Power Steering: Upgrade to 2010
December 2009
- Service Excellence in 2010: How May We Help You?
- Invest in your Most Valuable Assets
- Remembering Culture in Times of Change
- Out with the Old. In with the Interim.
- Candlelight Ranch and Spirit Reins Join Forces to Increase Impact
Service Excellence in 2010:
How May We Help You?
By Ann Starr, Greenlights Director of Education
The unique set of challenges the nonprofit sector faced in 2009 forced just about every one of us to adapt our operations in some way. Greenlights' Education Department spent a good part of the year evaluating and restructuring programs, adding new team members, and ensuring that we are as responsive as possible to the ever-evolving professional development needs of the Central Texas nonprofit community.
So, what did we come up with? Well, for starters, we are excited to unveil a number of new and improved half-day workshops, mostly focusing on the education needs of more seasoned nonprofit professionals. From The New Volunteer: A Multi-Cultural Approach to Community Engagement to Raising Money and Connecting with Donors Online to Building Strategic Alliances: Collaboration, Shared Services and Mergers, you'll find a number of innovative, useful sessions taught by some of Central Texas' most experienced nonprofit leaders.
To make professional development more accessible to you, all of our half-day workshops are now priced at $50 for members (a 40% discount from the previous fee of $85) and many of these great courses will be offered at locations around Central Texas.
Our approach to peer learning is also new, with Town Hall Tuesdays presented each week in April. Join your colleagues to share challenges and real-life solutions in a moderated town-hall style discussion, followed by lunch and more intimate conversations: Executive Directors Town Hall on April 6, Financial Managers Town Hall on April 13, Program Staff and Managers Town Hall on April 20 and Development and Communication Professionals Town Hall on April 27.
You'll also get added value from your Greenlights membership next year as we kick off 2010 with lots of new benefits, like free, monthly lunch-and-learn presentations and extra workshop vouchers for mid-sized and large organizations. Our first lunch and learn on January 22 will focus on Harnessing the Hidden Power of Organizational Culture.
Last, but not least, we are thrilled to welcome the newest member of the Greenlights staff, Julie Macalik, our Service Excellence Specialist. Julie is dedicated to ensuring that all Greenlights members, and others in the nonprofit community, consistently experience a high level of customer service in all of their interactions with us. So, please let us know "how may we help you?" in 2010 and beyond.
Invest in your Most Valuable Assets
By Matt Kouri, Greenlights Executive Director
Imagine with me for a moment that Santa brought you the most incredible gift this holiday season: a new-fangled machine, probably made by Google or Sony, specifically designed to ensure that your nonprofit fully achieves its mission.
After you plug it in at the office, this machine would be programmed to assess and understand all of your stakeholder needs, develop and deliver programs that serve your clients, accurately and efficiently measure your impact, and solicit funds from and report directly back to your funders. Heck, it would even clean up the office and write thank you notes to volunteers. And the only requirement is that you perform routine maintenance and upkeep on the machine: run an occasional software upgrade, sweep the accumulated dust off its surface, and maybe pat it on the "head" every now and then for encouragement.
Now before you run and FedEx Santa a last-minute gift request, I have news for you: this "machine" is already in your office. Every employee of your nonprofit is a beautiful piece of complex and miraculous human machinery, inherently designed to accomplish everything your nonprofit needs - ok, maybe not every employee! Working at full capacity, the teams of people running our nonprofits ought to be able to fully achieve our organizational missions, and then some. So why do so many of us so often struggle to meet our goals? Why do our best staff members sometimes leave us? Why do we have trouble getting optimal performance from our team members and peers? Why do so many nonprofiteers burn out so quickly?
The problem is that human "capital", much like industrial capital and machinery, requires maintenance, upkeep, and development, but most of us under-invest in our most valuable assets. The amount of "maintenance" required of any machine, human or mechanical, is directly proportional to the complexity of that machine, so we ought to be pouring new knowledge and development into our staff at every opportunity, right? Research has shown for years that the return-on-investment in human capital is quite significant, most often out-performing other areas of investment (financial, equipment, etc.) an organization might make.
Our staff members need that "software upgrade" every now and then that comes from learning about a new trend in nonprofit management or program delivery. They need a regular "accumulated dust removal" that can be accomplished through a candid learning session with peers from other nonprofits. And they certainly need the boost and encouragement that can come from getting away from the daily grind and attending a conference or workshop that returns them to the office reinvigorated and full of new ideas.
We regularly change the oil and perform routine maintenance on our cars, we are quick to call the copy machine repairman at the first sign of a breakdown, and we even try to change the filters in our A/C units according to a recommended schedule. But most of us do not similarly prioritize the regular professional development of our staff. Will you change that? Is there room in your 2010 budget for a healthy amount of professional investment in your most valuable asset, your people? And will you personally model the value of continuous learning and development? I hope you will.
Remembering Culture in Times of Change
By Tara Kirkland, Greenlights Director of Consulting Services
It was a chilly December morning, and the Greenlights staff had gathered at the dumpster to burn Tony Danza in effigy.
A reader might be forgiven for thinking this bizarre field trip was a waste of time, a distraction from real nonprofit work. I'd argue that in fact it was wonderful investment of time, because it was a ritual that reinforced our organizational culture at Greenlights. Let me explain.
Management theorists such as Edgar Schein, a pioneer in understanding and interpreting the power of organizational culture, have documented the critical role that culture plays in a work setting.
Schein defines organizational culture as a "pattern of shared basic assumptions" that a group learns, deems valid because it effectively solves problems the organization faces, and then teaches to new members as the right way to think, feel and perceive things.
Now back to Tony Danza.
Years ago, the Greenlights staff had an Access database custom-built for our customer relationship management needs. In keeping with our "shared basic assumption" that fun and not taking oneself too seriously are keys to nonprofit success, the staff held a naming contest for the new database. And thus the "Danzabase" was born, complete with a welcoming image of a relaxed and comfortable Tony Danza on the home screen.
Alas, the Danzabase proved to be a cumbersome and unreliable beast. Many hours of staff productivity were lost under Tony's smiling gaze. A fair amount of antipathy built towards Mr. Danza and his namesake.
Greenlights values innovation just as much as we do fun, so we knew an upgrade to a more high-powered tool was necessary. As we transitioned to our new CRM, it was clear that we needed to appropriately commemorate the Danzabase and say good riddance, Greenlights style!
Such rituals are easily recognizable signs of an organization's culture, but culture is, of course, all around us.
The routines we use to organize our work on a regular basis (i.e. how often all-staff meetings are held, and how the agenda is structured), the systems and procedures we set up (i.e. a flex-time policy, dress code, performance evaluation mechanisms), the physical space of our offices (i.e. what's on the walls, whether and which staff sit in open cubicles versus offices with doors), and the formal statements of values and philosophy - all are, in a sense, cultural artifacts.
Businesses such as Southwest Airlines and Zappos are touted for their strong and successful company cultures, which they take quite seriously. In our under-resourced nonprofit world, however, it is perhaps less common to be as intentional about nurturing and strengthening a shared culture.
As you think about upgrading your nonprofit in 2010, particularly if you've got any big transitions to manage in the year ahead, remember the importance of paying attention to culture. Make sure new hires understand and respect it, for example, if the culture is healthy and working well for your nonprofit. Be thoughtful about how you roll out big changes in location, equipment, or programming, keeping the more subtle impacts such switches may have on your team's culture in mind. How are you saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new at your organization?
Want to learn more about how to assess and strengthen your own organization's culture? Join us for a lunch-and-learn presentation on January 22, Harnessing the Hidden Power of Organizational Culture; registration is FREE for Greenlights members.
Out with the Old. In with the Interim.
By Tara Levy, Greenlights Senior Consultant
One of the most nerve-wracking transitions for a nonprofit is a change in leadership of the Executive Director. Leadership transitions can be challenging and complicated, especially when the change is led by a group of volunteers who are often not expert in hiring or nonprofit staffing: the board of directors.
When faced with this situation, one of the most important steps a nonprofit board can take is, well, to take no step at all, at least for a little while.
Take time to understand the organization and its needs.
Take time to think about the direction the organization is going.
Take time to consider where the organization could go.
And then take time to figure out what kind of leader can get you there.
So what happens to the organization during that time? Well, that all depends. Certainly someone needs to keep a watchful eye on operational matters, and provide broader organizational leadership in a thoughtful way.
So add to the list of tasks above: Take time to find the right interim leader.
There are three common approaches to interim leadership when an Executive Director transition occurs:
1. A board member serves as Interim Executive Director.
This is a popular option when there's a board member available to provide a significant amount of time for free or at low-cost. A caveat is that this board member should not serve on the selection committee to allow them to focus on the imminent and daily needs of the organization while the selection committee focuses on the longer term needs to be addressed through the search. A potential drawback to this approach is that the board member balances responsibilities in governance and management, sometimes causing conflicts. At the same time, this can provide an effective bridge to a new Executive Director, especially if an external hire is made.2. A staff member serves as Interim Executive Director.
Asking a current, executive staff member to step up and accept additional responsibilities, especially when financial times are tough, is perhaps the most popular interim line of attack. Although this option puts in place a leader who is familiar with the organization and the way things are done, and who is often trusted by the existing staff, it is rife with challenges. First, it is likely that this staff member was already working a 40+ hour job, and taking on additional work imposes large amounts of stress and real obstacles to work-life balance. Also, if the staff interim is applying for the open position of Executive Director, it converts the entire interim placement to a "virtual interview" in which the staff leader is subjected to much more scrutiny than other candidates. If for some reason that person is not hired for the open position, it's often difficult for them to relinquish the position and step back into their original staff role. This role confusion continues when a new leader is hired and those who had become accustomed to being managed by the staff interim switch to the new Executive Director when the other is still around. Such scenarios can make a newcomer's transition more difficult and can lead to the departure of the valued, senior-level staffer who stepped up in a time of need.3. An independent consultant serves as Interim Executive Director.
Although this solution often costs more than the first two, it is in many ways the most strategic choice and a wise investment. In "Interim Executive Directors: The Power in the Middle," a report produced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the author notes that when a "seasoned nonprofit manager [is] hired from outside the agency, the interim can step in as a steward and change agent." Having a third-party provide leadership makes it easy to denote the period as a "transition," making it easier to shift into the next phase when a permanent leader is identified and hired. An objective and independent consultant can provide professional insights with an insider's perspective, facilitating the board's job in moving the organization to the next level with the next leader, providing stability to the staff as it stays focused on the mission, and providing a smooth hand-off to the next Executive Director before moving on.
When it is time for your organization to find its next leader, take time to contemplate or confirm the organizational direction, to clarify the type of leader necessary to get there, and to provide thoughtful support and leadership for the organization's interim needs during the transition.
If your organization decides to place an Interim Executive Director, Greenlights provides a trained and supported pool of experienced, former Executive Directors ready to serve. To inquire about Greenlights' Interim Executive Director services, contact Tara Levy.
Candlelight Ranch and Spirit Reins
Join Forces to Increase Impact
By Haila Yates, Greenlights Marketing and Outreach Manager
Competition is fierce for the limited resources available to nonprofits, yet opportunity abounds in the nonprofit sector in the form of strategic collaborations. Two Austin nonprofits have seized on the potential to expand services and increase impact in Central Texas through a new collaborative project, Reins of Hope.
Spirit Reins works to improve the emotional and behavioral health of children with the help of horses, and Candlelight Ranch provides children with special needs and their families with a healing environment in which to enjoy nature and engage in fun educational activities. After Don Barr, Co-Founder of Candlelight Ranch, reached out to Rhonda Smith, Founder of Spirit Reins to see about adding an equine component to programs at the ranch, an instant connection formed. The two organizations discovered a deep, common passion for serving children, and saw the potential to collaborate and do more together than they could apart.
To pursue this newly-identified potential, Don and Kris Weixel, Spirit Reins Executive Director, attended the Exploring Strategic Alliances workshop at the 2009 Crossroads Conference (access a pdf of the slide presentation). The session helped the two understand that there is a continuum of collaborations, each requiring a different level of engagement from participating organizations. They also learned that clearly defined roles and responsibilities, shared values and common goals are critical success factors in any strategic alliance.
How best to define and cement a formal partnership?
Don and Kris decided to use their free hour of consulting - a Greenlights membership benefit - to meet Director of Consulting Services Tara Kirkland, and think through project parameters and their unique organizational goals for their potential work together. Tara facilitated a discussion of roles and responsibilities, and outlined a skeleton of what could be included in a letter of agreement. Kris found the consultation to be "very helpful and got us going in the right direction of defining our mutual efforts."
Now that a letter of agreement has been finalized, the organization's Harriett Kirsh Pozen, Executive Director of Candlelight Ranch and Jenn Hartner, Program Director of Spirit Reins are creating grants to seek joint funding opportunities for a new collaborative project, Reins of Hope.
Together, the two organizations will provide weekend therapeutic retreats for children in foster care or who have been adopted from foster care. "Not only will we be able to provide our kids with an experience they otherwise wouldn't have, but we will also be able to reach more kids," says Kris. "The most exciting part of that is the positive impact that we can have on children in our community."
One organization reached out to another in hopes of cooperating to enhance current programming. What started small has grown into Reins of Hope, a formal partnership that will open doors to new resources and greater impact.
What potential collaborations would help you advance your mission and increase your impact on the community? Are you ready to take the first step and reach out in hopes of better service, better programs and greater impact?
To utilize Greenlights' services to pursue a strategic collaboration, contact Tara Kirkland or attend a workshop on Building Strategic Alliances: Collaboration, Shared Services, and Mergers on January 26.