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This Month's topic: Signs of Organizational Trouble
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My New Book on Generation Change
Is Available!
My newest title, Generations: The Challenge of a
Lifetime for Your Nonprofit
is available for review and purchase at the Fieldstone
Alliance
website. I'm really excited about the reaction to this book,
and I know
that the issues covered in it are affecting your nonprofit
and will
continue to in the coming years. Check it out.
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| This
Month's Topic: Signs of Organizational Trouble |
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Sites of the Month
Each
month, this area provides with a number of my favorite and most helpful
sites regarding the topic of the month.
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Management Tip of the Month
Each issue, I start with a
discussion of my management perspective on the month's topic, and give
you a few hands-on ideas to consider.
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Recommended Publications
Here, I provide you with my
recommendations on the materials available that can help you
become more mission-capable in the area of Signs of Organizational Trouble.
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Technology
I provide you with some good
ideas for uses of tech to better your organization in the area of Signs of Organizational Trouble.
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Marketing Tip
So much to say, so little space to
say it.....
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Next Issue
In January, we'll start 2008 by looking at an issue of big interest to many nonprofits: Reorganizing Your Board.
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Past Issues:
You can see the topics of past Mission-Based
Management Newsletters, and then view those that are of
interest to you, by scrolling to the bottom of the newsletter, or by clicking here. |
Websites of the Month
Here are my recommendations for websites
of interest on this month's topic: Signs of Organizational Trouble
Back to Top
Management Tip of the Month
Signs of Organizational Trouble
You wake up and feel lousy. Head hurts, throat is raw, no energy. Signs of a cold, or the flu. Not good.
You are going down the highway and up ahead all the brake lights are coming on and every vehicle is slowing down. Uh-oh.
For those of you who live in tornado country, it's blustery and the sky turns green....get to shelter, and right now.
All of these are signs of trouble, ones that we've learned to watch for
and diagnose quickly. In the three cases above, if you take action
quickly, you can prevent
(in order) being sicker longer, having an accident, or getting badly
hurt. But what about signs of trouble for your nonprofit? Wouldn't your
staff and board like to have some early warning signs that would help
prevent larger problems?
In this issue, we'll look at some signs of trouble that I've developed
over my time as an exec, a board member and in 25 years of consulting.
These come from my 2004 book Nonprofit Stewardship: A Better Way to Lead Your Mission-Based Organization.
In the book, these are all listed in one chapter, but here, I'll break
them down into management, tech and marketing categories to go along
with the format of the newsletter. Let's start here with the management
items on my list. Signs of trouble for a nonprofit include (in no particular order):
No transparency
If the 990's and the most recent audit and the strategic plan (see
below) are not all available online, why not? It's a standard
expectation and leads to worry about internal transparency (sharing of
information with staff) as well.
No financial information being
reported.
If your financial information does not go out (or, if you're a board
member, come to you) regularly, run, don't walk to the organization and
demand to know why. There is big trouble and it's happening right now.
It's not that the printer is broken....
Excessive staff turnover.
Turnover (generally) is OK, but excessive turnover is not. The term
"excessive" is industry, locality and economy specific, so look
around to see what's happening in your discipline and community before
you panic.
Excessive board turnover -- or
lack of quorums.
You need board members to come to meetings and come prepared. If you
don't have quorums, you can't do business. If you have lots of board
openings, you don't have the diversity of opinion and perspective you
need and you have more trouble making quorums.
No budget – one that is
ignored – or one that is amended each month.Yes,
I actually do see organizations with no budgets. Just as bad though,
are organizations that have budgets but might as well not---they ignore
them or they amend them every month to "stay on budget". Or not.
No continuing education for
board or staff.
Lifelong learning is a key characteristic of good stewardship. I know
this is generally unfunded, but hear me: there is a short straight line
between cutting continuing ed and poorer services. Organizations that
are always bringing new ideas in are more flexible, more current and
more responsive.
Out-of-date personnel,
financial, or other policies.
This is the un-fun part of service for most of us, but without question
a key part of our jobs. There are dozens of good examples online, so
get up to date and stay there.
Little sharing of internal
information among board and staff.
"No one of us is as smart as all of us": John Chambers, CEO of Cisco. I
agree. There are two ways to think of information-and both are right.
1. Information is power. The more I hoard it the more powerful I
get. 2. Information is power. If I share it, we all get powerful
together. You choose.
No strategic plan.
You have to know where you are going. You have to have regular
discussions about priorities. You have to focus on what you are good
at. Strategic planning allows for those discussions to occur. The
process is just as important as the ending document.
A break even pattern or
consistent financial losses.
Making money is good for mission. Period. If your board and staff
always budget to break even, the organization must not want to help
more people, serve more of the community, or grow, because profits are
the engine of all three of those.
Too much debt. While
some nonprofits never take on debt (and thus hobble themselves in terms
of service provision), others take on too much or, worse, take on debt
when they are losing money. The debt service load overwhelms all
mission decisions. How much is too much? It depends on your individual
decision, but a task force of your banker, treasurer, CFO and auditor
should take a look and decide.
No staff or board
turnover.
While too much turnover is bad, no turnover is worse. Organizations
need new ideas and perspectives to grow and prosper. this means term
limits for boards, and allowing for regular turnover on staff. I know
this is harder for smaller organizations, but it is a natural, healthy
condition.
None
of these indicators on their own are portents of doom. Well, none but
the lack of financial reporting. But of all others, take a regular look
and make sure you don't see too many red flags. And read my marketing
and tech warnings below.
I
know we often don't want to look under the rock for fear of what we'll
find. But early warning is a good thing. Prevention is better (and
usually cheaper) than the cure.
If
you found this hint helpful, there are lots more management, marketing,
and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at www.missionbased.com.
Check them out--they're free.
And, remember to take a look at the Mission-Based
Management Blog.
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Print Resources
My recommendations for texts and other
readings on Signs of Organizational Trouble:
Nonprofit Stewardship by Peter Brinckerhoff. An entire chapter in this book deals with signs of trouble and how to lead in a crisis.
Self Assessment for Nonprofit Governing Boards, from BoardSource. This is great, but just deals with the board side of the equation
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Technology Tip
Signs of Organizational Trouble...and Technology
Here are my signs of trouble from Nonprofit Stewardship related to technology:
Poor use of technology.
Well, duh. Of course you want to use tech well. But it's expensive, and
it changes all the time, and its expensive, and it takes time to learn
and its expensive. I disagree. A reasonably good website can be
developed for less than $1,000 and ISP costs are down to less than $10
a month. Your website IS your front door and receptionist rolled into
one. It's a portal where you can reach out, educate, intrigue, raise
funds, engage your community, staff and board.
HINT: You
need a board member who really, really understands technology--not so
she can fix your email server, but so that she can advise you on ways
to enhance your mission capability by using technology efficiently.
If
you found this hint helpful, there are lots more management, marketing,
and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at www.missionbased.com.
Check them out--they're free
Back to Top
Training Schedule for Peter Brinckerhoff
Below you'll see the date, location, and
topics of public
training I'm
currently scheduled to do in the next few months. For more information
on a particular speaking engagement, get in touch with the contact
person listed in the right hand column, or email me.
For more information on my availability
throughout the next 12-18 months, available topics, sample agendas, and
fees go to www.missionbased.com/training.htm
Marketing Tip
Signs of Organizational Trouble and Marketing
Here are the signs of trouble related to Marketing from Nonprofit Stewardship:
No regular asking.
As regular readers know, I'm all about asking as a key part of
marketing. If you don't ask customers of all kinds (people you serve,
donors, funders, board members, employees, etc.) you can't know enough
to make good stewardship decisions. Asking, in surveys, in focus
groups, and informally, is a key to successful mission provision. If
you're not asking, you are asking: for trouble.
Inadequate marketing
materials, including the website.
Your marketing materials, both paper and electronic have to be focused,
and customer oriented. If they are me oriented ("Look at me, my
organization is awesome!") and not customer oriented ("You have this
need-we can help."), your organization will be less successful, to say
the least
No new programs or methods of
mission provision.
You are doing the same things with the same people at the same times in
the same ways as three, four years ago? Uh oh. To me that means you
probably aren't asking, and if you are, you certainly aren't listening.
Great organizations are constantly looking for ways to improve, even
slightly, every day. No change means no improvement.
If you found this hint helpful, there are
lots more management, marketing, and technology ideas for you in the
"Ideas" section at www.missionbased.com.
Check them out--they're free.
Back to Top
Future Topics for
The
Mission-Based Management Newsletter....
| January
2008 |
Reorganizing Your Board of Directors |
| February |
New Communications Tools |
| March |
Generation Change and Finance |
| April |
Greening
Your Nonprofit |
| May |
New Approaches to Social Entrepreneurship |
| Send me your topic suggestions at: peter@missionbased.com |
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You asked, so here they are:
Past Single-Topic Issues of the Mission-Based Management Newsletter...
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Copyright
2007, Corporate Alternatives, inc.
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