Search the blog for insights about nonprofit strategy, leadership, culture, and operations.
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.
![Modern Strategy for Meaningful Results [PODCAST]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60ba29412635cf7edb559199/1644503840462-10VVWYXPG3XHV4DLT7H2/We+Are+For+Good+-+1.png)
Modern Strategy for Meaningful Results [PODCAST]
I recently had the chance to visit with the We Are For Good podcast team about the benefits of modern strategy for social good, involving your community in your strategic planning, and what it looks like to get your strategic plan so clear you can fit it on one page.
While we focus on strategic planning for nonprofit organizations and leaders in this episode, the practical advice and approaches here work for social good businesses and anyone else who's looking for a better way to articulate and activate their strategy.
Creating an Environment Where Strategy Can Succeed
Strategy succeeds when we intentionally create an environment that enables success.
That may sound obvious, but so many organizations struggle with this simple truth.
If your work environment is essentially a harrowing obstacle course ranging from minor frustrations, like not being able to get the right people in a meeting for two to three weeks, to major barriers, like having out of date or faulty technology systems that actively reduce your ability to do your job every day – your chances of success dwindle quickly.
On the flip side, when your environment and organization culture are intentionally designed to support you, it becomes a whole lot easier to achieve your goals and feel great while doing so.
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.
A New Approach to Goal Setting
It’s the beginning of a new year, which often means new goals, new priorities, new visions for what we – and our organizations – will accomplish.
It can be easy to get caught up in choosing impressive goals – ones that follow best practices, align with what funders want to see, or push our impact to a whole new level. And if we’re doing it well, we will already have invested in the approaches, systems, and communications it takes to drive accountability, collaboration, and integration so that we can make meaningful progress toward those goals.
But what happens when you’ve done everything right, achieved every goal, and yet something is still missing?
Incorporating Rests Into the Rhythm of Work
At some point in the process of learning to read music, every student learns the importance of rests.
Rests – the pauses between notes – are active, intentional moments of silence designed to create specific patterns, rhythms, and feelings throughout a musical piece, and they are critically important for the musician and the audience alike.
Rests are also critical for successful strategic planning and implementation.
If you’re so busy working that you’re not taking intentional, active moments to pause, reflect, and renew your effort based on those reflections or redirect to a new path, then you’re increasing the chance that your efforts will be less strategic, less effective, and less successful.