This month's topic: Ethics, Accountability and Transparency
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The NEW 3rd Edition of Mission-Based Management is available!
I'm delighted to announce that the new 3rd Edition of Mission-Based Management; Leading Your Nonprofit in the 21st Century has been released by John Wiley & Sons. The 3rd Edition
is a major revision, with an updated list of key characteristics of
nonprofit success, a new chapter on Ethics, Accountability and
Transparency, and a nearly complete rewrite of the chapter on
technology. In tough times, reviewing best management practices
is essential. This new edition will help you and your organization do
just that.
You can learn more about the new edition here. Check it out!
This Month's Topic: Ethics, Accountability and Transparency
Here, I provide you with my
recommendations on the materials available that can help you
become more mission-capable in the area of Ethics, Accountability and Transparency
In February,we'll start a two-issue our look at a very important topic: Nonprofit Innovation.
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.
Your organization's mission is the why
of your nonprofit. It is your foundation, and that's why it's first
on our list of characteristics of a successful nonprofit and the
first rule of nonprofits: Mission, Mission and More Mission! If the
mission is why your organization is in business, then ethics,
accountability and transparency are the how you conduct your
mission-based business, or at least they should be.
If you are openly and intentionally
ethical, you'll have the best staff, the best board, a great and
trusting reputation in the community. If your organization is
accountable for its actions and its outcomes (inside and out, which
we'll get to in a minute), your reputation will be burnished, and
people will see that you not only mean what you say, but take
responsibility for what you do. If your organization is transparent
(again, both inside and out) people will see that you have nothing to
hide, while at the same time gaining a greater understanding of not
only your mission, but your challenges and opportunities. You'll gain
more ownership and get more ideas from a wide array of people.
Ethics, accountability and transparency, done right, lead to more
inclusion, increased involvement and a feeling of community.
Over the last five years, the need for
higher profiles in all three of these areas has increased
dramatically. Technology makes transparency easier and less
expensive, but it's also become an expectation of the community,
particularly of funders and donors. Ethical lapses by nonprofits make
the news far too easily. An emphasis on measurable meaningful
outcomes has spread through the nonprofit world, often for the
better, sometimes for worse.
But all those things have to do with
how the nonprofit deals with and is seen by the outside world. In
truth, ethics, accountability and transparency start inside
the
organization, inside the management team, inside the board. When
you boil it down, the most important thing to remember about
ethics, accountability and transparency is that they start with you,
the leader.
If you aren't ethical (say what you mean, mean what you say), if you
aren't accountable ("I'm sorry I screwed up; my bad."), if you aren't
don't believe in transparency ("We're going to share our draft
strategic plan and all the minutes of our management team meetings with
all staff, and let's put our last audit up on the website.") it won't
happen in your organization. In this area, more than all others, the
leaders have to be, well, the leaders.
Here are some questions to use for staff discussion from the chapter in Mission-Based Management: 3rd Editionon Ethics, Accountability and Transparency:
1. Do we need to develop (or revisit) our values
statement to include ethics, accountability and/or transparency?
2. What can we do to turn these values into action?
3. How can we have better, deeper discussions about the
ethics of our key decisions? How do we remind people that “the
right thing is the smart thing?”
4. Do we share information enough inside and outside
the organization? Where can we improve?
5. Do we use internal and external benchmarks to their
fullest? Are there places we can experiment with this?
In
next month's issue, we'll be starting a two issue discussion of
collaborative innovation, the best way for nonprofits to solve the
dicey problems that face them. Collaboration mandates openness and
transparency. And, the people who you will ask to collaborate will be
much more likely to help if they feel your organization is both
transparent and ethical.
One last thing: I'm back to a monthly cycle with the Mission-Based Management Newsletter, after a slow down in 2009. You'll also see me blogging again after a long, long break. If you have suggestions for newsletter or blog post topics you'd like to see, let me know!
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.
Ethics, Accountability and Transparency....and
Technology!
There is, no surprise, a great deal that
you can do in tech to help you accelerate an emphasis on ethics,
accountability and transparency. And, it starts with being transparent.
On your website, post your values (and thus hold yourself accountable
for them), your strategic plan, your 990's, your audit. Let people see
who your management team is and who's on your board. Talk openly about
your challenges and your outcomes. The expectation of staff,
volunteers, donors and funders is that they will be able to find out
lots about you. Be an open source nonprofit.
Internally, a focus on values has to start with the leaders and often,
the first barrier is technology. Why? Because so many leaders are
boomers and not exactly techonophiles. For example, a nonprofit I
worked with a few years back had a big push on two of its
values: flexibility and innovation. Good values, certainly, but
when I went into the organization to talk to staff, they noted that the
person pushing these values the most, the CEO, still refused to use
email, instead having her assistant print out all her messages,
dictating the responses and having the assistant do the actual online
replies. As I said, this all starts with leadership.
Tech can also be a great tool for outreach, showing your outcomes in a
newsletter, or a regular online update. But tech can also harass, and
tempt you to violate your ethics. For example, a number of nonprofits
have borne the brunt of huge criticism by selling their email mailing
lists, or using those lists for email pleas for money that harass
rather than inspire.
So, think about your technology efforts first in terms of your values,
and then ask: are we pushing our tech to make us as accountable and
transparent as possible?
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
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
Ethics, Accountability and Transparency....and
Marketing
To me, this is such a slam-dunk in today's
world--if your nonprofit is going to be attractive to the best people,
the best donors, volunteers, staff, and funders, they expect that your
organization is both openly ethical, but also fully transparent and
accountable for the mission that you do. All you have to do is look at
what happens to donations, corporate affiliations and volunteer hours
at a nonprofit that is in the news for ethical violations to see what I
mean. Bad news in this area costs you dearly.
But the reverse is also true. If you are open,
accountable and totally acting in line with your values you are doing a
marketing basic: giving people what they want. And your organization
will be rewarded for that.
So, ask the people in and around your
organization what more they would like to see about your outcomes, your
mission, your management team, your board of directors, your finances,
your plans. Trust me, these people will tell you, and when they do, use
your tech to let them know.
One last time, this starts with the leadership,
and only works on the outside of the organization if you are also
ethical, accountable and transparent inside the organization.
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.
