Ensuring Success Feels As Good As You Thought it Would

Most nonprofit executives have no problem setting goals or defining success in broad terms for their organization. But when it comes to actually realizing that success, I see leaders struggling with something important.

It’s translating that broad vision into the tangible ways the team will experience success once the organization gets there.

I’m not talking about hitting your revenue numbers, increasing the numbers on an impact data spreadsheet, or creating a list of new innovations that have been adopted.

As humans, data is helpful, but it’s our emotions that shape our beliefs.

So success can’t only look like green lights on a dashboard or impressive charts in glossy annual reports.

It has to look and feel like something our emotions can recognize as good, meaningful, or desirable.

That can mean things like:
→ Everyone actually takes a lunch break.
→ People in different departments seek each other out to collaborate.
→ When something goes wrong, people feel comfortable bringing it up and working together to find a solution.
→ A Teams or Slack channel full of personal wins and sharing stories of connections with community members served.
→ Staff having the flexibility to take care of themselves and their loved ones' needs during the day as needed.
→ Leaders who commend a team for the way they worked together, not just the results they achieved.

Here's the thing. It is entirely possible for an organization to be "successful" on paper, but a miserable place to work in real life.

And for those of us in this to make the world a better place, that doesn't sound like success at all.

So knowing what success will look and feel like - beyond the numbers you're reporting to the Board - matters.

What are some tangible "look and feel" success measures you've experienced in your career? Join the conversation on LinkedIn.

For me, success looks like building my schedule in a way that means LaFemina & Co. can deliver valuable service to our amazing clients and I can spend Tuesday afternoon enjoying the sunshine and breeze on my face while getting an important home maintenance project handled, as pictured here.