Leadership is a challenge for most nonprofits. This is as for traditional nonprofits as it is for churches, arts, and faith-based nonprofits.
Mission Enablers works with a variety of nonprofits. We help them build their capacity to serve and achieve sustainability. In our work, we meet many leaders. Most are great individuals, poorly prepared to do a tough job.
Here is an example. A nonprofit leader was lamenting the decline in attendance at a fundraiser. She was blaming the decline on the other nonprofits in the area because they were duplicated a successful process. She felt her board had failed to support the fundraiser by making donations, recruiting attendees, and finding sponsors.
Is she right? Does success come from having a unique fundraiser, generous board, and a board that recruits donors and sponsors? Those items make success easier but good leadership makes success possible.
Every nonprofits starts without a unique fundraiser, generous board, donors, and sponsors. If they survive five years, it is because of a passionate leadership.
A good leader can overcome limited resources and challenging obstacles. A good leader accepts the world as it is and changes it to meet the organization’s needs.
What is the solution? Should we fire the leader who blames others or has some other set of excuses for failure? Sometimes the answer is yes. The answer is no most of the time.
When the answer is no, what do you do? The first step is to recognize the whining and blaming as a poorly articulated cry for help. The simple response to the cry for help is to objectively analyze the leader’s skills and find training for the critical areas. The more complex answer is train the board to recognize the need for leadership training before it becomes a crisis. The best answer is recruit board members who are good leaders, passionate about the mission, and proactive problem solvers.
Good leaders know what good leaders look like. Passionate individuals stay engaged long enough to ensure success. Proactive problem solvers never wait for a cry for help.
By the way, good leaders never use a poorly articulated cry for help to bring attention to their needs.
How good is your nonprofit’s leadership? What is your plan for helping them improve?
As always, if you want help contact us.
