One of the greatest casualties among non-profits is the burned-out CEO. Being the head of a nonprofit has always been a challenging job. The long hours, inadequate resources, and sometimes uncooperative or negative Board members can all take their toll on a person. Still, most people make nonprofits their careers because they know they are devoting their lives and livelihoods to making this a better world. At the end of a tiring day, they always came home feeling that somehow they did something good for someone.

For many of my colleagues, the straw that breaks their back is seeing all that they have worked so hard to create disappear, as large portions of their funding evaporates and significant services have to be cut. Meeting payroll was always tricky, but for many it is now virtually impossible. Letting staff go is personally wrenching, for these are the people who have selflessly given of themselves to enrich and ennoble the lives of others… to only be sent off to join the ranks of the unemployed.

What about all those wonderful people who been served and often saw the services transform their lives: the teen gang-bangers who are now committed to education, the addict who is recently sober and getting his life together, or the senior who will lose the companionship of others when the program closes? Many of these people owe their life and their health to the services we have provided, and for some, we can’t afford to continue provide that life-saving service.

I feel sorry for my colleagues. How can society turn its back on the neediest of the needy? What happened to the compassion and benevolence of this great American society? How is the executive supposed to rise above it all to provide inspirational leadership when inspiration is the last thing he/she feels?

The only hope is that this too will pass. Our society goes through these cycles, and this Recession will eventually bottom out and slowly funding will return, in a year, two years, whenever. In the meantime, we must be ingenious in ways to keep the services flowing.

In my opinion, at least two options must be tried:
• First, we must turn to the private sector, and particularly to individuals, to open their checkbooks. We are all suffering from reduced disposable income and charity fatigue, but a good story that is told well can still move people to open up their wallets to a worthy cause. We are, by nature, a generous people. The challenge is to find the inspiration in our successes and in the stories of those who need us, to reignite the passion and energies of our Board and our supporters.

• Second, we must more effectively utilize volunteers. Not just for clerical help, but to fill in wherever possible in administrative and even direct service. We must reach out to the retired and unemployed to devote some of their talent and time to step into the breach and keep these services going while we search for new income sources. Not only will these volunteers help keep our services going, they will bring with them a new enthusiasm and energy that we need so desperately.

A SHOT OF INSPIRATION CAN GO A LONG WAY

In my experience it has been that a little bit of inspiration and enthusiasm can go a long way. We must return to our organization’s Mission and Vision. We must reach out and ignite the dreams of others, and we must make fund-raising fun. The resources are there. We need to be awakened and renewed by realizing that if we share our dreams, others will join us.

In recent months, I have been fortunate to be engaged by a number of new nonprofits who have just received their 501(C) 3 certification and want to get their new creation off to a good start.

In these difficult financial times, when many established nonprofits are struggling for survival, it’s surprising that anyone would want to start a new agency. I am amazed and delighted by the enthusiasm and self-sacrifice of these founders, who have found a cause to which they want to devote their lives. That’s the enterprising drive of Americans, but in this case it’s directed not at making money but to leave their own personal legacy by helping others.

These groups that I worked with were established to:
• provide support services for a children’s hospital
• support an orphanage in Vietnam
• provide scholarships to a private school

Fortunately, they all recognize that while they may have the passion and commitment, they really did not know how to develop a board, raise money, or organize volunteers. They all brought in significant life and professional experience, but did not know how to apply this to this all-volunteer organization.

My approach
I have been able to spend about 90 days with them and their small group of supporters to create a viable Board of Directors, committees and task forces, create a simple strategic plan with a business plan, and a Case for Giving to begin to raise money.

How do I do it?: I try to use the language and tools which they brought from the private sector, and transfer these skills to board organization and fundraising. They were able to create functional structures:
• to manage an all-volunteer organization,
• understand that fundraising was not about asking for money but creating opportunities to give,
• and the need to create sustainable annual income if they were to survive.

The experiences have been amazing! Using the energy and commitment of any new startup, we have shifted the focus from just providing services to creating an infrastructure that will sustain the organization once the initial energy has abated.

Success:
They will enter Years Two and Three with a significant group of leaders who:
• understand their Mission and share their Vision;
• know how to effectively utilize volunteers,
• and have begun attracting donors and others who can provide pro-bono services.
Now they can concentrate on growing their program.

Grants:
One of the greatest challenges is to help them understand that they can’t build their initial income on grants, which are increasingly difficult to get. They must create the dreams which individuals can get excited and would be willing to support.

Larger boards:
Quickly grow their board from the original handful to at least 15 people so they can tap into the resources of a larger cross-section of the community. By making their Board meetings inspirational, educational and strategic, they have learned to leave the work of the Board to committees and task forces.

As one new board member said, “all this is just common sense, but we needed someone to point it out to us.”

Building for the Future:
Knowing that the rate of survival for nonprofits is about the same as any new small business, not very good, they are building a base for the future. Now their legacy can survive the founder. After all, every nonprofit, from Goodwill Industries to the Salvation Army, started with the efforts of one person who attracted more and more people to his cause. Now look at them!

Maybe someday these agencies will also become very recognizable names. They are off to a good start.

There is a ton of literature on the subject, but I have a very practical and ground-floor view, which I would like to share.

1. To do what we can to make this a better world.
Whether it’s in helping starving children to grow to adulthood, or bringing some comfort to suffering people, or helping children and youth grow to become more fulfilled adults, most people want to leave some legacy on the world. Many do it by contributing some of their disposable income to those less fortunate. Others give their lives, or some part of their lives, to reaching out and leaving a positive impact on people. For those who give generously, they want to see first hand the impact of their generosity, and will often put themselves in uncomfortable or dangerous situations to get closer the recipients of the largesse. In most cases it means some personal sacrifice.

2. To giving meaning to their own lives.
For some who work in jobs whose rewards are purely materialistic, at some point in their lives they ask, “Is that all there is?” and seek an avocational pursuit that will provide balance to a rather meaningless job. This is why so many people volunteer some of their time to community service. Some of us were fortunate enough to have chosen public service for our careers. I recommend you open your childrens’ eyes to a career of public service. They will never regret it.

3. Many do community service from their religious commitment.
The great religions all stress the need to serve the widows, the strangers and the poor. For some it is done through giving, but others need to actually leave the comfort of their life and make some real sacrifice to feel they are living up to their religious tenants.

I have seen time and time again that people come to a charity thinking they will be helping others, and find they are really helping themselves. This is a beautiful thing. It is virtually impossible to reach out to a stranger without having that experience dramatically alter your life. I see it in mentoring, in those working with the elderly or the terminally ill, with troubled teens or those struggling with addiction. How many time have I heard, “I got so much more out of that experience than I give.”

This leads me to a couple more simple observations:

• We want you, not your money
It’s wonderful to give money but first give of yourself. Don’t hide behind your checkbook. Oh, we do need your money, but what will really make a difference is for you to see how public generosity can make such a difference in a community. What we really want is you, not just your money. Once you’ve been touched by the people served by our nonprofits, your gifts will be spontaneous and more generous.

• Bring your skills and talents with you.
These will provide real lasting value to others. Help teens understand the importance of education by sharing your story, or by just showing up for them when nobody else does. If you have some creativity, share it with those who have no beauty in their lives. If you know how to make organizations work better, get on a board and help us improve our nonprofits. If you enjoy music, share that with a child who has never heard good music. And on and on…

• Retirees and unemployed
Obviously, this is addressed to everyone, but specifically to those of you who are retired or currently unemployed. You have the precious gift of time. While you do, get out of your shell, away from your computer, and sign up to do volunteer work at one of the thousands of nonprofits seeking your help. In this recession, agencies need skilled pro-bono help now more than ever. And the rewards to you could be life-changing.

The moral of this story is simple, if we want a world where we will be happy and comfortable, we have to make it happen for others. Most real social change occurs because of some one-on-one contact that you have with a stranger, which forever changes both of your lives. It’s never too late to open your eyes and your heart!

It’s somewhat like that with meetings. I urge the Chairs of a committee start every meeting with a warm-up, where everyone gets an opportunity to say something, often light and humorous, before the business begins. Last week I saw what this really means.

At one meeting, the Chair began with, “Barrie said we should have some fun,” and the Board began sharing anecdotes from their recent experiences. This went on and on, with people interacting a lot and having fun. It almost got out of hand, for what was scheduled for 10 minutes went on for 20, and I had to remind the Chair we had a full agenda to cover. The rest of the meeting was highly interactive and productive, and people left the room feeling great.

Later in the week, at another meeting, the Chair, even knowing how important these warm-ups can be, just went around the room and asked everyone to introduce themselves, and went into the heart of the meeting. The speaker was there to discuss the importance of committees and how to utilize them, and began by asking the Board some fundamental questions, only to be greeted with blank stares and silence. What should have been a lively discussion about an important topic turned into a didactic presentation.

So please don’t treat this first 10-15 minutes of a meeting as just a waste of time. It can transform the rest of your meeting. We recognize that boards are more effective if people enjoy each other and feel like a team going out to get an important job done. You can’t do this if the members of the team don’t know and care for each other. So before the game, let’s get together and cheer.

In our rush to become efficient, are we paying too little attention to the glue that holds our voluntary organizations together?

These days, Much attention is focused on how nonprofits can become more efficient by being more business-like in their operations. I believe that there is a lot to be learned from successful businesses. Why shouldn’t we copy the tools that have been adopted by the best run companies?

My experiences this weekend at a District Conference of Rotary International also drove home the effectiveness and global impact of a well-run voluntary organization. What struck me was the power of relationships, the bonding between people that propels the best in voluntary organizations. In our passion to streamline our decision-making and delivery of service, we must realize that the nonprofit section still has a great deal to teach the private sector. We can do so much for so little because of the energy of people that is released by the mutual respect and affection that nonprofit leaders can have with each other.

People can spend amazing amount of time, energy and resources because they value and enjoy the company of the people with whom they are working. If someone you respect asks you to do something, you are more likely to say yes. The challenge is to build these feelings of caring and respect while we are constantly rushed to get the job done quickly. We need to pause once in a while to have fun!

This reinforces the lesson that we must not overlook the need to provide volunteers with quality and enjoyable face-to-face interactions while they are providing probono labor and resources.

We should seriously consider:
• Retreats:
The Board should conduct at least one Retreat a year, maybe more. At Retreats people can break bread, enjoy a few laughs, and get to know each other while they have the leisure to focus on the future of the agency.

• Weekends:
Consider moving some Board meetings from weeknights into the weekends when people are less rushed and there is time for informal interaction.

• Environment:
Spend time at the beginning and end of each board meeting in activities that encourage interaction and enjoyment.

• ‘Breaking bread’:
Have committee meetings in a more relaxed environment so that people can ‘break bread’ together. Electronic meetings may be more efficient, but they provide very little of the energy and warmth that volunteers need to fulfill in their responsibilities. This comes from face-to-face contact.

• Celebrate success:
Spend lots of time thanking, cheering, and congratulating the people we work with. You may not see much of this in the private sector, where salaries and status are critical factors. In the non-profit sector, affection and respect are the pay volunteers get for a job well done.

• Invest in relationships:
While people join nonprofits because of their mission, they get more conscientious and invested because they like the people with whom they are working.

This is one important lesson that nonprofits can teach the private sector. People are more selfless, more generous with their time, and more productive when they are enjoying themselves, feel recognized for their work, and are excited about what they are doing.

We must always make sure that we respect our volunteers their time and their eagerness to not ‘waste time’. In our effort to be more efficient, however, we must make volunteer work ennobling and rewarding, or we will lose the volunteers. We need to capture the love and affection that I felt at the Rotary Convention. This is why Rotary is one of the world’s most effective organizations.

“Why are we in need of committees? Our Board members have enough to do without going to extra meetings.”

That’s a common complaint I hear while consulting various clients. The answer is simple, committees are the work horses of the board.

Committees are where the board finds solutions to problems and challenges that represent the consensus of the board with the expert advice from the best minds available. This relieves the board of long discussions on specific issues so it can focus on the mission and vision of the agency.

With this in mind here are some tips to make them work better:

1. Charge:
Committees should have a clear Charge set by the Board. This should be stated in measurable and objective terms with a timeline for completion.

2. Makeup:
Committees should contain at least one or two Board members along with outside experts who bring in fresh perspectives. It may be that over time these “experts” may want to join the Board if they are infused by the agency’s mission.

3. First meeting:
a. This should be a face-to-face meeting so that people can get to meet other committee members and hear their background
b. As in all meetings, some time at beginning should be taken for introductions. (These should be more than “my name is” but include some topic that will allow the committee members to know each other better and encourage people to talk.)
c. The Charge from the Board should be reviewed and clarified if needed.
d. Brainstorming can take place as to how the problem/challenge can be approached.
e. Once tasks are agreed upon, assignments can be made and deadlines set.
f. A discussion should take place as to whether work can get done electronically or when additional meetings need to take place.
g. Chair should be clear as to when reports are needed so that he/she can keep the Board appraised on a timely basis.

4. Sub-Committees:
If the task is complicated it may be necessary to break the committee into sub-committees. Sub-committee chairs should be appointed.

5. Role of chair:
Committees fail unless the chair serves as quarterback, task-master, cheer-leader and facilitator. This requires using facilitative leadership techniques at meetings and checking up by contact on regular basis. If the work of one sub-committee is not being accomplished as agreed upon, it affects the entire committee.

6. Resources:
The committee or its sub-committees reports should contain needed resources and recommendations on these resources if possible. (Don’t just come back to the Board with a plan of action without suggesting how the Charge can be implemented within budgetary limits. This is where the outside experts can be helpful in reaching out to the community for in-kind resources.)

7. Report to Board:
Most Boards require a written progress report before each Board meeting. If there are issues that need the Board’s attention or further input, the Chair should ask the Board President to have a time on the agenda. The purpose of this agenda item should be clear: asking for approval, getting further input, resolving dispute. Most Boards require that budget items, unless pre-approved, are brought to the Board for approval.

8. Thanks and celebration:
Always remember these are volunteers who are giving of their time and skills to help the agency, usually pro-bono. The Chair should be generous in his praise and provide the Committee to celebrate successes. This is the pay volunteers get for the work they do.

If you are an Executive Director, you know that this task comes up at least once a month.

What happens?

We usually pull out last month’s agenda, see what is needed to be added or deleted, and send it out. Some ED’s don’t change anything, not the introductions, minutes, ED report, committee reports, or adjournment. Some committee reports are maybe substituted for others.

If this is what you do, you’re lucky that anyone is still coming to your board meeting. People won’t put up with this anymore. It sounds sad, but this is how many nonprofits still create their agendas.

Very little intellectual energy is put into the planning. It’s often a last minute telephone conversation with the President.

I’d like to suggest a better course of action.

1. Consent Agenda:
My first premise is that people will read reports sent to them in advance if they know that they won’t have to hear them again at the meeting. No more committee updates! Send them out one week in advance and pass them in a Consent Agenda.

2. Strategic Board meetings:
We need to focus the Board’s attention on strategic issues. These are usually outlined in the Strategic Plan, but often need more discussion. By using the Strategic Plan as the foundation, always find at least one issue that has not as yet been resolved or that a particular committee has been hung-up on. Outline the recommendation, state all the options, and work on solving it. Let board members have input so that the committee can go back to work with a sense of a consensus on the Board.

3. Need to Know:
What information do the board members need in order to do a better job? Is it learning how to understand the monthly financials? Is it how to make their committee work more effectively? Is it the type of people you are looking for to recruit for the Board? Is it how to resolve conflicting opinions? Is it the role of staff and Board? All these discussions will help your Board members grow into better leaders.

4. Celebrate:
What’s exciting in the agency that we should share with the Board? Is it a success story from one of our clients? Is it a program that is doing exceptionally well? Is it a committee whose work has resulted in amazing results? We want board members to leave the meeting really proud of the agency and their board.

5. Annual Agenda:
Finally, there’s the annual agenda. These are items that must be discussed sometime during the year. Is it time for the budget or audit review? Is it a report from a funder? Is it the ED’s annual evaluation? Is it staff salaries and benefits? A review of the By-laws or Conflict of Interest statement? All these items can be calendared at the beginning of the year and slated for at the appropriate meeting.

Try asking some fundamental questions as you put together each agenda. Executive Committee or Board Development Committee should be the ones addressing these questions before each meeting.

Example Questions:
1. Why do we want people to come to this meeting?
2. What do we want them to take away from the meeting?
3. How can we help them be better Board members, either by developing new skills or learning more about the agency?

All this can be done on the phone or at regularly scheduled meetings. If we are going to invite really talented people to give up their valuable time, we must make it WORTH their time.

Remember, If board members are not coming to meetings, it’s probably our fault.

What can we do to improve our meetings? Let me know what works for you.

One of my current clients has created a Leadership Board. This is a group of younger men and women, many just at the beginning of their careers. Since this agency is a mentoring program, they have access to a lot of younger people, 25-40. The agency decided to reach out to these mentors and their friends and invite them to become future leaders of the organization.

The Leadership Board had its first meeting this week. They have structured their meetings to include one major leadership training item, one item that will help them better understand the agency, its services, and the business of running the organization.

This week the topic was how to become a facilitative leader. We focused on the differences between the for-profit and nonprofit cultures. We then discussed how a facilitative leader can both motivate and hold other volunteers accountable. The group was spell-bound. When asked what intrigued them the most, many indicated that it was the idea of always being concerned with succession planning, which is the training of your successor as you do your work.

These future leaders then received an update on all the fundraising activities taking place and how they could help. They have volunteered to work on the agencies committees, as well as set up committees of their own. They left the meeting revved up and raring to go. We successfully tapped into their fresh energy, enthusiasm and talent.

I did this same thing with another young group in another city. After several years, some of these young leaders took up positions on the Board of Directors. The Board was so impressed with the sophistication and knowledge of these new individuals that they decided they needed a leadership program for themselves.

This is a way to build leadership development into the fiber of your governance and assure that your agency will have committed and knowledgeable people for years to come.

Any other good ideas out there for leadership development.?

We must recognize:

• People bring their business and life experiences to a new culture (nonprofit) where everyone is participating on a voluntary basis. While most volunteers are very committed to the agency’s cause, people are busy with work and their personal life and often put their volunteer commitments at the bottom of the ‘to do’ list once they leave a meeting.

• In most other environments, direction can be arbitrary and usually comes from the top-down. In the nonprofit governance structure, while there is a structure of chairmen, there are no tangible rewards and punishments for not fulfilling commitments that comes with a ‘top-down’ management style. Volunteers won’t stand for it.

• Most people are reluctant to “take control” in this equalitarian environment, therefore discussions can go on endlessly and good intentions often go unfulfilled.

• Volunteers are very reluctant to confront, reprimand or fire another volunteer, an action that they might take at their job. Therefore incompetence or neglect has little consequence, except to the others in the group.

Therefore we have to examine a different leadership style that relies more on a “bottom-up” rather than a “top-down” decision making structure. This has been called Facilitative Leadership

FACILITATIVE LEADERSHIP

Facilitative Leadership is “a leadership style that encourages the making of decisions through which a group strives to reach substantial, though not necessarily unanimous, agreement on matters of overall direction and policy which can be supported by all.” In this way, decisions that are made can be owned by the group rather than by the leader, and everyone should have a vested interest in making sure they succeed.

• Facilitative leaders make connections (or help others make connections) between what various people in a meeting are saying so as to draw out conclusions that can become the basis for consensus decision making.

• Facilitative leaders provide direction without totally taking the reins. The facilitative leader always tries to tie the decision-making process to the required action, and seeks to tie the action to those people who were most invested in the decision. Facilitative leaders more often ask rather than tell groups what they need to be doing and help them move forward rather than control their movement.

• Facilitative leaders balance managing content and process. Individuals using a facilitative approach are concerned with both what the group is discussing or deciding and how they are actually doing it. This may require the leader involve those who are silent and quiet those who are dominating.

• Facilitative leaders may raise questions or concerns that are not being addressed by the group. For example, “how are we going to pay for it?”, or “whose going to do it?” or “what will be the unintended consequences?”

• Facilitative leaders focus on building the capacity of individuals and groups to accomplish more on their own, now and in the future. Facilitative leadership is not just about the immediate task. It is also about helping a group or team learn together so they might become more productive in the future….. This long-term definition of success helps keep facilitative leaders from assuming too much responsibility for a group.

• Facilitative leaders operate from a position of restraint. Because facilitative leaders want to maximize others’ contributions, they tend to operate first from a position of restraint, carefully measuring what, if any, action they need to take. The facilitative leader refrains from using the chair to dominate discussions or impose his/her opinion.

The most effective tools of a facilitative leader are:
1. Providing the context or background for discussion
2. Asking questions
3. Summarizing and taking discussion to a new level or focus
4. Checking back with the group to make certain that the summary captures the essence of what was said.
5. Constantly encouraging and thanking people for their input
(Adapted From The Practice of Facilitative Leadership by George Ambler)

Facilitative leadership skills are effective in any environment. Companies often want their officers to work on nonprofit boards so they can develop the ability to use persuasion and collective ownership of decisions. They recognize that even in a profit incentive business, people work harder when they believe in the mission and feel they have been part of the decision-making process.

So let’s help them learn!

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where one issue absorbs the entire meeting and the other issues get pushed to the side?

The Executive and I were debriefing after the last Board meeting. The main item on the agenda was a consultant’s presentation on the pro’s and con’s of the unionization of the staff. The consultant talked for about 40 minutes, which led to a heated Board discussion for another 40 minutes. By that time, the other items on the agenda were rushed through or put off till the next meeting.

What was the result of the 80 minutes spent on thisw one issue? We learned that board members have very strong opinions, one way or another, about unions. We also decided that more discussion were needed. No decisions were made. Everyone was involved. There was good interaction, but it was a one issue Board meeting. There were no resolutions.

In light of these results, we agreed that a better approach would have been to create an ad hoc committee to study the subject, have the consultant meet with the committee, do whatever other study was needed, and then bring the recommendations to the Board.

This is an example of a Board acting as a committee. In the meantime, other strategic issues were ignored or tabled.

Lesson learned: if you have a controversial or complicated issue, study it first in committee, then bring the recommendations to the Board. If they do not agree, they can always send it back to the committee for review. If someone on the Board is very invested in the issue, let them join the committee.