What if I told you I could predict how successful your next organizational change will be?

I'm not a fortune teller or time traveler.

But as an experienced nonprofit executive, strategic advisor, and change management practitioner, here's what I know:

When it comes to change, most organizations run into the same challenges over and over (and over) again.

I recently joined my friend Cindy Wagman on her podcast to talk about how leaders can take intentional steps to increase the chances their next organizational change is successful.

How did you get really great at what you do?

There are many paths to success, but they all have one thing in common.

Practice.

If you’re a Gen X or Elder Millennial nonprofit leader, chances are you started out sitting in a cube outside your boss's office:

• answering phones and responding to mail, email, and fax (!) messages

• setting up the room and taking notes in key meetings

• getting your work sent back to you with a ton of tracked changes (and hopefully some helpful comments)

• listening to, observing, and emulating the more senior people in your department

When everyone was in the office, it was easy for our supervisors - or the department leader - to pull us into on-the-job learning moments.

Now that you’re a department head leading a remote team, how are you intentionally creating opportunities for your team to learn, practice, and grow?

If you lead a department at a nonprofit organization, here's a metric you probably aren't tracking, but it's having a huge impact on your work.

It’s not your leading indicators - though you should definitely know the behaviors that drive the most value on your team and how often they're happening.

It’s not your outputs - though you should definitely know the short-term results your work is achieving.

It’s not even your impact - which is critical, but can be messy, long-term, and sometimes difficult to measure.

It’s your vacancy rate.

Are those tiny tasks taking over your week and keeping you from focusing on your big-picture strategy work?

Check out this brief video over on LinkedIn for a tried-and-true practical approach to managing your time when you’re juggling multiple roles.

"You're so brave."

"I've always wanted to do that, but I don't think I could get away with it."

"Maybe sometime in the future."

I get a lot of comments about my brightly colored hair from people of all ages, in all different kinds of work places, and in all walks of life

Almost all of them are people wishing they could do the same, but feeling too nervous or scared to give it a try.

Sometimes, it can feel hard, scary, or straight-up impossible to take a leap, to be different, to step into our true identity.

This is true for individuals, for leaders, and for organizations.

Five years into living this neon-hair life, here's a secret I wish everyone knew.

“Mom, will you come read with me in your office?”

It’s Read-a-thon this week and my second grader has big goals. Ever since he learned to read, this curious and tenacious kid has had a book within reach. He’s the kid who wants to stay up to read “just one more chapter” and who can explain important historical moments, scientific concepts, animal facts, and ridiculous jokes because he’s constantly reading and learning something new.

He’s smart, kind, athletic, community-minded, witty, amazing with little kids, and a great helper. So, he has lots of talents and skills.

But Read-a-thon is his Super Bowl. And he takes it very seriously.

Here are 4 key lessons we can all learn from my little dude.

Are you striving for consensus - or buy-in?

These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but the difference in their meanings is important and has huge implications for your behavior as a leader - and the behavior of your direct reports and teams.

Consensus means general agreement.

Buy-in means agreement to support a decision.

As a leader, having consensus can feel good - but that doesn't always mean it is good for the organization.

Nonprofit organizations are often in the business of building a better world, but decades of conditioning to find the lowest-cost solutions available can affect our ability to truly include relevant experts and community members.

It is important for nonprofit leaders and event organizers to first be aware of default behaviors and then intentionally change those behaviors.

One of the first – and most important – lessons you learn in rugby is how to fall.

My freshman year of college, I spent literal hours with my fellow rookie and tackling partner, Diana, practicing how to take a hit safely and fall well.

Why is this skill so essential?

Because falls aren’t avoidable – they are inevitable. No matter how fast or skilled you are, falling or getting tackled is a given of the game.

So, if you want to get back up, knowing how to fall as safely and strategically as possible matters.

If you’re a nonprofit executive or people manager, the same is true for your teams.

What's one experience, lesson, or life event that has shaped who you are today and how you show up at work or in your community?

If you work in the social impact sector, you can probably think of several. But in this moment, I invite you to think of just one thing that has helped make you who you are.

Maybe it was an experience from your childhood. A conversation from early in your career. Or a lesson you came by later in life.

But it was something that made a pretty big impact. That shifted your trajectory or approach in some way.