The Tradeoff You’re Already Making
Here’s an essential truth about nonprofit strategy that often gets missed.
First, it’s important to understand that strategy is a series of interconnected choices about what we will do and what we won’t do to reach our goals.
As leaders, that means we’re making a bet — purposely pursuing one option, path, or approach over others because we believe it will be the most effective way to achieve what we’re trying to achieve.
Strategy isn’t a guarantee of success. It’s our best guess.
And since we can’t see the future, we have to get comfortable understanding that strategy is only "right" in retrospect.
Unfortunately, fear of choosing between one approach and another, or making tradeoffs instead of keeping all options open, prevents leadership teams from providing critical direction and focus for their organizations.
I cannot tell you how many times a well-meaning executive or Board member has said to me during a facilitation, “Can’t we just combine these two or three things together?” to try to fit everyone’s ideas into the plan.
Here’s why this is a problem and the essential truth that too often gets missed:
When you don’t make proactive tradeoffs about where to focus, what can wait, or what the organization can stop doing then the tradeoff you’re making is your team.
And in the U.S., at a time when 7 in 10 nonprofit professionals are already looking for or considering a new job this year (see the Social Impact Staff Retention Project’s 2025 Report)
With the top reason being “Too much responsibility, not enough support,” that’s a tradeoff most organizations can’t afford to make.
Because those big plans you have? They won’t get very far if you don’t have the knowledgeable, fully onboarded, well-integrated, and appropriately supported team you need to execute them.
Social impact staff are committed, capable, and have been known to make magic happen.
But your strategy shouldn’t rely on expecting miracles from your team.
If you care about your mission
If you care about the community you serve
If you truly want your organization to succeed in its critical work
Then:
Learn to say no
Make the tough tradeoffs during planning
Stop spreading yourselves, your team, and your resources so thin
Choose to invest in the work that deserves your best time and attention and the team you need to design, drive, and deliver it.
It may not be the easiest path, but it’s the one that recognizes the reality of the situation and prepares accordingly.
And that's considerably more strategic than a plan that tries to shoehorn everything in.
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