How to Thrive in Changing Times: Two Key Shifts to Make in Your Nonprofit Management We rarely think specifically about how we lead as nonprofit management professionals. Our management models are as invisible to us as our own breathing. The way we choose to manage and support our teams is either inadvertent or unconscious -- we manage [...]
As promised in a recent post I’m sharing more thoughts on nonprofit leadership. Today’s post is based on my reading of Doing More with More: Putting Shared Leadership Into Practice, a Nonprofit Quarterly article. It offers a nice overview of the key ingredients needed to bring about collaborative leadership that in turn results in enhanced nonprofit capacity.
A few days ago, I learned that my beloved judo teacher, Sensei (Master) Keiko Fukuda, was awarded her 10th degree black belt. At age 98, she is the only woman in the world to ever receive this honor. Her promotion reminded me of many of the leadrship lessons I leanred from judo that I still use today, years after I left the sport.
If you’re like most volunteer program administrators, you “wear many hats.” The constant need to multi-task is a critical issue that needs to be addressed. But, given the current economic climate and budget shortfalls, it’s not likely that help is on the horizon. To succeed in this environment, we may need to work smarter, not harder.
A How to Guide on Leading with Gratitude Last week, I was the lucky beneficiary of several expressions of gratitude from clients and friends. Their heartfelt thank you notes and intention of leading with gratitude really helped lift my spirits during an otherwise tough week. Their generosity also got me thinking about the power of gratitude. [...]
If you are struggling to find ways to motivate volunteers, or don't seem to have enough "leader" volunteers available, consider rennovating how you make decisions. Try leading from within, rather than from the top, by using a shared leadership model.
Not very many nonprofit people like numbers. Whether you're a total fan or feel they are a necessary evil, your program outcomes can be a powerful tools to communicate the value of your program to stakeholders. They may even help your program get the respect it deserves.
It’s that time of year, where we (in the US) wait eagerly for our wage, income, and tax statements to arrive and we scramble to find all those receipts we need to complete our federal tax returns. Why not help your volunteers get all the deductions they have coming?
How to Lead Volunteers in Uncertainty: Your Important Work Ahead When we experience massive change, particularly when it's unwelcome or unexpected, it may feel like the best thing to do is crawl under a rock and wait for the storm to pass. But, that couldn't be any farther from the truth; especially when it comes [...]
The other day I was reading the Five Challenges Facing Marketing, a Harvard Business Review blog post by David Aaker who’s an author and brand marketing expert. I’m always curious what the business world is doing, partly because it helps me grow my own small enterprise, but also because I almost always find something I can re-purpose for nonprofits. This time was no different. The other day I was reading the Five Challenges Facing Marketing, a blog post by David Aaker. As I read his prophetic insider’s view on what’s troubling marketers, I had a surprising revelation -- businesses are struggling with some of the very same issues nonprofits grapple with.