Posted on

Onboarding: An Action Plan for Nonprofit Success

I read about a 3rd grade teacher, I’ll call her Ms. Smarts, who took an unusual approach. At the start of each school year she put aside the lesson plans. She ignored the usual curriculum.

Instead, for the first three months she worked at nurturing her students.

Ms. Smarts cared about her students self-esteem, teamwork, and potential. She wanted to give each of the students an opportunity to explore and experiment without grades or tests. She wanted learning to be fun, not intimidating.

Finally, once they were ready, she began the required lessons.

They soaked them up!

This story has always stuck with me. I wonder what would happen if we treated new employees, volunteers, and board members the same way.

What if we started with exploration and teamwork?

What if we allowed them to discover and share the vision of the organization?

Marshall Ganz, of Harvard Kennedy School, worked with the young campaigners for Obama in his first run for the presidency. He challenged them to explore three stories: the story of self, the story of us, and the story of now. This exercise prepared the recruits to go out and campaign, fully prepared to share compelling stories.

Like the 3rd grade students, the Obama recruits had the opportunity for self-discovery and teamwork before they went to work.

You already know the outcome of the Obama election.

Guess what happened with Ms. Smarts students…They came out ahead at the end of the school year! They achieved higher scores on the standardized tests and they were fully prepared to move onto 4th grade. 

You can adapt these approaches to fit your organization, here’s an Onboarding Action Plan to get you started (btw, this works for forming teams of existing employees and volunteers too):

  1. Share the vision. Give employees and volunteers a big picture view so they see where they fit today and also where they may go in the future. Encourage possibility. This is especially important for workers who may not be in the office or may be siloed in a department.
  2. Encourage gathering. Make teamwork part of the onboarding process, allowing time to get to know each other and encouraging sharing throughout the organization. Allow new recruits to use their voice and be part of exploratory conversations. Great ideas and tools are available at Liberating Structures (download the app). 
  3. Create your story library. Know and share the founder’s story and other essential tales of your organization’s founding and growth. These shared stories are the basis for a common knowledge, understanding, and commitment to the founder’s dream and the vision of the organization. They might be in writing or on video to share at events and social media.
  4. Collect stories. Create a way for your employees and volunteers to share their successes. I call them Minor Miracles, the little things that happen but might be overlooked. A mental health organization gives everyone an opportunity to share their miracle of the month. These add to the library, ready to be shared.
  5. Listen. Every person brings something unique and special to your organization. Make sure you hear what they say and honor their stories. Discover the unique qualities of everyone so you can identify how they fit in and enhance the organization.
  6. Facilitate connection. As you get to know your new employee, board member, or teammate, you will find lots of opportunity to make connections. As each person is enabled to build a network, the organization as a whole is strengthened. Network Weaver is a great source for resources and tools.

Every employee and volunteer has potential to contribute to your organization’s growth. It’s up to you to show them the possibilities. Creating a culture of sharing, storytelling, teambuilding, and connecting will build an organization ready for the future.

Merle Benny, author of Sparkle!, writes and speaks to inspire Nonprofit Champions. The discovery that happy healthy nonprofits raise more money and grow faster (and, in turn, make the world better) is the result of a lifetime of service to nonprofit organizations. Merle has raised millions, been the voice of numerous organizations and continually brought innovation to the sector. Merle is a developer and presenter of the Nonprofit Consultants Institute.

Posted on

Leader @ the Center

I loved Suzi the first time I met her. She was a new employee and the youngest person in the room. Yet, there was something about her.

Wherever she was things were happening.

As I worked with her on several different projects, I began to see what it was that made her so special. Suzi is a leader.

If we limit the idea of leadership to one person at the top, we don’t make room for people like Suzi. That’s a big loss.

The traditional nonprofit model limits leadership opportunities. This has made it difficult to attract and keep a motivated workforce. It’s time to take a fresh approach and recognize leadership at every level, in any role.

When you empower employees, volunteers, and board members by giving them the tools, resources, and confidence to speak, they contribute to building a diverse, sustainable community of support.

The first step is to appreciate the value of building an organization of great communicators. Download Merle’s ebook, The Secret to Nonprofit Success, to learn why you want to communicate your vision and how to get started.

When you begin to see communicators as leaders, leadership shifts. It is no longer limited to the top. You have empowered employees, board members, and volunteers, to speak up for the cause. This is Leader @ the Center™, a new approach to empowering individuals, activating strong networks, and building sustainable organizations. 

Why should you be a Leader @ the Center?

Leadership belongs to everyone who shares the organization’s Vision and builds a network.

This new leader is a connector, continually weaving a network and mobilizing an ever-growing system of support and caring.

Depending on the leader’s area of expertise and role in the organization and in the community, that network might be donors, foundations, business leaders, other nonprofits, service providers, volunteers, or any combination. The circle may also include service recipients, customers, and clients.

You, as a leader, are at the center of your own network.

Why should you encourage others to be?

The freedom that this new perspective gives to employees, board members, and volunteers is immeasurable. Now you have a large active team moving in different circles towards the same Vision. Remember, this happens simply by empowering everyone to communicate with confidence and passion about your work and the bigger dream for a better world.

This mobilization multiplies your impact. More connections lead to more contributions. More contributions lead to stronger progams. Stronger programs lead to greater outcomes.

No longer is the Executive Director going it alone. Now they are the team captain with a winning team, moving independently towards a shared goal. Leader @ the Center can exist in your current structure or be the catalyst for moving away from the hierarchal, pyramid model to a self-managed model.

Suzi isn’t bossy, she respects authority and understands her role, but she’s definitely a leader. She takes action on the spot. As Doug Sundheim writes in Forbes,* leadership is “critical and collaborative thinking and action given what you see in front of you.” That’s what sets Suzi apart.

You need Suzis at every level of your organization.

Here are some points to consider before moving on to creating messages and preparing Leaders @ the Center to connect. Empowering many to share the Vision addresses a range of existing problems and obstacles to success:

Capturing hearts. Getting attention, inspiring action, and driving change are fundamental roles of a nonprofit organization. Emotional connections make these happen. The more voices the better, yet employees and volunteers may not feel empowered to speak of their experiences and share their passion.

How Leader @ theCenter helps: Having many communicators in your organization captures more hearts and minds. Each brings a unique voice and experience to your message, making your appeal resonate. Multiply that by ten or twenty and you have opportunity where it did not exist before. Passionate voices lead to active volunteers, participants, and donors.

Retention. Your work is easier when turnover is low. Retention of employees, volunteers, and board members brings consistency and a strong base of support. Recruitment and training are expensive and time consuming, taking you away from your mission.

How Leaders @ the Center helps: Engagement is key to long term relationships. Creating an organization of communicators gives everyone the opportunity to engage. The feeling of belonging, being needed, and having a voice are empowering and rewarding. And they are reasons to stay.

Motivation from the start. Young, new employees bring energy to your organization. It is challenging to attract and retain them. A lack of opportunity to actively engage in the Vision causes many to turn away from the organization or nonprofits in general. They seek a position that allows them to grow, act, and share.

How Leader @ the Center helps: Giving a voice to these most enthusiastic, inspired employees and volunteers motivates and energizes your youngest, and often, most diverse workers. These may also be your most tech savvy employees, using tools to enhance the work and spread the message. The rewards are double: you keep them engaged and their voices attract a new base of support.

Demand for services. You are challenged to continually deliver an ever-expanding range of programs and services. These demands often come from funders. It becomes a Catch-22: you can’t have the money without the services and you can’t deliver the services without the money.

How Leader @ the Center helps: Your newly engaged and empowered employees, volunteers, and board members are energized and productive. Engaged employees are happy employees. They are multiplying your contacts and contributing more

Steady flow of money. The majority of nonprofits identify finding and maintaining reliable sources of funding as their greatest need. You are challenged to maintain existing funding sources while identifying new ones.

How Leaders @ the Center helps: Empowering everyone in your organization by giving them a voice multiplies your exposure while creating the momentum that produces results for you, your service recipients, and your funders. With an organization rich in resources, you are on a path to success.

Becoming a Leader @ the Center feels good! Creating more leaders is your opportunity to build momentum, reduce expenses, satisfy workers, increase productivity, and raise more money.

What can you do today to create more leaders in your organization?

Merle Benny

Merle Benny, Nonprofit  Champion.

Merle is the voice of Nonprofit Champions everywhere. She writes and speaks to inspire more nonprofit leaders in the community and world. She loves connections! Email merle@nonprofitchampion.com or follow Nonprofit Champion on Facebook or LinkedIn. 

Posted on

The Lonely Model

The Executive Director (sometimes called Chief Executive Officer, like their for-profit counterparts) is isolated. As the sole leader of an organization, they are stuck between the board and the staff.

Yes, stuck. Who can they talk to? Share ideas with? Take risks with?

Exploring, and even failing, are essential parts of leadership. But in a model where everyone else is who the ED reports to (the board) or who reports to the ED (the staff), it’s hard to be an explorer.

The last thing a nonprofit organization needs is to stifle creativity.

Should we limit visionary leadership to one person?

In the book Forces for Good: Six Practices of Highly Effective Nonprofits, the authors make the case for shared leadership, “strong leadership doesn’t only exist at the very top of high-impact nonprofits; rather, it extends throughout the organization.” They go on to say that the successful organizations they studied use leadership to empower others.

The successful leader of fast-growth organizations should seek to inspire, rather than control. They should create space for creativity and innovation rather than protect their “turf.”

When everyone has opportunities to grow, share, lead, and connect, the the organization is stronger. Don’t count on one person. Open up the possibility for growth, diversity, and sustainability by giving everyone a voice.

 

Posted on

It’s not someone’s job, it’s everyone’s job.

Imagine how much more powerful your organization would be if you multiplied the number of people who felt prepared and empowered to talk about the organization’s vision! The more people spreading the word, the more donors, volunteers, and advocates you have. Simple math says it makes sense.

Why don’t organizations work this way now?

Change happens slowly. While you can see the innovative practices of start-ups and fast-growth businesses, nonprofits tend to be more traditional. The focus is not on the bottom line. You exist for the public good. That’s a responsibility and a promise. Innovation has not traditionally been part of the equation.

Now, more than ever, nonprofits are challenged to find and keep employees, to pay them fairly, to create succession plans for continuity, and to continually inspire and motivate everyone in your circle of influence, including employees, volunteers, boards, and service recipients. It’s a heavy lift.

Everyone in your organization has the heart and mind to be an ambassador. They have chosen to work and volunteer there because they care about the vision and mission. It’s time to empower yourself and others. In fact, it is becoming a necessity.

I’ll explore this topic in more detail next week. For now, think about how you, from wherever you are in the organization, can stand up, speak up, and lead the way forward.

Posted on

Step UP! You are a Leader

Not in a leadership role yet? No problem. I want to share with you the secret I discovered that changed my life.

When you have the opportunity to raise your hand and get involved, do it. I was frustrated in work and volunteer roles. I wanted action. I wanted change. Then I discovered how to make things happen.

Every leadership position I’ve had was because I was willing to take on a new task, help others out, give an opinion, or try something new. I went beyond my job description to make things better. No one complained because work was getting done. And when it came time for a promotion, I had already created the next role for myself.

Leadership is all about stepping and doing the job.

Leader at the Center

Nonprofit organizations need leaders. They need you. Becoming a leader from within the organization is rewarding. I call it Leader at the Center. It’s a role that needs to be filled now! Stepping up leads to opportunities, inside and outside your organization.

How do you become a Leader at the Center? Here are 3 steps:

1. Communicate – use your voice to share stories, including your own! Speaking about your dreams and the dream of your organization to create a better world will get you an audience, in person or on social media.

2. Connect – be the connector. Make sure you are meeting people and connecting them to resources, ideas, and other people. Your active connecting will come back to you with connections that will help you reach your dreams.

3. Convene – bring people together. See a problem? You can solve it by using your communication skills and connections to gather people and address the issue. Convening is the way you change dreams into goals.

You have exactly what it takes. Step up. Raise your hand. Start talking, make connections, and gather people together. You’re a Leader at the Center.

Merle Benny is a speaker, author, and trainer. She believes there are Nonprofit Champions at every level and role in an organization. Connect to Nonprofit Champion on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.