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. [...]
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If every board meeting focused on what is important to the primary stakeholder, success would follow. When the primary stakeholder is served, the agency finds peace, unity, and a sense of fulfillment. A collateral or coincidental benefit is an increase in clients, volunteers, collaborations, and donations. [...] One can connect the passion of the donor to the mission. The strategic plan is the connection. The strategic plan must be concrete, creditable, and have an emotional element. [...] A strategic plan will produce sustainability. The symptoms or key elements of sustainability are strong community support, donor passion, motivated employees and volunteers, an effective board, active and committed referral sources, and clients referring others. [...] The most significant hurdle to creating a strategic plan is having the time and skills. It takes time to plan and there always seems to be something urgent that delays the planning process. [...] Many nonprofits of all sizes struggle with strategic planning. Many individuals argue that strategic planning is a waste of effort. Technology changes often and rapidly. How can you develop a strategy in a rapidly changing environment? [...] At its best strategic planning solves an important problem. What is a counter example? Let us consider the board’s strategic planning retreat to create this year’s budget. [...] Where does donor loyalty start? Is it the responsibility of the donor to become loyal or is it the nonprofit’s job to create an environment that encourages loyalty? [...] If a nonprofit is threatened by potential failure, who is at fault? Should we blame the board? Yes No Should we blame the executive? Yes No Should we blame the donors? Yes No Should we blame the community? Yes No Should we blame the economy? Yes No Should we blame the competition? Yes No Everyday [...] The economy is down and probably headed lower. So why in the world would you want to cut costs? That is a serious question. The staff is smart. They have always been careful. Just how much can you save by cutting costs? How much time will you have to invest to find ways to save? [...] |
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