Category Archives: other

What Stage Does Your Nonprofit Operate In?

Tribal LeadershipTribal Leadership offers a fascinating look at the five stages of organization culture:

  1. Life sucks – staff are gloomy about everything, including their jobs.
  2. My life sucks – other people are doing OK but I’m not
  3. I’m great – I do great work but others don’t (but so what?)
  4. We’re great – I work with a great team of people and we do great work together
  5. Life’s great – My company is working together with other organizations to do great work

Dave suggests that most companies operate at stage 3; few are lucky enough to get to stage 4 and even less ever make it to stage 5.

The great takeaway here is that if we only rely on ourselves, we can only do so much.  It’s only when we form great teams that we really excel – and we can do even more if we partner with other organizations.  Beth Kanter and Allison Fine’s The Networked Nonprofit spoke about this too.

Find out more at the Tribal Leadership website (you can even download a free audio version of the book).  Then learn how to play well with others – it can reach you to much greater heights than you can achieve by yourself.

Life After Hurricane Sandy

It has been a week that we will never forget.  I am back at work today for the first time since Hurricane Sandy hit New York City last Monday.  Although my home lost power for two days, I was much more fortunate than many who suffered much greater losses, some who are still without electricity and water.  I am thankful to those who have worked to repair the damage, and to a wonderful friend who put me up in her home.  I am especially sad to see the devastation to many waterside areas, such as Long Beach, NY where I often visit and consider to be my second home.

I am grateful to my colleagues at the Center for Court Innovation who kept in touch throughout the week and then worked to restore our connectivity so our office could re-open.  I am also encouraged at the many who have already volunteered to help others in need.

Probably the most frustrating part about this experience was the difficulty in staying in touch with others.  While I managed to keep some charge on my cell phone for two days by turning it off between phone calls, it was very difficult to get calls to go through.  So it took days before I could check on family and friends to make sure they were OK.

I also lost my car, which was flooded – along with many other automobiles that were parked in my neighborhood. But a much larger concern is that after Hurricane Irene last year and now Sandy, living through major storms may be the new normal for what we can expect in the future.  Is this something we can ever get used to?

A Few Words About Gratitude

Some of us may see Thanksgiving as the beginning of a long break from work.  Others may want to get a jump on holiday shopping by seeking out ‘Black Friday’ deals at stores or online.  Clearly this is a big ‘eating’ holiday, whether you spend it with family or with close friends.  But in my view, this is really not what the holiday is about.

If you work with a nonprofit, you’ve probably already started your year end fundraising campaign. Instead of focusing on the timing and wording of your solicitations, remember to thank your donors for their support, and tell them how their contributions have helped to benefit your constituents.  Also make the effort to appreciate your colleagues at your organization who work so hard year-round to support you and your nonprofit’s cause.

If you work for an organization that provides a product or service for nonprofits, thank your clients for having entrusted you to achieve their important work.  And take the time to fully understand how they serve their supporters so you can be an even better partner.

If you are in between jobs, don’t focus on how difficult it is to find your next position. Instead, be thankful that you have a roof over your head, you have people who care about you and you have enough to eat from day to day.  Many others are not so fortunate.

If you know someone who is alone or who is going through a difficult time, reach out to spend time with them during the upcoming holidays.

Take the time every day to be thankful for what you already have, not only on Thanksgiving.  It can make all the difference, no matter what your current situation is.

No Time for Complaints

With the recent doom and gloom in financial markets, reading the Wall Street Journal has  been depressing lately as the bad news accumulates. At a staff meeting at my nonprofit organization lately, our president tried to put a positive spin on our prospects even though we had to lay off staff earlier this year – as have many other large nonprofits across the US. I find myself working longer hours to keep my work current, as are most of my colleagues. With our savings seeming to decline each day, how can we avoid negativity?

In the same Wall Street Journal that has documented the financial crisis was an article this week From Attitude to Gratitude: This Is No Time for Complaints.   Despite the abundance of bad news, many of us who still have our jobs are “finding reasons to be appreciative.”  As has happened in my nonprofit, we’re being asked to take unpaid furloughs to avoid larger cutbacks.   We’re also feeling grateful that we still have our jobs (many others don’t) and are “finding reasons to be appreciative.”  I’ve already read Will Bowen’s wonderful book A Complaint Free World, and have ordered Jon Gordon’s  The No Complaining Rule, which specifically deals with reducing negativity at work.

What can we do to survive at our nonprofits during these turbulent times?

  1. Will Bowen advises us to pledge to stop complaining, criticizing and gossiping.  Minimize contact with colleagues who constantly talk about how hard things are.   Instead, be the person who points out what’s good.
  2. Use this time as an opportunity to roll out online strategies to reduce costs, such as replacing paper newsletters with enewsletters and making more use of web / phone conferences to minimize travel expenses
  3. Find ways to help others to deal with stress and increased work loads.  Understand that if someone seems a bit cranky with you, it may because they are struggling to get their projects done.
  4. Keep reaching out to constituents, even if they aren’t able to sustain the level of financial contributions they have in the past.  There may be other ways they can help.
  5. Find a way to vent your feelings, but go easy on your spouse.  My wife surprised me yesterday by pointing out that I have often frequently complained about problems at work, even when I thought I was staying positive.  Focus on what you have to be thankful for, not on what’s wrong.

The Wall Street Journal article ends by asking us to “write down three things we’re grateful for every day,” even if sometimes you can only come up with basics such as “oxygen, food and shelter.”  When an individual deals with depression, it feels like things will never be any different.  It’s important to keep in mind that although we’re not sure when conditions will improve, things will get better.  And as many self-help books I’ve read over the years have repeated, it’s not the situation that causes grief, it’s how you deal with it.

Let’s also be grateful that we work in the nonprofit sector, where we can see the benefits of what we do for our constituents on a daily basis.

A Not So Rosy Look at Nonprofit Salaries

As most of us in the field know, nonprofit salaries usually fall short of their counterparts in the private sector.  A new posting at Payscale, Nonprofit Jobs: Flexibility and Opportunity at a Cost, points out there are opportunities for late career changes and baby boomers to fill the gap in personnel recently reported by Bridgespan. The article also points out the advantages of working for nonprofit, and that shouldn’t focus only on compensation.

An especially interesting quote was from Roberta Chinsky Matuson who said, “the most challenging part will be for the employee to recognize that they will work with an extremely limited budget and resources.”  As a technology resource focused on online fundraising, I believe even the smallest organizations with limited resources always have options resources – even though it can be challenging.

Change Can Be Your Friend

I have always been intrigued by change, both personally and professionally.  Earlier this week I attended a presentation on Change Management at the NYC Chapter of the Project Management Institute, featuring Peter de Jager Some major points were:

  • The major changes in our lives involve getting married (or not) and deciding to have children.  In comparison, most changes which take place at our organizations are trivial.
  • When a change is presented / announced, the most natural response is ‘Why?’
  • Asking ‘if there are any questions’ to employees after a change has already been decided is of little value, especially if staff have had little involvement in the decision.
  • The process of how a change was decided upon should be openly communicated so that staff don’t feel that the decision ‘came out of nowhere.’
  • To be sustainable, change must be ‘your’ change.
  • Change doesn’t have to be difficult.  Change is often a positive force in our lives.

Peter described the change process model developed by Virginia Satirwhich traces the steps from the ‘old’ to the ‘new’ status quo, as well as the five stages of grief outlined by Elisabeth Kuber-Ross.

While change has often been a challenge in my life, this session provided a useful reminder that it is a necessary part of life, and can be reframed to be viewed as a positive force, not a source of dread.

The Purpose of Networking

This week I came across an interesting posting on the Career Hub blogthat described networking as a career management tool, not as a job search tool.  I also received an email invitation to connect with someone on LinkedInwho said he’d only recently discovered the value of connecting with people despite having signed up on LinkedIn a while back.

Before the Internet (if my younger readers can imagine such a time), it was much harder to keep in touch with people.  Now, the problem is choosing which tool to use.  For many years I believed that excelling in your job would be enough to insure career success.  But now I’ve realized the importance of keeping up with your network,regardless of whether or not I am seeking a job change. I’ve actually started to enjoy the interaction and have looked for ways I can help others.  So while I work hard for my current employer, I also make sure I attend (and speak at) conferences, as well as participate in nonprofit email lists and keep in touch with my contacts.

Would I be open to a new job opportunity if one came along?  Yes.  But it is not my main purpose for networking.  I also find that my involvement with many people in other organizations gives me a broader perspective that I could never develop from working at any one firm.  I’ve recently started to subscribe to many of my peers’ blogs, and comment when I can.  As described in Never Eat Alone, networking doesn’t have to be difficult, it can be very enjoyable in addition to helping your career.

Lessons from a Day of Shopping

Spent much of the day yesterday shopping for a new suit.  Thought I had found a good choice at the first store my wife and I visited, but we bailed out at the cashier when we realized that the brand was excluded from a 40% off sale that was advertised (with the exceptions in smaller print).  She suggested that we visit an outlet mall that was about an hour’s drive away.  Since it was already late in the afternoon, I said no, reasoning that stores would certainly not be open later than 6 PM or 7 PM on Sunday, which wouldn’t give us enough time to shop.  She suggested calling anyway to find out.  Result – stores were open to 9 PM.  Moral – your assumptions may not always be correct.

After arriving at the outlet, we searched for a store featuring the brand of the suit that I had picked out at the other store.  Perhaps we’d be able to find the suit at a more attractive price.  On the way there, we found another store that my wife suggested would be worthwhile visiting as well.  So we went there first and found two possibilities.  I settled on one, and also was able to use a 25% coupon that I had from a savings book that I’d fortunately received at the mall’s information desk.  It didn’t quite get the reaction from my wife when I tried it on that I had received at the earlier store, but it was still a good choice.

A while later, shortly before the mall’s closing time, we finally found the address of the store we’d tried to find earlier.  Result – it was out of business, having been taken over by another men’s clothing store.  Moral – don’t be too invested in Plan A.  Plan B may turn out to be the better (or only) choice.

The Importance of Nonprofit Boards

When I first joined the nonprofit sector, I thought having a good working relationship with the Executive Director would insure my success with an organization.  Little did I realize the major role that a nonprofit organization’s board plays in guiding its direction.  At my current job, when the CEO left over a year ago and wasn’t replaced until six months later, the board was heavily involved in managing day to day decisions as well as longer term strategic planning.

BoardnetUSA, a web site sponsored by the Volunteer Consulting Group, provides a way for those interested in serving on a board to find organizations that are searching for new board members.  Other sites focused on nonprofit boards are BoardSourceand BoardCafe.

The NonProfit Times also recently highlighted the book, Building Better Boards which described five types of boards:

  1. passive – the traditional model where the board’s activity and participation is limited
  2. certifying – board certifies to stakeholders that the organization is being managed properly
  3. engaged – board partners with the CEO and oversees CEO & organization performance
  4. intervening – deeply involved in key decisions – most common during crises
  5. operating – deepest level of involvement – board makes key decisions and management implements them

It’s important that potential board members have a good understanding of what their role will involve before accepting the important responsibility of serving on a nonprofit board, especially if there will be a fundraising requirement.

You’ve Got to Read This Book

Just finished a fascinating book entitled You’ve Got to Read This Book, edited by Jack Canfield (originator of the Chicken Soup series) and Gay Hendricks.  As you can guess, it’s about stories of books that have changed people’s lives.  A sampling of titles is below:

There is also a web sitethat promotes the book, as well as offering a chance to share your own favorites.

I’ve always felt that many people stop reading when they finish school.  Reading these stories reminded me just how powerful a book can be throughout your life.