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, 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.