![]() ![]() These rules of thumb shouldn’t interfere with leaders developing their own style and their own voice. A Fast Company post from early in the pandemic outlined ways to “Compassionately Communicate from a Distance.” I especially like the word ‘compassionately’. Respectful, open, and honest communication can bring teams and people together and make them stronger than they were before the challenge arose. If something is going wrong that can sap the strength of an organization, leaders need to address it. According to self-described Fundraisingologist Jeff Brooks, “That focus on the new, often at the expense of doing what actually works, is widespread in the fundraising world,” though he also warns against the opposite mindset that trying new things is never worth it. Ask yourself and your colleagues whether a nonfungible token, for example, is relevant to your mission and values, and recognize that juggling a new ball might mean dropping one that’s already in the air. ![]() There’s nothing wrong with staying current in your field and keeping an eye on what other organizations are doing, but that doesn’t mean changing course whenever a new trend arises. > Regina Cialone and Ryan Grosso: Situational Strategy Planning Now you’re going to make that hire feel disenfranchised, humiliated, and belittled? This is the quickest route to coming full circle, finding yourself reposting that job. Think of all the effort you put into recruitment and interviewing. They don’t second-guess the decisions of the people who report to them. Great leaders don’t double-check spreadsheets or rewrite speeches unless asked. Rosales: Diversity Should Be A Leadership Priority, Not A Human Resources Function This gesture can happen privately by phone or email, or, to make it even more special, in front of the department or organization. Expressing faith with your words and demonstrating it with your actions will make young leaders in your organization feel their hard work is being noticed. Appreciation needs to be part of your culture. Employee recognition programs only get you so far. Cultivating leadership within organizations starts with trust. Instead, let it grow around you, and support efforts that most resonate with your mission-even if (especially if) they weren’t your idea. ![]() This lesson also applies when it comes to developing and sustaining your organizational culture. Face it, you won’t always be around to clean up the mess, so you’d better start trusting them sooner rather than later. Allowing those around you to try and fail builds up their leadership muscles and builds trust in your team. Leadership is a muscle, argue Chip and Dan Heath, authors of Made to Stick and other business best sellers. Shelley: The Five Skills Nonprofit Executives Need To Lead Change In nonprofits, where mission is a key motivator for performance, the whiff of hypocrisy can poison morale. When you remain calm in a crisis, when you show kindness and forgiveness, these behaviors are noticed and replicated throughout the organization. Being present counts more than being right. Executive leadership is different from parenting, but in both cases, you are being watched, and what you do matters more than what you say. “We keep moving forward,” Walt Disney once said, “opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” New paths bring us to surprises-and I like to be surprised. What type of leader do I most look forward to partnering with? Respect and drive always matter, but curiosity is the quality that engages me most. Finding common ground with others, sharing experiences, and recognizing the value in one another-these are skills that can and should be cultivated at every level of an organization. Mission and strategy matter for nonprofits, and there’s certainly no shortage of worthy causes in the world today, but in order to have an impact, we need to team up. Here are a few key lessons I’ve absorbed. The people at the helm of Orr Group’s partner organizations have shown me that supportive leadership depends on timing and intentionality and that leadership often comes down to what you don’t do. Although I have learned a lot about leadership from classic texts like Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) and more recent books like The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership (2015), most of my education comes from watching nonprofit executives in action.
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