Transcend 4 Good

COVID-19 has caused our nonprofit businesses to shift in ways we may have never imagined. As you lead through this challenging time, self-awareness, and the ability to identify leadership blind spots will bolster your ability to become the leader your team needs now. Are you self-aware enough to identify your leadership blind spots?

Resources in this episode:

• John Maxwell Resources

• Inc.com

• Daniel Coleman: Emotional Intelligence

• Emotional Intelligence: Animated Book Summary

Leadership Blind Spots

A person can have blind spots in any part of their lives, we all have them. For business, we love John Maxwell’s’ definition which is, “a blind spot is an area in someone’s life in which he/she continually fails to see himself/herself or the situation realistically. 

This unawareness often causes great damage to the person and those around him/her.  And John continues, “it affects so many more people than the leader alone.  It can have a far-reaching impact – on the leader, his or her followers, and the entire team, department or organization.” 

A blind spot may be viewed as a weakness by others so as leaders we need to become exceptionally self-aware.  Every team deserves a self-aware leader. 

Our Top Three Leadership Blind Spots

In this podcast, we examine three leadership blind spots and provide examples and solutions:

• “I know” attitude - which is placing more value on being right than learning from others

• Taking too long to fire

• Knowing your weaknesses

Knowing and understanding your blind spots builds your capacity as a leader. If you see these areas as opportunities for growth you embrace a leadership mindset! Remember, leadership is a life-long journey.

 Don’t know where to start?

Transcend4Good works with nonprofit leaders to develop tailored coaching programs suited to address your unique situation and opportunities. Investing in your leadership capacity ensures long-term stability, satisfaction, and success.

Contact us to start the conversation.

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Over the past several years, a number of studies have explored the demographic shifts affecting the nonprofit sector. The findings estimate that 50 to 75 percent of current nonprofit executive directors/ceo's/presidents will move on from their positions within the next five years.

At Transcend4Good, we're encouraging boards and leaders to resist being overcome with panic during these strange times and instead to use this opportunity to talk frankly about leadership.  More than anything this crisis has highlighted "what got you here won't get you there".  Thoughtful succession planning is not a vote of no confidence in your current leader; it is a statement about solid governance and good planning. 

Resources in this episode:

• Board Source’s, Leading with Intent

• Address the Need for Nonprofit Succession Planning

• Board Source: Succession Planning Resources

Types of Succession Planning

Effective succession planning increases the likelihood that your nonprofit will have the strong leadership required to increase an organization’s capacity, effectiveness, long-term stability, and sustainability.

We can think about succession planning in three categories:

• CEO/Executive Director

• Board Leadership

• Founder

Each of these categories brings a unique set of considerations along with it and often, let’s be honest, a push for courage to just start the conversation. This podcast will explore the CEO/Executive Director category.

Executive Succession Planning

• Emergency Succession Planning - this is the process that is in place if the CEO suddenly departs permanently or for an extended period (for example, longer than three months).

• Departure-Defined Success Planning - a process that is in place for a future planned retirement or permanent departure of the CEO.

• Strategic Leader Development - a process that promotes ongoing leadership development for talent within the organization.

Listen as we discuss these areas as well as what role the board, current executive and staff play in this process. We will help you focus on key questions that should be considered. Here are a few:

• If your CEO is suddenly unable to serve, or retires, have you identified candidates for the job?

• Would your organization be able to sustain a decline in income or fundraising activities without the CEO?

• Does the board have the right mix of talent to effectively hire a new CEO? Would your organization hire a recruiter? If so, is there available funding for this activity?

*See the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s monographs on executive transitions and next-generation leadership, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and The Meyer Foundation’s Daring to Lead studies, Bridgespan’s “Leadership Deficit” monograph, and GEO’s Investing in Leadership publications, among others. 

 Don’t know where to start?

Transcend4Good works with clients to create succession plans for every part of your nonprofit organization - executive, board and founder. Planning now ensures the necessary leadership for long-term stability and success.

Contact us to start the conversation.

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The COVID-19 crisis highlights the critical importance of a nonprofit board’s attention and involvement in fundraising. During this critical time, boards are taking action to ensure financial stability. Leaders are discussing strategic decisions of pausing programs, possible staff reductions, or potentially merging with other organizations. The culture of philanthropy may take on a very different meaning during this crisis with board members stepping in and up to new levels of leadership. The culture of philanthropy starts and ends with leadership at the board table, supported by the CEO/Executive Director and is understood by every employee at your organization. 

Resources in this episode:

• Board Source’s, Leading with Intent

• How to craft your board’s fundraising policy

Board Giving

Fundraising is a shared responsibility between the board and the staff. More importantly, as stewards of the organization’s financial health and sustainability (and hopefully, growth) board members must understand their duty and responsibility when it comes to this area.

Healthy, dynamic organizations build and sustain a culture of philanthropy—-and that means all parties, board, and staff, embrace responsibility for this strategic and important function.

If it is such an important role, why do some boards fully activate while others simply don’t engage?

According to Board Source’s, Leading with Intent: A National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices 2017, boards average 79 percent participation in giving, however, on the average only 52% of board have 100 percent participation. What is going on?

Clarity During Recruitment and Onboarding

In this podcast, T4G provides thoughts on one of the most important pieces of board giving which starts at the very beginning of the recruitment process and continues through onboarding. The “not so secret” secret is to be clear and specific related to expectations about board participation in the fundraising process of the organization as well as their own personal giving. Board Source’s study mentioned here provides compelling evidence, “when fundraising expectations are clearly articulated during recruitment, 52% of CEOs report their boards are actively engaged in the organization’s fundraising efforts.  When fundraising expectations are not clearly articulated during recruitment only 12% of executives report their boards are actively engaged in fundraising efforts.  In this podcast, we discuss specific ideas that support the development and enhancement of your organization’s onboarding process that bolster board giving and ensure a culture of philanthropy. You can find additional resources here to help craft your board fundraising policy.

Top 10 Ideas To Involve Board Members in Fundraising (and only one of them involves asking!)

• Understand your organization’s fundraising programs and strategies

• Invest in development efforts to grow and sustain the organization

• Cultivate and steward donors

• Attend events and bring potential supporters/friends

• Make a significant, personal annual gift

• Help thank donors

• Identify, prospects, advocates, and leaders

• When appropriate, ask for support/investment

• Engage, support, and encourage all fundraising activities and the organization’s staff

• Be a vocal and passionate advocate

  *Listen to the podcast for more details and ideas.

 An engaged board creates ENERGY to support and propel any organization’s mission.

Transcend4Good works with clients to create custom programs for board recruitment, onboarding and fundraising training that allow nonprofits and associations to grow and innovate.

Contact us to start the conversation.

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Calm, clear-headed leadership during a crisis sets the tone for your organization. It may seem natural to go into “command and control” mode but T4G suggests these three concepts for a balanced approach.

Onboarding Benefits

According to Gallup “onboarding fulfills promises made during recruitment and lays the foundation for the rest of the employee life cycle.” The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) shares that employees who benefit from a strong onboarding process are 50% more productive as new hires and are more likely to still be with the organization after three years. Pretty impressive, right?

Retaining high-performing team members saves time, money and deepens the “feel good about my job/organization” culture of an organization.   Today’s episode briefly touches on some key ideas taken from T4G’s experience about the onboarding process that validates how leadership influences onboarding.

Top Ideas to Consider for Employee Success

• Onboarding is a process

• ”Pre-boarding” (before the first day) develop and share a packet with key info (listen in for our ideas)

• Create an agenda for the first week with key introductions and activities

• Model welcoming behavior for your team - YOU meet one-on-one with the new hire on the first day if possible.

• Together, define what success looks like

• Make it personal

• Involve the existing team in the process - assign a colleague “buddy”

• Have check-ins at 30 days, 60 days, 90 days

• Ensure opportunities for new employee feedback about the process

 The onboarding process is 100% worth the effort and investment of time and money.

Transcend4Good works with clients to create custom programs like onboarding that allow nonprofits and associations to grow and innovate.

Contact us to start the conversation.

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What is a strategic alliance? 

An alliance is a strategic restructuring that includes a formal commitment to continue, for the foreseeable future, shared or transferred decision-making power. It does not involve any change to the corporate structure of the participating organizations.  There are four areas that our sector finds alliances mutually beneficial: 

• An administrative consolidation is a strategic alliance that entails the sharing, exchanging, or contracting of administrative functions to increase the operational efficiency of one or more of the partner organizations.

• Joint programming is a strategic alliance that includes the joint launching and managing of one or more programs to further the programmatic goals of the participating organizations. 

• A joint earned income activity occurs when two or more organizations jointly create a revenue-generating activity (e.g., a combined capital campaign or social entrepreneurial venture). 

• A joint advocacy activity occurs when two or more organizations combine their advocacy efforts either on a single issue/time-limited basis or for ongoing campaigns.

 Listen in as we talk through ideas of how to start and what a successful process looks like. How will you grow or leverage your nonprofit’s mission with a strategic partnership or alliance?

Transcend4Good works with clients to create strategic partnerships and alliances that allow nonprofits and associations to grow and innovate.
Contact us to start the conversation.

References: LaPiana.org, Insights for the Sector

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