How do you manage unrealistic expectations from your board (and even your donors) during important planning processes?

Last week, I wrote about a big mistake nonprofit leaders make in their organizational planning processes – overcommitting the team beyond their true capacity. I also described how knowing key data, like your vacancy rate, can help you begin to get a better handle on your true capacity.

But what happens when it’s not you, but the board – or your key donors – who are pushing you to do more or exceed the organization’s capacity?

During planning processes, here are some actions that can help you provide helpful context, right-size expectations, have candid conversations about how the organization can do its best work.

Here's a critical mistake to avoid when submitting your department plan and budget this year.

It's committing yourself - and your team - to work beyond your true capacity.

In the social impact realm, we're out here trying to solve - or at least stem the tide on - big issues for the people and places we serve. Dreaming of a better world and working to make it a reality are hallmarks of our sector.

But exacerbating staff turnover by overcommitting is destabilizing your team and putting you even further behind on your big goals.

And failing to recognize and account for the ongoing high staff turnover rates in the nonprofit sector as you plan is a huge mistake.

To get a better understanding of your true capacity so you can improve your planning and effectiveness, start here.

Nonprofit executives - these five words are killing your strategy.

As an advisor and facilitator, when I hear someone on the executive team say them, I know we're headed into dangerous territory.

Seemingly harmless, and framed as common sense, they move us away from strategic clarity and push us into operational quicksand.

What words am I talking about?

"Well, we have to include..."

Here's why they're such a problem.

Can I let you in on a secret about building successful remote and hybrid teams?

It's okay to admit you're not an expert.

In fact, letting go of the idea that you need to figure it out on your own or have all the answers is a huge strength here.

Join Alexander Lapa and me on the latest episode of his podcast, Agents of Nonprofit, for a practical conversation about how to explore the right remote, hybrid, and asynchronous working models for your nonprofit.

Are you looking for everyday ways to boost strategic and creative thinking on your team?

Strategy isn't just for executives.

And it shouldn't be positioned as something we do every 3-5 years in an outdated and exhausting "strategic planning" process.

Building our strategic and creative brains helps us every day - and requires regular practice.

Let's try an experiment.

Cancel all your meetings for the rest of this week.

Sound preposterous? Okay, how about just one day?

Still too much?

Hmm... how about one afternoon?

If the idea of clearing your calendar - even for one afternoon - is giving you major heartburn, it's time for a strategic reset.

Across 20 years of advising nonprofit, association, and corporate executives, the number one desire I hear is "I wish I had more time to focus on the big, strategic work."

When was the last time you implemented an idea that came from one of your frontline staff members?

Can't remember?

Okay—when was the last time you asked your frontline team members for their ideas?

Can't remember that either?

Look, you're not alone.

So many well-meaning leaders struggle with this important transition as they move up through the ranks of management and leadership.

If your team is looking at you with blank stares during meetings, or giving you exactly what you asked for and nothing more, it may be because they've gotten used to taking orders rather than activating their own experience and creativity.

Shifting this dynamic takes focus and practice—for you and your team.

Here's an exercise you can do to get started.

Nonprofit executives - here's one of the biggest mistakes established nonprofits make during budgeting season.

It’s not about the process - though that can almost always be more clear, transparent, and collaborative.

It’s not about the tools - though re-teaching staff how to use outdated budgeting technology every year instead of investing in cost-effective and intuitive tools regularly results in lost time, accuracy, and trust.

It’s not about the timing - though it can be incredibly hard to predict what next year looks like 6 months in advance if 65%+ of your revenue comes in during the last two months of the fiscal year.

It’s that you forgot about your strategy.

Nonprofit leaders - do you have an "all growth is good" mindset, or are you looking to strategically sustain and scale your organization?

Growth and Scaling are not the same thing.

Growth says - “We'll launch new programs, take on adjacent projects, move based on the suggestion of one board member or powerful donor, sell first and figure out how to deliver it later.”

Scaling says - “We're going to get really good at something that truly serves our community and the folks who want to support them. We're going to test and refine until we know exactly what it takes to do this well, and we're going to do it in a way that we can replicate over and over again.”

If you're looking to build a more sustainable organization or have dreams of scaling your impact, do not miss this We Are For Good episode on Sustaining + Scaling Your Mission.