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Strategy Secrets: From Reactive to Reflective
When was the last time you ate lunch away from your desk and took more than 15 minutes to do so?
If you're like most leaders I work with, it may be hard to recall when the last time was.
Skipping lunch, eating at your desk, or eating on the go may not seem like that big of a deal, but these practices are often a symptom of a bigger issue that may be plaguing you, your team or your organization.
If your day is so full of meetings scheduled by other people and the disruption of day-to-day fires that need putting out that you're forgetting to take care of your nourishment needs, there's a very good chance you a struck in reactive mode - and that's a tough place to be.
Many leaders I work with wish they had more time to spend thinking through their organization's larger strategic needs. They want to be more proactive and less reactive.
But in the quest to be more proactive, they miss an essential step -- the need for reflection.
The Brilliance Trap
Here's a trap I see lots of executives falling into, and it's hurting their organization's strategy, culture, and effectiveness.
It's the perspective of valuing brilliance over getting better.
When new nonprofit CEOs and Department Heads come into their roles, there's a weird thing that happens. It's the expectation - and sometimes requirement - that the leader will bring brilliant, NEW ideas that will fundamentally shift the trajectory of the organization.
So many hiring processes favor "brilliant innovators" who seem to be full to the brim with amazing ideas.
Brilliant new ideas can be exciting and impactful, but without proper strategy, budgeting, staffing, operational planning, etc., we won't fully realize them - and may actually do more harm than good.
To avoid this trap, organizations can instead focus on getting better. Here’s how.
Advance Your Nonprofit with Better Decision-Making
One of the best-kept-secrets of effective leadership - and organizations - is being really great at making and communicating decisions.
A recent study shows that adults make an average of 122 informed choices every day – a small subset of the 35,000 unconscious decisions we make each day, according to other various sources.
That's a lot of decisions before you even count:
→ 87% of people admitted to changing their minds at least once
→ On average, people change their minds twice per decision
→ 11% of people admitted to changing their minds 5+ times
We spend so much time and energy - every day - making and managing informed decisions.
Wouldn't it be a huge relief to reduce the time, energy, and stress related to all those decisions? Good news - you can!
In my latest article for Capterra, I lay out a practical step-by-step approach for improving decision-making at your organization.
Why Change Fails
Change leadership and change management are critical skills that shape a nonprofit’s capacity to effectively advance its mission, raise more funding, and improve its operations. Change can either be self-directed (from internal decision-making or innovation programs) or happen in response to new circumstances (from external events or shifting trends).
The rise of technology and social media over the past 20 years have accelerated the pace of change in many ways, putting increasing pressure on nonprofit leaders to adapt, grow, innovate, and introduce new ways of working.
But many nonprofit leaders – no matter what stage of their career they’re in – are inadvertently making it harder for their organizations, their teams, and themselves to successfully adopt change and move forward with new ways of working.
Knowing why change initiatives fail can help leaders honestly assess how ready their organization is for a given change and avoid common pitfalls to help ensure the change’s success.
In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the most common reasons why change fails.
The Art of Being Ready
Chances are you’ve been inspired at one point or another by a motivational quote having to do with preparation and planning. Intellectually, these quotes make sense. The better prepared you are for a variety of situations, the more capable you’ll be when the time comes.
But practically speaking, our days are full of challenges and opportunities that need to be addressed right now. Knowing how to prepare ourselves for a future we can’t foretell and making time to do that preparation are both big roadblocks for so many leaders I know.
Getting out of this pattern requires us to get better at being ready for what’s next.
This is an intentional choice leaders need to make – to create the habit of being ready. And as with any new habit, the path starts with small, manageable steps.
The #1 Thing You Can Do to Improve Your Organization
In the nonprofit sector, and in most fields where we have the ability and power to change people’s lives – listening is both essential and paramount. And yet, it’s a skill that many of us don’t spend enough time working on.
In the digitally distracted, pulled in every direction, inefficiently multi-tasking world we find ourselves in, listening has only grown in importance, and it can be a major differentiator for organizations and leaders who focus on building this critical skill.
In fact, the #1 thing you can do today to improve your organization is to listen to your people. Let’s talk about how to do that well.
Practicing Values-Driven Strategy
In nonprofit strategic planning, we often start with the big stuff – mission, vision, and values. These guiding statements can and should be powerful expressions of the world your organization wants to create, what it will focus on to create it, and the behaviors it will embody on its way to fulfilling these big dreams.
But what happens when you realize that the way you’re working may not be upholding your vision, mission, and values? How do you reset and re-center yourself and your organization on the big stuff?