Learning to Lead for Impact
leadership insight from Tom Okarma
the latest and greatest…
“Upping” Your Nonprofit Board’s Game
The respected ECFA, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, recently released its Governance survey, taken by 1,600 CEO'S, Board Chairs and directors from its member agencies. One of the...
When a Board Falls Short of Expectations
There must be something in the water around here. I've had coffee with four separate nonprofit executive directors over the last 45 days, each one with the same problem--actually two problems....
Who’s Your Thomas?
Leader: Who's you Thomas? You know...the "Doubtful Thomas"...on your board? The one who is not afraid to question your nonprofit's plans, general assumptions, habits, and conventional wisdom. The...
Build that Authentic Team Now
Whether leading a business or nonprofit organization, every successful leader learns a big lesson fairly quickly after moving into the corner office. That lesson is in realizing just how dependent...
Got Alignment?
If you stop to think about it, leaders can significantly increase the impact of their nonprofit agencies without spending an extra dime. Say what? Let's say your agency has: Experienced...
Quick-Start Your Board in 2013: Here’s How!
Now that the holidays are behind us and baseball’s spring training has begun, it’s time to insure the board is fully engaged in its work. For some, that means reconvening the current board. For...
leadership
Shaping the Organization’s Future
Have you ever had to rebuild a department, ministry, or an entire organization or church? Did you wrestle with how much to structure the process versus letting others handle it? We did. One of our departments had gone through a tough period. An ego-driven leader had...
Thinking Small
Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to an organization is growth. Now, growth can be a good thing-in fact a very good thing- when your talking about professionalism, donor contribution levels, bank balances, staff development, and more. But if you lead a...
Why Most Small Organizations Fail
I recently reread an excellent book written in 1995 and was struck by the timelessness of its subject matter. And, with the holidays approaching I thought it would serve as a terrific gift for someone you know who leads an organization: any size, any type, nonprofit,...
One Hour Plan for Growth
No one can deny that planning is critical to success. While I personally thrive in an organizational culture of creativity and entrepreneurial thinking, eventually, if you want to get things done, you have to have a written plan. Still, planning can be very tedious...
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...
board development
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Metrics
They say if you want to improve something, start measuring it. School grades, weight, financial results; we measure a lot. But, do you measure what really counts-the activities that ultimately determine results? Do you know what key activities determine your...
Customer Intimacy
Strong customer relationships may be the best way to serve your clients and retain their business over the long haul. Another word for that is “intimacy”. While pricing and other terms are important, and must be “in the ballpark”, strong client relations, or intimacy,...
Excellence in Execution
Have you ever felt your organization was not humming along as well as it could? Have you ever wondered if the organization was operating at peak efficiency? Do you suspect your departments are individual silos, resulting in missed opportunities to collaborate and add...
Is your organization ready for the future or living in the past
Is your business model or organizational structure ready for tomorrow’s opportunities and challenges, or does it still reflect your “hey days” of the past? If your firm did not exist and you were to create it new today, what would it look like? It’s true, many...
360* Reviews: They can be your friend.
Have you ever considered conducting a 360* review on yourself? Do you know what they are? I was somewhat reluctant to go through one, but wow, what a useful experience! Wish I had done it earlier in my leadership career. A 360* review provides you (and you alone) with...
What Baseball Fantasy Camp Taught Me About Employee Engagement and Commitment
I learned a lot from the Chicago Cubs and Randy Hundley about employee and volunteer engagement and commitment. Do your employees/volunteers act like owners in your enterprise? Do they feel a sense of shared accountability and responsibility? I saw such engagement in...
Employee Development, Retention, and Performance Management
Is your organization dependent on certain specialist skills to succeed? Are you vulnerable if certain key performers left your organization? We were highly dependent on several pools of specialty skills and knowledge in our organization. Losing those key performers...
Mission, Vision, Values
Having a clear mission, vision, and values (MVV) statement, one the entire leadership team helped create, fully understands, and commits to follow, is a terrific tool. It not only provides a motivational and rallying point for employees and volunteers, it also...
Financial Management
One thing about a nonprofit’s financials is that revenue projections can be a bit “iffy”, while projected expenses always seem to roll in just as planned. Aggressive revenue projections are not necessarily bad, but unless someone owns the fund raising function-and...