Here are 11 discussion points for your next board meeting to help your board and leadership team make 2015 your nonprofit’s best year yet.
Taking a moment to look back before looking forward is a good idea. However, the success of the process depends on what we gain from the look back. If all we remember about the past is our mistakes, it is easy to have a pessimistic view of the future. If we think about our successes, it is easy to be overly optimistic about the future. The following questions have the potential to give you the balanced view you need to create a realistic vision for the next year.
Introspection – Define your nonprofit’s importance to your community in the past year. Define what you want your nonprofit’s importance to be in the next year.
Good and Bad – What went right and created the value for your community that you intended? What could have gone better and created more value for your community? What went wrong and reduced your value to the community?
Risk – What risks did you consider? If you had taken those risks how would things be different today?
Meaningful – What did you accomplish that was most meaningful to your community? Clients? Mission?
Influence – How was your nonprofit influenced by various people, events, and other organizations?
Momentum – What caused your nonprofit to lose momentum in the past year? What momentum do you have that you can build on?
Collaboration – Think about the people and groups with which you interact. How can you strengthen those interactions? What new interactions do you need to develop?
Eliminate – What are the things your nonprofit should stop doing?
Start – What are the things your nonprofit should start doing?
Do More – What are the things your nonprofit should do more of?
Advice – What is the best advice you received in the past year (regardless of whether you took the advice)?
Strategy – How should your strategy change to meet the new reality (including your responses to the preceding questions)?
For the most part, the preceding list can be discussed in any order. You may want to add a few questions that are especially relevant because of your unique mission, special events that happened last year, or a significant event that will happen this year. However, we recommend discussing strategy last.
Next Step:
Make the reflection process the sole purpose of the meeting
Share the questions with the participants before the meeting
Report the results of the reflection process to all of your stakeholders
Ensure that the results are acted upon in the next year
The last step is the most important one. Without taking action, the process of reflection looks to the world like most people’s New Year’s resolutions. If that happens, it will undermine your board’s authority, perception of competence, and reputation.
Perhaps some other time of year will be a better time to reflect or perhaps you will want to reflect twice. For instance, if you will be electing a new board chair, a time of reflection before the election might be wise. It could help you decide which candidate will be best or what qualifications you need in your next board chair. Perhaps a time of reflection before creating the budget will bring clarity to priorities.
In any case, the purpose of the reflection is to strengthen your mission, increase the success of your clients, add value to your community, and build on your sustainability.
Take It Further:
Invite key stakeholders and clients to participate in the time of reflection. Their perspectives will bring additional insights.
