"What are we meeting for?" Does your organization use committee charters? I find more often than not, organizations go without formal committee charters, leaving the committee chair piecing together what their responsibilities are based on vague committee descriptions used for recruitment, brief references tucked into bylaws, and memory of what transpired in prior years. A one or two page charter can be incredibly helpful in aligning organizational understanding of responsibi

Almost everyone I work with has at least one outsized person in their professional sphere. Someone who like all of us is just a person, but looms large in my clients’ minds. Often it’s a boss that a client understandably wants to impress or a peer who seems to always have all the answers or a board member who enters conversations with pronouncements rather than an attitude of co-development. These individuals can take on mythic proportions – causing otherwise confident peopl

I work with a lot of Executive Directors and a lot of board members. Especially gratifying is when I work with staff and their respective boards individually and then together – facilitating conversations and bringing clarity to roles. A lot of these engagements are proactive – seeking clarity because an organization is in a state of change or growth (new leader, new board members, organizational expansion, etc.). but to be candid, sometimes it’s because things have gone a li

There are a lot of boards hiring or onboarding their next nonprofit leader right now, resulting in many organizations hiring individuals who are in some regard new to the role. Nonprofit leadership demands a lot of people and for someone new to nonprofits and/or new to leadership, navigating that learning curve during this exceedingly challenging time in our sector can be daunting.   So what can a caring board do? Accept that new leadership will look different. Be open and su

Do you need help planning a board orientation? Starting board members off with a good foundation of understanding can save you much frustration and course correction down the road. Here is what to cover and what to provide. WHAT TO COVER: Introductions - Participant sharing of why they chose to serve/care about the mission Organization Overview – Mission, Vision, Values: Sharing what is "on paper" as well as providing a mission impact moment - History, Key Achievements

Is your organization’s seeming flexibility disempowering staff? Many organizations I work with that pride themselves on their informality and lack of red tape are unwittingly perpetuating lack of transparency and creating environments with less opportunity for engagement. Why is that? Because someone, somewhere is still making the decisions – allocating resources, reinforcing or not reinforcing decisions made elsewhere in the organization. The informality often just masks the

I keep seeing it – a well-intentioned board hires a leader with a new vision for the organization. The board gets excited, sensing the change they’ve been waiting for. Enamored with their new hire, they seek to be “supportive” by standing aside through changes they don’t quite understand and/or agree with. They provide all the latitude…until.   Until something goes objectively wrong, or just feels so off that the board snaps back into place with a response that is so abrupt i

Before you start choosing your tools, decide what you are building. Several months ago, a newly hired ED I was working with asked me if I could help build out an agenda for the board retreat her board chair had asked her to plan. They already had a couple of activities in mind and a venue lined up, but my first question was what they were seeking to accomplish with the retreat, and – as I find often to be the case -- they were not quite sure. I have worked with enough organiz

A few years ago, I was approached by an Executive Director who wanted an executive team retreat to create trust on her team. She felt her executive leaders were undermining her and unable to work together. She wanted to know if I could provide a retreat to, “Get everyone on the same page.” A retreat alone was not going to create the foundation of trust for collaboration, so I declined. Valid concern, wrong solution. I shared my perspective with her, she had her retreat (not w

Over the last few years, nearly half of my coaching clients have disclosed an ADHD diagnosis or a challenge related to staying organized....