Retreat to Advance

'Tis the season, apparently. I've been facilitating a bunch of board retreats lately, and it has been wonderful to see the varied effects on both staff and board. Oh, by the way, there are some people who have been calling their retreat an "advance." As in, advancing the work and mission of the organization. I'm really not a fan of this nomenclature, though I do appreciate the sentiment.

A retreat is defined as "a time to withdraw for the purpose of meditation or study."  I view retreats as an opportunity to be away from the usual so you can focus on the questions and issues that you don't have time for otherwise. It's a time for consideration of and rumination on the important things that you and your staff are facing.

So what are the essential elements for a successful retreat?

  • It must be a shared investment of time and energy. Everyone needs to participate in the planning and execution of the retreat. I always ask each participant to complete this sentence for me while I'm planning the agenda: "This retreat will be successful for me if ____."
  • Find a space that allows you all to feel comfortable and separate from the day-to-day experience. Not the office. Preferably not a conference room.
  • Hire a facilitator. Someone who can listen, synthesize, rephrase, clarify and strategically guide your conversation. Someone who can be direct and honest with everyone, including the CEO and board chair.
  • Don't overload the agenda. Allow your people to focus on the big picture by spotlighting it instead of burying it. Allow for socializing and relaxing by scheduling blocks of discussion time separated by breaks for everyone.
  • Require that the retreat be device-free. Schedule breaks that allow people to check in as needed, but not during discussion time.
  • Debrief as soon as possible afterwards. Your facilitator should be able to summarize the proceedings for you and provide a set of recommendations for followup on what was discussed and decided at the retreat.

 

Happy retreating (and advancing)! Good luck!

Please be in touch with me at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com so I can help you and your organization with your big picture.

Flipping the Iceberg

This week brings yet another great, relevant post from Vu Le on his Nonprofit with Balls site. This one's about leadership- the different types of leaders and how leaders can become more adept at "flipping the iceberg" or tweaking their own dominant leadership style to expand their capabilities. Noone says it better than Vu: "In the short term, if we only do stuff we like, we may be happy, because it takes a lot of energy to flip our iceberg, and it doesn’t always work. But in the long run, we are missing out on opportunities to develop effective leadership skills. 90% of leadership is about doing crap we hate (Or   maybe that’s just on Mondays and around gala time)."

Read the whole post, and enjoy!

 

8 Habits For Success

How many of these are part of your regular routine?

  1. Read every day: Keep yourself up-to-date on both your area of expertise as well as popular culture.
  2. Focus on high-level tasks: Keep the "big picture" top of mind.
  3. Make your health a priority: Do something every day to be your best self, physically and emotionally.
  4. Learn from people you admire: Someone in your field, a community leader, your father- anyone who has helped you become who you are.
  5. Plan your day the night before: get organized! Know what you're facing and have your strategy ready.
  6. Keep your goals in front of you: Literally. Write them down and keep them where you can see them.
  7. Take action, even when it's scary: Jump into that deep end and start swimming!
  8. Have a powerful and inspiring "why": Be able to tell your story to create action and change in others.

 

I have a #9 to add: Have fun! It doesn't seem as difficult or as much like work if you're having fun.

 

The 5 Types of Leadership Transitions

My last blog about succession planning got a great response, and I'm following it up with more on leadership transitions. During the organizational lifecycle, there are 5 types of leadership transition times- when it's more likely or inevitable that change will be discussed or occur.

In young, emerging organizations that are initially volunteer-run, the first major leadership transition is the first hire.  Often it's the Board who has been running things, and they inevitably get to the point where they don't have the time or expertise to move the organization forward. The challenges are then to clarify the leadership position, manage expectations, and recruit the right person.

Once an organization is more well-established, there are other types of transitions in leadership. When a CEO or ED decides to leave a well-performing organization, the challenge is to decide whether the incoming person should be replaced with a leader who is the same or different than the outgoing. A leader who helps an organization grow from infancy is not necessarily someone who has the skills (or desire) to manage a sustainable one.

For organizations that are not performing well, the transition may be at the request of the Board. Often, changing leadership when an organization is underperforming is not the best solution- it may only serve to postpone a hard look at the underlying issues that are causing the problem.

When an organization is in more dire circumstances and is in need of a turnaround, the transition may be to an interim leader who is experienced in managing a crisis and creating stability. An interim leader can help assess how to "stop the bleeding" and identify the right kind of person to become the next permanent leader.

Finally, "founder's syndrome" is not a myth! There are times when CEOs overstay their welcome and become more of a liability than an asset to their organizations. When they finally do leave, not only is it necessary to replace a long-tenured leader, but the culture of the organization is often in need of deep change as well. Even in successful organizations, replacing a leader who has had great impact can be very difficult, and may require the Board to work hard to identify the new direction for the organization.

Regardless of the age or stage of an organization, the Board's responsibility is to assess and address the specific needs of the situation, and to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.

If you need advice or help with leadership transitions or other organizational issues, please be in touch! ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com

Succession Planning is Good Planning

The statistic that more than half of current nonprofit CEOs plan to leave their jobs in the next 5 years is sobering. But what's even more sobering is the companion statistic that only 34% of nonprofit organizations have a succession or transition plan in place. If one of the primary responsibilities of a nonprofit board is to ensure the sustainability of the organization, then lack of planning for the departure of the CEO is a serious problem. Leaders may leave because they are asked to, but there are many other reasons, some of them occurring suddenly and without notice. In those cases, an organization without a succession plan may be in a very bad way.

Thinking in advance about leadership transition can have a positive impact on organizations. Creating a plan while current leadership is still in place is essential to long-term protection, and should be part of strategic planning for every nonprofit. During the process, board members can have more insight into the actual job the CEO does, and how that role might be reimagined or reconfigured. There is also an opportunity for board members to reconnect with their own roles and become a more effective governing force.

When accomplished effectively, a succession plan creates a comfort zone for the board and CEO, and allows the organization to focus on achieving its mission.

Does your board need to talk about succession? Please be in touch with me at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com.

 

 

To Be A Leader, Say No

The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.  ~Tony Blair Learning to say no is one of the most important steps to becoming an effective leader. Once you've adopted this vital 2-letter word into your vocabulary, you'll be able to manage yourself and your team better, and focus on the big picture issues.

Here are some things a good leader says no to:

  • overscheduling
  • mission drift
  • mistreatment of a team member by others
  • requests that are inconsistent with the organization's values
  • being asked to comprimise on quality

 

Need to learn how to set up some boundaries and learn to say no more? Please be in touch with me at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com

Voices of Nonprofit Board Chairs

The Alliance for Nonprofit Management's Governance Affinity Group has published an important research paper titled, "Voices of Nonprofit Board Chairs," intended to inform the field with first-hand perspectives on board leadership. Given the importance of board leadership to the success of nonprofit organizations, there is a remarkable lack of research or evidence to provide guidance.  As one of the few studies on board chairs, this research helps to answer two questions:  How do individuals prepare for their role as chair of a nonprofit board, and what do board chairs perceive their leadership roles to be in relationship to the board, the community, and the CEO?

To learn more about the study and its implications for practice, download the report here.

Please contact me if you want to work on your board's leadership at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com.

 

How to Be High Impact

I spent a few hours this week reconnecting with a book that changed my professional life when I first encountered it several years ago. Forces for Good, written by Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant, lays out six practices that organizations seeking to have high impact need to adopt. The organizations covered in the book are responsible for catalyzing social movements, mobilizing people, and changing public attitudes and behaviors. These high-impact organizations not only focus on growth by building their infrastructure but also on how they can truly effect widespread change and tangible results, together with their collaborative partners. From their research, the authors determined that successful, impactful organizations focus on what happens outside their boundaries. They are OK with building a "good enough" internal organization and  putting most of their energy into being a changemaker externally, thus achieving more together than they ever could achieve alone.

What are these six practices?

  • Advocate and serve: High-impact organizations start out providing programs to serve their audience, but as they grow, they realize this will not be sufficient. They then expand their impact to advocate for their audience, providing an even broader platform for their mission.
  •  Make markets work: High-impact organizations do not function using traditional concepts of charity alone. They build corporate partnerships and other innovative business practices to leverage the market's power to further social change.
  • Inspire evangelists: High-impact organizations engage their communities in their mission and vision, and utilize them as ambassadors for their cause.
  • Nurture nonprofit networks: High-impact organizations collaborate versus compete with other organizations. They share their power and talent, for the greater good.
  • Master the art of adaptation: High-impact organizations make mistakes, but continue to adapt their strategies and tactics to stay relevant and advance their mission.
  • Share leadership: High-impact organizations have charismatic leaders who delegate well and empower others to lead. They are strategic thinkers and entrepreneurs who look for opportunities to share their strength in the pursuit of success.

 

How does your organization measure up in utilizing these practices? Do you want a high-impact organization? Let's talk! Reach me at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com.

 

 

 

Candle or Mirror?

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it " ~ Edith Wharton

Do you light the way for others or do you create a way to shine their light outward?  When you are the candle, you have the potential to spread hope and happiness to others. When you are the mirror, your own hope and happiness are reflected through your actions and behaviors.

Choose to be one or the other. Either way, you will be an agent of change.

 

 

To Be a Good Leader, Bring the (Com) Passion

Great leaders don't just possess smarts and directorial qualities. They also need compassion, for themselves and others. In this great blog for The Boda Group, Chris Charyk presents these seven qualities of compassionate leaders:

  • Adaptability: reacting to change and instability with a calm and understanding approach
  • Authenticity: words and actions are reflective of stated values
  • Focus: self-awareness enables the ability to concentrate on priorities
  • Connection and collaboration seeking: looking for feedback and support from their network and others
  • Tolerance for mistakes: understanding and openness about their own and other's imperfections
  • Balance: maintaining a healthy attitude toward work and the need for the well-being of themselves and others
  • Humor: keeping perspective on situations and not being too serious

 

How do you measure up?

I can help you be a better leader! Reach me at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com

 

Are You Too Comfortable?

#latergram to this blog post on getting out of your leadership comfort zone by Lolly Daskal, a leadership coach/consultant I follow. I particularly like this observation: "The end of your comfort zone is where your leadership begins."

In other words, you can't really be a bold and innovative leader without challenging yourself and moving past what is your norm. For change to happen, risks need to be taken. By questioning yourself and others, you stand up to the "same old, same old" and can forge a new path.

Happy reading!

If you are looking for new ways to challenge yourself and become a better leader, I can help. Reach me at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com.

Be a Human Leader

More on leadership....

  • Make it about “We” not "I" - it isn't just about you, it's about the team
  • Ask for trust and keep your promises- integrity is a priority
  • Establish key values- values are the glue that holds it all together
  • Find and teach more human leaders- we need to pass on the legacy
  • Build a culture of accountability- share the responsibility and be fair
  • Measure with the right metrics- keep track of goals and progress to keep motivation flowing
  • Fight complacency and negativity- keep moving forward and try to ignore those who are choosing to stay stuck
  • Connect it all to a higher purpose- keep it all focused on the mission and the greater good

 

Thanks to Terry St. Marie for the original column on More Human Leadership.

Please reach me at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com for more on how to be a great leader!

Is Your Board Playing Nice in the Sandbox?

I'm recommending a very entertaining blog post by Liz Wooten Reschke on the BoardSource site- "A Child's View of Nonprofit Board Culture"- relating parental lessons to the ways we consultants try to improve the boards we work with. There are some great questions here to get your boards to open up about their culture (or lack thereof), how they interact with each other, and how they approach governance. Happy reading!

Control Freaks

I came across this list of things you have control over that can have tremendous effect on your effectiveness out there in the real world:

  1.  Be on time
  2.  Be aware of your body language
  3.  Be prepared
  4.  Be passionate
  5.  Be coachable
  6.  Be energetic
  7.  Have a good attitude
  8.  Have a good work ethic
  9.  Make an effort
  10.  Do more than asked

 

Take control of your life- Good luck!

 

Change Happens

Change is the only constant in life.   ~ Heraclitus Every job ends in a transition. The success of that transition depends on when, how and how well it's managed. When we're talking about a change in leadership, it can be a traumatic process for everyone in the organization. And, the longer a leader has been in place, the more challenges there may be for a successor.

I like to tell the CEOs I coach that part of leading well is leaving well. Part of an "exit strategy" is knowing how to prepare yourself and your organization for the impending change. Here are a few tips that may help you with transitioning out of your organization:

  • Start early: transition takes time. If you are thinking of leaving, start planning. Review your organization's succession plan (you DO have a succession plan, don't you?), inform your board chair, and start the ball rolling.
  • Take an active role: make a commitment to be part of the process, as much or as little as your board requests.
  • Set a date and stick to it: it's much more difficult for your organization to plan for your departure if you keep changing the timeline. Even if it's 2 years in the future, it helps for everyone to have a goal for accomplishing the difficult task of replacing you.
  • Continue to be a leader: Be professional as you prepare the organization, prepare your board and staff, and prepare yourself for what is coming next. Continue to show up!
  • Manage internal and external communications: when appropriate, inform stakeholders, donors and others about your plans. Don't let gossip or social media leaks spread the word.
  • Know when to express emotion: a planned departure allows you to celebrate your tenure and allows the organization to honor your legacy. It's OK to express your emotions about leaving.
  • Leave gracefully and decisively: once your successor is identified, make your plans to step away. If you have been asked to assist in your successor's onboarding, do so and then finalize your transition.

 

I want to help you and your organization through its transitions. Please reach me at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com.

Creating a Circle of Safety

Joan Garry wrote a great blog a few weeks ago, "The Top 10 Books Every Nonprofit Leader Should Read." I was pleased to see that I'd read several of them, and I added a few to my to-read list.  One of the books, Simon Sinek's newest, Leaders Eat Last, will likely be on Joan's next Top 10 list. Sinek writes that true leaders create an organization that makes all of its members feel safe, so that they work together with trust and cooperation and are better able to face external threats and seize the opportunities before them. This "circle of safety" enables people to achieve together things that none of them could achieve alone. It also allows people to feel inspired and fulfilled by their work, rather than threatened or useless. Sinek says that organizations built around this conceptual framework are more stable and perform better across the board.

One of the more important points for me was that the circle only works if it is all-inclusive. That is, leaders don't just protect their managers and leave other people out. It's about protecting everyone, creating the environment that fosters trust and cooperation. And that, my friends, leads to organizations accomplishing great things-  together.

For more, watch Sinek's TED talk. And get in touch with me at ewoolfe@intuitionconsult.com.

 

My Cup Runneth Over

"Once upon a time, a scholar came to visit a saint. After the scholar had been orating and propounding for a while, the saint proposed some tea. She slowly filled the scholar's cup: gradually the tea rose to the very brim and began spilling over onto the table, yet she kept pouring and pouring. The scholar burst out: "Stop! You can't add anything to something that's already full!" The saint set down the teapot and replied, "Exactly." In his Psychology Today blog, "Your Wise Brain," Rick Hanson writes about creating and appreciating emptiness as a contrast to the often over-full lives we lead. You know what I mean- running from appointment to appointment, answering emails one after another, piling more stuff into your closet- a life without time and space to reflect and ruminate on life itself.

Hanson writes that we must consciously step back from this nonstop pace and learn how to put space between all that we do. Breathe. Pause. Allow for thought. Enjoy doing or thinking one thing at a time.

Here's a great quote from Hanson's blog: " Drop the stuff you can no longer afford to lug around. At sea level, you can run with a brick in your backpack, but if you're hiking on a mountain, that brick's got to go. Similarly, most of us have some habits, indulgences, ideas, grudges, or fixations that were kind of OK at one time but now - with changing circumstances (such as juggling more balls, raising a family, aging) - are wearing you down and really need to go. What's your own brick? What would you gain by emptying it out of your own backpack?"

I'm looking forward to using some of these suggestions to add more space to my life. Will you?