Collaboration is amazing — unless it isn’t.  Unless it's not really a give and take and build, but a hash and rehash without clarity on who contributed what and no guidance for when the process ends.  We’ve all created something wonderful and then been given guidance that made it that much better. Or worked on a team, each providing a unique contribution to make something great. And we’ve all made collaboration muck -- been given an assignment only to see the product complet

“We just aren’t that hierarchical.” If that is your take on your organizational culture, consider -- Do your frontline employees feel the same way?   Often when I note for a director that they should not circumvent a line manager or should have mechanisms for anonymous feedback, I receive a little push back along the lines of the organization being more open and casual and therefore not requiring formal communications channels.   It’s easy for the lead decisionmakers in an or

Can we make it go away? Not so long ago I worked with an organization that wanted a big, comprehensive assessment to launch them into organizational improvements. Sure, I noted strengths, but the challenges were there too. The board president – aware of some of the issues but previously unaware of the causes – wanted to bury the assessment. His second suggestion was to share the report with board and staff – but only after I pulled out pieces he thought would hurt morale.   T

We were in a budget shortfall – so I raised her salary. I was an interim ED and a manager came to me worried about losing a critical team member who had the lowest salary on staff. The trickiness was that the organization actually was in need of a full salary overhaul AND was in a budget shortfall. By many measures, this was not the time to raise salaries.   Many staff were underpaid, though some positions and departments were earning well above their counterparts at other or

"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