Board Problems, Part One

Welcome to 2020!

For my first post of the year, I want to spotlight a blog post from December about a recent webinar hosted by Network for Good in which attendees were asked about their most common board struggles.

The 4 “winners” were:

1. Board members are not involved enough in their organization (41% of respondents)

2. Board members do not fundraise for or donate to their organization (28%)

3. Board members are averse to change (17%)

4. There is confusion among board members about their roles and responsibilities (14%)

I wish I could say that I am surprised about this, but I hear the same complaints all the time. Encouraging board engagement and participation is definitely challenging, and so is moving boards away from the “this is how we’ve always done it” mindset. But it’s not impossible.

From the above list of problems, dealing with #4 is key to shifting the dynamic identified in #1 and #2. Clarity around what is expected of board members from the beginning is essential in creating a board culture that connects board members to the mission and programs of the organization, and maximizes their fundraising and donation potential.

As for #3, engaging the board in some “big picture” strategic visioning can help move them into embracing innovation and change.

These are all important and often deeply-rooted problems, and I don’t want to make it seem like they are easy to fix. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. I can help you tackle these and many other issues that might be holding your organization back in its growth and success. I’m looking forward to working with you in 2020!

What Color Is Your Succession Plan?

The unexpected passing of Kaiser Permanente’s CEO Bernard Tyson this week was sobering on many levels. For me -wearing my consulting hat- it served as a reminder of the importance of having an organizational succession plan in place, regardless of whether or not transition is planned. Unplanned transitions can be devastating for organizations, especially small ones. While large organizations such as Kaiser likely have deputies or associates who can step in as needed to fill this void, without an articulated succession plan, their job is much more challenging. Imagine a small organization, with at most only a few employees, losing their leader suddenly. What happens then?

Having a succession plan is a proactive, responsible action that your board can take to ensure that the loss of a leader will be easier to navigate. Let me help you develop your plan!

I Get By With a Little Help From My Coach

“The very best coaches are compassionate truth tellers. And the very best leaders can hear that truth and make the adjustments necessary to improve their skills as leaders and managers.” Atul Gawande, MD in his TED Talk , “Want To Get Great At Something? Get a Coach!”

It’s tough out there in the nonprofit world. Between raising money, managing staff, overseeing programs, dealing with your board, and a myriad of other priorities, it can get pretty crazy for a leader. When do you know that you need a coach to help guide you through some of life’s ups and downs?

Joan Garry’s recent post in the Chronicle of Philanthropy sheds some light on the myths that many leaders (and boards) have about who needs a coach. Spoiler alert: every leader could use one! Whether you’re a newly-hatched ED or CEO or one who’s departing, whether your organization is doing well or floundering, whether you think you have the money or not, coaches can and should be part of the mix.

I encourage you to read Joan’s post and watch Dr. Gawande’s talk. And then let me know how I can help you become the best leader you can be.

Question: Are You Asking The Right Questions?

Let’s say your organization is going through change. Let’s say there are questions about your mission, or vision, or values.

Let’s hope that you’re addressing these questions. Let’s hope that you’re asking other questions that can provide clarity and direction. What might those questions be?

• What do we want our world to be? Is there an ideal you are striving for? There should be!

• What is our why? What’s so important about what you are working toward?

• How will we uniquely achieve this? What do you do better than anyone?

• What do we stand for and against? How are you defining the boundaries of what you do for your world?

• Who do we serve and what do they need and believe? Who will we impact and who will impact us?

These questions are not always easy to answer. They may spur debate, disagreement, and discussion. They should! To get to a place where you’re more certain about why you are doing what you do in the way you do it AND how that might need to shift or change over time is the most important work of an organization. Without it, there can be no change or growth.

If you are ready to do this work, I am ready to help you.

Build Your Practice, Balance Your Life Part 1

I had the pleasure of presenting at a conference last week, with the topic, “Build Your Practice, Balance Your Life.” I wanted to share the principles that have helped me approach the work I do in a positive, assertive way that has enhanced my practice and how I interact with my clients.

• Wanting to serve comes 1st: mission-centricity is hugely important to how I choose the clients I work with

• I love what I do: that saying “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life”? Well, THAT’S not really how I feel, but I do love my work!

• I have cultivated a niche for myself: working with small organizations feels important for me and for them

• I enjoy relationship building: networking, collaborating, mentoring- all make it easier for me to do my job well

• I position myself as an expert: it certainly feels weird to say that sometimes, but it’s true,and I think it makes me credible

• I am generous with my time and spirit: I am aware that many people took the time to help me while I was building my career and my business, and I try to do the same

• I am confident: you have to believe in yourself to “sell” yourself

• I come from a place of caring: I have compassion for others, and for myself

I will share more from my presentation in future posts. Enjoy, and start 2019 balanced!

CEO Transition Made Easier

The first thing to know is, leadership transition is not easy. Not for the outgoing leader, not for the staff and Board, not for the incoming person. But there are ways to make transition easier for everyone.

Take a look at this column from Nonprofit Quarterly which talks about how planning and transparency play a big part in easing the angst inherent in the process. The column points out that transition coaches or consultants can be used to assess where the sticky points might be, and to help move things along. There are some great resources cited here as well.

I’d love to discuss your transition plans with you. Please be in touch!

Are You Working Too Hard?

This week's Big Question is brought to you by Dan Rockwell, the Leadership Freak, in his recent blog, The Effort Illusion: Hard Work is the Answer.  In it, he breaks down the Big Question into seemingly simple questions which are actually not all that simple.

In the work I do with CEOs, I find that I often ask these questions to help them clarify their role and responsibilities, and to keep them focused on moving forward. Almost always, the message is: More is not always better. As Dan asks, "How does the Effort Illusion hold you back?"

This summer, take a break, scale back, allow yourself to just think instead of do. See what happens.

Please be in touch if you want help with assessing this Big Question, or any of the questions I've been asking this year.

Starting To Improve The World

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."  Anne Frank

Today's Big Question: How are you helping to improve the world? Maybe not the WHOLE world, but your world, or the world of others?

I really want to know! 

What social causes do you support? Are you teaching tolerance or fighting intolerance? What acts of kindness or generosity do you perform on a regular basis? Which community events do you participate in? How do you nurture your employees? How do you nurture yourself? 

You really can start now- without waiting a single moment- to improve the world!

The Most Important Question

OK, here we go. It's almost the end of February and I've been asking some Big Questions. This week's is : What is the most important question you have ever asked yourself?

This is a tough one for me to answer. I ask myself a lot of questions, all the time. Most of them are rhetorical (Are you serious? What am I doing here?).  But one of the more common questions I ask myself is: What will I learn from this? Sometimes I ask this question before I decide whether or not to do something, and sometimes it's used as an evaluation tool. Success or failure, it's important for me to figure out what the experience has taught me.

How about you? What important questions do you ask yourself? I really want to know! 

Lessons Learned?

This week we have a double whammy for you: two Big Questions to ask yourself.

Question number 1: What was the most important lesson you learned in 2017?  For me, it was that I am a resilient person. I wrote a blog about this back in September. I'm looking forward to seeing where this new understanding can lead me.

Question number 2 is: By the end of this year, what do you hope to know more about?  In my professional life, I hope to learn more about my clients (and potential clients) and how I can best help them. In my personal life, I'd like to know more about what the important questions are for me, and possibly get on the path to answering them.

I want to hear what you think about these two questions! Please be in touch. 

Cultivating Resilience

I have been thinking a lot about resilience this summer. In June, I found out that I had a large, benign tumor wrapped around my spinal cord and I had to have neurosurgery immediately to remove it. Thankfully, the surgery went well and I had no complications. But the recovery is long and requires a good deal of patience and physical therapy to get back to normal. I had a few bad days initially, feeling sorry for myself for not being able to do the things I had looked forward to doing during the summer (Shakespeare in the Park!), but overall, I was very positive about what had happened and I improved rapidly.

During this time, I started wondering how people handle adversity like major illness, disability, loss of a partner, job transitions, and other experiences that have significant emotional effects. Some people seem to bounce back relatively well, and others seem to get stuck and can’t move forward. What’s the difference?

Well, apparently the difference is resilience. What is resilience and how can you get some? It’s like a muscle- an emotional muscle- that can be strengthened if it’s weak. There have been many books and articles on resilience, but the latest to address it in a really accessible way is Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant’s Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy.  In fact, they have a whole website devoted to it and you should check it out.

Here’s a few suggestions on how to build up your resilience muscle:

Practice being optimistic: there are people who are born negative thinkers and those who are born to think more positively. Regardless, you can train yourself to think more positive thoughts. I’m more of a positivist, but in my darker times, I pushed myself to think about the fact that I would be able go back to my yoga practice pain-free soon.

Rewrite your story: reframing your struggles into experiences that taught you something important and enabled you to empathize with or help others is part of developing resilience. I now understand better how pain affects people’s lives and can appreciate how hard that can be.

De-personalize things: try not to blame yourself for your situation. Things happen. Mistakes get made. Now let’s move forward. As President Bartlett used to say on The West Wing, “What’s next?”

Support others: look outside yourself for others who need help, and get involved in helping someone else.

Be inspired: look at how other people have overcome their adverse events and succeeded. I channeled the experiences of the many friends I have who have survived (and thrived) their cancers, and it really made a difference for me.

Speaking of friends, be grateful for the support and encouragement of your friends and family. Mine were instrumental in my recovery. Even reading their messages on social media was so important.

I wish you the best as you learn how to be a resilient person!

Building Your Leadership Team

Like a house, your organization needs a strong foundation to avoid collapse. That foundation is made up of PEOPLE.  And, most important, the people on your leadership team.

 What are the qualities of a strong leadership team?

-        A strong moral and ethical code

-        A passion for the cause and for the work involved in furthering the mission

-        An ability to put aside ego to build the culture of the organization

-        A great sense of humor

-        A fearless attitude toward change

-        An inquisitive mind

 If these are the qualities of your leadership team, congratulations! If not, use this as a goal for identifying and recruiting the best candidates for building your organization from the ground up.

GOOD LUCK!

Please contact me for more on building a great leadership team.

Tell Me A Story

One of the most important aspects of an organization’s success is the quality of the stories it tells. Your narrative, told in a straightforward way, stating your mission in a concise way, and providing insight into your impact is the best way to build your community of dedicated staff, board, volunteers, donors, and stakeholders.

Your narrative should be reflected in everything you do- internally as well as externally- to communicate with your community. Your website, donor mailings, newsletters, social media posts, and public speaking messages should all be presented in a way that tells a story and draws more people in to tell their stories as well.

In order to do this successfully, your narrative needs to be clear, consistent, and strong. You and everyone in your organization (and I mean EVERYONE) need to be able to tell your story to everyone and anyone, with the conviction that it has the potential to build a community, expand your reach, and change lives.

Building your narrative should be a strategic part of your growth plan. Starting with developing an “elevator pitch” and then honing it into a comprehensive “brand” is the ultimate goal. Once you have your narrative, make sure everyone knows it. Make sure everyone feels comfortable telling the story in their own authentic way. Adapt the narrative to be appropriate and targeted to your various audiences.

If you want to learn more about how to build your narrative, let’s talk.

How to Think

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”  Peter Drucker

My last blog post about the “Schultz Hour” got me thinking even more about the subject of introspection. Research shows that people who practice self-reflection perform better, are more productive, and are happier than those who don’t.

Giving yourself a chance to invest in conscious thoughts can even make you a better leader. So how do you do it?

There are many ways to train yourself to detach and just THINK. Try this: First, schedule a time to do this regularly- at least weekly. Sit in a quiet place with no distractions. Turn off your phone. Start to clear your mind. Try some deep breaths. Then ask yourself some questions: How am I handling (or not handling) a difficult situation or relationship? How could I have been more effective in that meeting the other day? Am I ignoring things that I shouldn’t? How do I help my team achieve their goals?

If you enjoy writing, try journaling your thoughts. If you think better when outdoors, go for a walk.

Focus on one question at a time. See what comes up. Trust your gut- if you let it, it will lead you in a direction that can help clarify your thoughts.

If you feel stuck or frustrated trying to practice self-reflection, ask for help. Use a friend or colleague whose judgement you trust to talk things out with. Then try it one your own again.

Good luck! Contact me for more on how you can become a better leader.

What Do Great Board Members Bring to the Table?

How do you know when you have the right board members sitting at the table? Hopefully, you have members who already have these qualities. If not, you can use this as part of your cultivation and development process.

Enthusiasm: They demonstrate a passion for the cause, a willingness to act as an ambassador for their organization, and an ability to inspire excitement in others.

Education or Experience: They possess knowledge and skills that can help your organization succeed.

Expectations: They present with the attitude that their skills and abilities will be respected and utilized appropriately, that they will be encouraged in their efforts to contribute to the growth and advancement of the organization, and that they will behave ethically and professionally.

Energy: They show the stamina to fulfill their obligations and responsibilities and can energize others.

Good luck! I can help you create a board that works for you. Please be in touch with me, ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com.

It's Time for Your Yearly Physical

It's Spring! And it's time for your checkup. Your organizational checkup. Time for a peek under the hood to assess how healthy it is. Here we go...

First, do you have a good CEO/Board Chair relationship? Joan Garry believes that this is the single most important sign of organizational health. Do you both understand your roles? Are you partners in your strategic analysis of the organization?

Does your organization have a strong strategic plan? It doesn't have to be a written plan. It doesn't have to be "fancy." But strategy does need to be a vital part of what the Board develops and oversees.

Is there a culture of philanthropy? Does everyone in the organization- Board, staff, volunteers, stakeholders- participate in supporting the organization through fundraising and telling the story of your organization's impact?

Speaking of storytelling, does everyone in the organization know how to articulate the mission, vision and values? By doing this, they can communicate your  organization's impact in transformative ways.

Is your staff motivated and engaged? Are they working well as a team and as individuals? Are they happy?

Finally, do you have sustainability and succession plans in place? Creating a sustainable future involves setting both short and long-term goals and diversification of resources. It also includes leadership cultivation, which is why a succession plan is essential.

Asking yourself these questions, and being honest about where you might need some improvement, is the key to your organizational health. Start now!

Please be in touch with me at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com for help with making your organization the healthiest it can be!

How to Create Leaders

"When we tell people to do their jobs, we get workers. When we trust people to get the job done, we get leaders."  Simon Sinek OK, so you're The Leader now. You started at the bottom of the ladder, and you've worked hard enough to advance.

But what have you learned about being a leader? Are you still thinking like a manager? Are you still tied to doing the job instead of managing those who are responsible now for doing the job?

Learning to let go of doing the job is a key part of becoming a leader. It's not easy, but it's necessary. Use your experience to train and coach others to do the job. Believe in their ability and trust that they will follow your example. And soon, they will become leaders too.

If you would like to learn more, please be in touch with me at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com. Together we can make a better leader!

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

This post comes to you via Michael Rabin, a life coach I follow on Facebook. I've been thinking a lot about the "shoulds" (and "shouldn'ts") that I hear from myself and others. Thanks, Michael, for helping us make sense of this through your insightful writing.

"German psychoanalyst Karen Horney had a phrase for this: “the tyranny of the should.” She viewed shoulds as dividing our personalities into two selves: an ideal self and a real self. When we don’t live up to the ideal self, we are split and our inner critic comes out.

We put ourselves down when we fail to live up to our shoulds, and we get angry with others when they don’t live up to our shoulds. When we place unfulfilled shoulds on our job and workplace, we end up unhappy at work as well.

A should represents a sort of bargain with ourselves and with the world. If I behave in a certain way then things will work out well. And if you (the workplace) do what you should do, then life will go more smoothly. Until, of course, it doesn’t. Because the bargain isn’t necessarily based on reality or the truth, certainly not your personal truth. The bargain is likely based on something someone told you or a form of magical thinking you created to feel better in a situation.

Shoulds are not always a bad thing, particularly when they compel us to behave in a kinder manner. Fulfilling a should through volunteering or donating to a cause, can help us feel good about ourselves. But when your shoulds are the source of unhappiness, guilt, frustration, etc., it’s time to examine them and create a new way of life."

To Do or To Be? That is the Question

This is an important post, and it's not written by me. It's one from Vu Le of Nonprofit with Balls, and it's a MUST READ.  It's about the culture we have developed that's based on the "what do you do?" question and why we need to shift into a "who are you?" culture in order to fully embrace the diversity and skills that people possess. I can't really say more, except that you need to read this blog right now.

http://nonprofitwithballs.com/2017/03/why-we-need-to-stop-asking-what-do-you-do/

Enjoy!

What Do Great Leaders Need?

No one is born knowing everything there is to know about leadership. Much of what makes a great leader has to be learned. There's a difference between leadership skills (what you know) and leadership attributes (who you are). A great leader needs both. Let's focus on leadership attributes - those qualities that seem to be inborn in many great leaders:

• Passionate: about mission, about strategic decisions, about life
• Authentic: building trust; being honest, genuine and forthcoming
• Curious: engaging people by asking questions and listening to the answers
• Humorous: laughter at self and situations
• Fearless: trying new solutions and thinking creatively about things
• Joyous: expressing happiness

There are most certainly more of these attributes. If you have an attribute to contribute to this discussion, please reach out to me at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com