dropping in with advice. They’re a part-time senior leader who brings the experience and structure your team may not have, without the cost of a full-time salary.
In my own interim and fractional roles, I’ve helped organizations:
Address retention head-on by creating systems for stay interviews, coaching, and recognition.
Strengthen culture by connecting daily operations to strategic priorities.
Build internal capacity, so staff feel supported and see a future in the organization.
Fractional leadership doesn’t replace strategy; it activates it.
It turns “we should” into “we are,” embedding accountability in places that used to rely on goodwill and burnout.
So as we launch KISS, this issue is about more than keeping people; it’s about maintaining momentum.
Because when strategy lives in everyone’s daily work, retention stops being a problem to solve and starts being a byproduct of clarity, alignment, and leadership in action.
Momentum isn’t magic. It’s leadership in motion.
KISS: Keep It Strategic, Sweetheart
Who’s Holding the Strategy?
Every organization loves to talk about sustainability. Few want to name what really keeps it alive: continuity of leadership.
When a transition hits, strategy becomes an orphan. The plan’s still there, but the ownership vanishes. Goals stall, priorities blur, and “we’ll revisit that later” quietly becomes the norm.
That’s where this month’s KISS comes in.
Because strategy doesn’t fall apart from neglect—it falls apart from diffusion. When everyone assumes someone else is driving, no one’s really steering.
So let’s keep it strategic, sweetheart.
🧩 The Scenario (Problem Lens)
Your organization is in transition. Maybe your COO resigned, your ED’s on leave, or your leadership team is stretched across too many priorities. The board wants progress updates, staff want clarity, and the strategic plan is somewhere between hope and Google Drive purgatory.
🎯 Why Strategy Belongs Here (Anchor Point)
This isn’t just about leadership—it’s about activation.
The MACT™ framework reminds us that mission only moves when there’s clarity and trajectory behind it.
Leadership transitions test both.
Without clear ownership, even the best-laid plans lose momentum. That’s why interim and fractional leaders exist: not to pause the plan, but to keep it breathing.
💡 The Sweet Spot (How to Use the Plan)
Here’s how to make sure your strategic plan doesn’t get lost in the shuffle:
Reassign Ownership in Real Time.
Don’t wait for the new hire. Identify who’s accountable for each strategic goal today.Create a Transition Tracker.
Use your plan as the backbone: note what’s in progress, what’s stalled, and what’s at risk. Share it with the board and staff.
Bring in Fractional Firepower.
A fractional COO, CPO, or strategist can provide the capacity and continuity your full-time team doesn’t have. Think of it as leadership with a timer and a mission.
🚀 The MACT Move
This is an Activation + Clarity moment. Transitions don’t pause the mission, they reveal the systems that keep it moving.
⚖️ Energy Meter
🟡 Medium Lift — Reassigning ownership and tracking accountability takes intention, not overhaul.
🔗 Strategic Connection
When strategy has no driver, it drifts. When leadership owns the roadmap, even temporarily it accelerates.
So whether you’re stepping in, stepping out, or holding things steady, remember: Strategy doesn’t need more pages; it needs a person.
Keep the Strategy Moving
If your strategic plan looks good on paper but struggles in practice, it’s time for a different approach.
The MACT™ Brief breaks down the four phases—Anchor, Engage, Act, and Sustain—that help organizations turn strategy into daily action and measurable progress.
📄 Download your free MACT™ Brief
Because strategy isn’t meant to sit on a shelf—it’s meant to stay in motion.
In Case You Missed It
When the lights fade after the gala, Kassandra realizes the real transition isn’t about power, it’s about control. The Founder’s Fall, Part II picks up where strategy falters and leadership gets personal.
Need a Little More Lift?
Bold goals need bandwidth. If your team is stretched thin or stuck in transition, fractional leadership can keep your plan in motion while you rebuild capacity.
Let’s talk about how to make that happen—no nonsense, just strategy.
Keep leading with clarity,
— TaKeisha
✍🏾About the Author
TaKeisha S. Walker is a nonprofit strategist and interim executive who helps mission-driven organizations turn strategy into action and navigate leadership transitions without chaos. As founder of T.S. Walker Strategies and a graduate of the Interim Executive Academy, she specializes in interim leadership, strategic implementation, and functional systems design.
She is the developer of the MACT™ Framework (Mission-Anchored Change & Transition), a practical approach that combines organizational development, change management, and project management to make change less scary and more systemic for small and midsize nonprofits.
TaKeisha works with organizations ready to move from stuck to sustainable—by aligning teams, activating dormant plans, and building infrastructure that drives impact.
Need an experienced partner during your next transition or growth phase?
Let’s talk → twalker@takeishawalker.com