Nonprofit executives - is your organization struggling with sustainable growth? Here's something you may be missing.

It's the importance of "goodbye.”

Nonprofit executives - consultants and coaches are trained to sell you transformation, but here's the big problem with that.

Transformation isn't something you can be given.

It's something you have to participate in.

Nonprofit executives - want to significantly reduce your and your team's stress levels?

Here's a critical distinction you may be missing.

Here's a critical mindset shift many new executive leaders at established nonprofits need to make.

It's no longer about your individual impact as a high performer.

Now, it's about scaling meaningful impact throughout your team.

Don't get me wrong. You are brilliant. And your expertise matters.

But here’s what will make the biggest impact in developing a healthy and effective team.

It’s the last week of Q1.

A time so often accompanied by the stress of meeting financial and impact targets, the push to get those last deals signed, and less sleep than most of us need.

But this week it’s also spring break.

A time to make lifelong memories with our kids, introduce them to new experiences, and share lots of love, learning and laughs.

It might seem strange for a strategic advisor to say this, but…

What would make your job easier so you can focus on what really matters?

And when was the last time you asked that question of your team?

Too often, we hem ourselves in, letting restrictions we KNOW aren't reasonable, productive, or helping us advance our mission become our default operating mode. We assume we cannot address the needs or challenges staff bring to our attention, or that everyone just needs to "do more with less."

But what would it take to get out of that default mode and into a better way of working?

For most executives I advise, here are 3 things that make a world of difference.

There's a strategy secret I share during every board and executive team retreat I facilitate.

It's this truth → strategy is only right in retrospect.

Which means there's no guaranteed win. No single right answer.

• Can we use data to inform our strategy? Absolutely.

• Can we learn from other successful organizations and models? You bet.

• Can we focus on what we do best? We can and should.

But a big part of nonprofit leadership is understanding that you will have to make decisions without having all the information - or the guaranteed "right answer" - you wish you did.

I recently sat down with the team at Capterra to discuss some of the top opportunities and challenges facing nonprofit organizations - and their leaders - in 2024.

We cover topics like:

• Creating strategic clarity

• Reducing mission creep

• Preventing and addressing burnout and challenges with staff retention

• Getting the most out of the technology you have

• How leaders can reduce stress and get more strategic

• And more.

When I’m talking to nonprofit CEOs and department heads across the United States, I sometimes get asked if there is one objective I'd recommend every organization include in their strategy.

If I had one, it would be this.