Learning to Lead for Impact
leadership insight from Tom Okarma
the latest and greatest…
Is Your Nonprofit Future-Proof?
Discover the 25 Critical Factors that will help ensure your long-term success. Serving others through nonprofit work often involves helping people in immediate need, but that doesn’t mean leaders...
The Kickoff: 20 Steps to a Better 1st Board Meeting
How can you make the first board meeting of the year effective, engaging, and use it to set the stage for a great year? In a recent article we discussed expectations for your new board. If you...
What Should You Do With New Board Members?
How to get the most out of your non profit board of directors. Now that the new year has begun, the makeup of many non profit board of directors may look quite a bit different from last year. Yours...
How to Fill Empty Nonprofit Board Seats
This is the third and final chapter in a recent series about removing nonprofit board members who no longer fit the future needs of the organization. The first two articles offered suggestions on...
When Should You Let a Good Board Member Go?
10 Steps to Follow to Make Your Nonprofit Board Better Last week we discussed how to deal with a previously high-value nonprofit board member who has become difficult, argumentative, and even...
How to Deal With Difficult Board Members
What do you do when a good board member goes bad? One of the most important roles you have, as part of a board of directors, or as the executive director of a nonprofit, is to help identify...
leadership
How to Get Your Nonprofit Off to a Good Start in 2015
The holidays will soon be behind us and after this long, wonderful break we all are currently enjoying, it will soon be time to get to work on the goals you recently set for 2015. It’s also time to re-energize your board to ensure it is ready to fully engage in its...
Means and Ends: Who does What
One of the major causes of friction in the area of nonprofit leadership and poor nonprofit board performance, and a big reason why boards and CEO's may part ways, is poor boundary setting between the board and the CEO. For most agencies, everyone understands each...
Bully Boards-Here’s One Way To Avoid Them
Every so often, I hear about tough, demanding boards but nothing like a board I recently “met” through a friend who also serves as the CEO of a separate, very successful, well-mannered nonprofit agency. My friend told me about the rude, abrasive, unruly practices a different board had, including a confrontational, in-your-face, no-fun board style. My friend asked, “How do I keep my board from becoming like this one?
25 Ways Your Board May be Failing
Do many of these sound familiar? If so, it’s time to do something. Let me know what else you might add to this list. No strategic plan in place Poor alignment between goals and:resources, staffing, structure, budget, decision-making Infrequently monitoring financial...
“Tom-isms”, or What I learned the Hard Way…
...but you don't have to. We all learn a lot of lessons along the way. I seem to learn best by doing rather than taking someone's advice. The result is I learn by getting my nose bloodied from time to time. So in the spirit of wanting to share so others can benefit...
Yes, Your Nonprofit does Need a Board of Directors!
Absolutely, a board of directors is necessary. But, it shouldn't just be comprised of a collection of well-intended directors. Legally, you're probably required to have one anyway, but in addition, the value derived from the "right" board is immeasurable. In fact,...
board development
7 Keys to the Right Kind of Board-Part 1
I was recently asked by a friend of mine about the difference between an organization having a board of directors versus a board of trustees. He is trying to determine which model best helps him grow and refocus his small but successful organization. He wants to grow...
Failing Boards-Part 2
Following up on my recent post about how boards fail, here are more thoughts on how boards can fall short of their responsibilities. Again, let me have your thoughts on these... Allowing personal agendas to trump focusing solely on the clients being served Not...
Why Boards Fail-Practices That Failing Boards Do Very Well
With a tip of the hat to a certain late night TV talk-show host, I have been thinking about what makes a board “good” or “bad” and have come up with a top twenty list that covers a lot of ground. I originally titled this article “Top Five”…then Top Ten…but had to go...
Creative Friction-A Good Thing
When I led a for-profit company, we used to talk about “creative friction”- a condition whereby people with different opinions on a particular topic were encouraged to voice their opinions and provide evidence to substantiate their positions. It was very helpful in...
The Perfect Search
I came across a very good book about executive searches for nonprofits recently. It is loaded with suggestions and observiation based on real life experience. The Perfect Search by Tommy Thomas could be a terrific resource for you if your nonprofit is about to launch...
Merit Pay-Just Do It!
It seems obvious to me that if you reward desirable behavior you will get more of it and if you don't, performance will eventually level off and fewer people may go that proverbial "extra mile". Complacency and an entitlement mentality can work its way into your...
strategic planning
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everything…
This Time Around, get Edgy!
With Fall just about upon us, thoughts naturally turn toward planning for 2014, year end board meetings, and next year's budget. In other words, a lot of deep thinking on some important issues. Before you default into your normal year end mindset though, why not...
Why Your NP Board Gets Nothing Done
I talk to a lot of board members and board chairs in my travels and one complaint I hear quite often, is "We just don't seem to get anything done. How can we make progress during our term in office?" I get this a lot! Sound like your board? Directors tell me they...
A Full 180 Degree Turn
It won't come as a shock to many of you that I am a big sports fan. Always have been, always will be. For the record, I pull for any team with "Chicago" on its jersey--even soccer-tho I have no idea why people like that sport. And yet, while I follow each team, I...
Transform Your Nonprofit Board-Part-3 of 3
We are in a discussion of how to improve your nonprofit board's impact and execution through four transformational practices. So far, we've discussed: Consistency: how a Board Policy Manual, a strategic plan, and thoughtful board make-up can build in process, focus...
Transform Your Nonprofit Board-Pt. 2
Last time, I identified four keys to transforming your board through authentic leadership. They are: Consistency, communication, execution, and accountability. I discussed consistency last week. This week, I'll cover communication and execution. Keys to Communication:...
Transform Your Nonprofit Board–Pt. 1
Some might think it is easy for ministry boards to provide authentic leadership to their organizations. Consider: we all work for the same owner -- God, we all share the same ultimate purpose -- building God’s Kingdom here on earth for all eternity, and we all operate...
Who fixes a Weak Board?
Who's responsibility is it to fix a weak nonprofit board that no longer adds value, when the organization's needs exceed what the current board can provide? Who's job is it to be sure the organization has the right board composition to take the organization to the...
Authentic Board Service is Messy
Board candidates and directors want to serve on boards that make an impact but not all of them are willing to pay the price to either exercise, or follow, authentic leadership to do so. And, unless you provide challenging and meaningful board experiences to your...
The Unavoidable(?) Leadership Silo
Most nonprofit leaders share many traits: passion for the mission, effective communication skills to "tell the story", a cadre of devoted volunteers and leadership team, and an awareness of the need to always be looking for new ways to raise revenue. Well, there is...