by Susan Detwiler | Mar 26, 2018 | Communication, management, nonprofit
“It is crucial….to identify aspects of the process that worked well and why, and changes to the process that will improve success in the future.â€*
If you do 10 things in a day, and 9 of them go fabulously, which one do you focus on? Right. The one thing that was a bust. People seem to find it easier to complain than to acknowledge things that are going well.
The same thing happens when we debrief after a program, project or event.  The default feedback I hear from clients seems to be, “well, in general it went well but……†followed by a litany of things that went wrong. “
We focus on the things that didn’t go as planned. Or rather, we focus on the things that weren’t planned at all.  The things that went wrong. The unanticipated malfunctions.
We glide right over the first part of the feedback, “in general it went well…†and dive right into trying to fix what went wrong. Worse, we lapse into the blame game – “who messed up?â€
What we don’t do is spend time on what went right.
What if we asked a different set of questions? What if we held off the negative dissection, and first asked these questions:
- “What was the biggest success of the night / event / program?â€
- “What did we do that made that happen?â€
-  “What else went right, and What did we do to make that happen?â€
- “What can we learn from that?â€
- “Is there anything we did that we can transfer to other programs/ projects/ events?â€
Observe, acknowledge, and deconstruct the success.
Only THEN move on to what could have been done better. In fact, avoid the blame game completely by asking,
- “What ‘changes to the process will improve success in the future?’â€
These words from Barry Lord and Gail Lord, in Manual of Museum Management, offer a positive way to improve on any program or process. It acknowledges that things could be better than they are – no matter what level they start at.
Framing the ‘what went wrong’ question to focus on process instead of who avoids laying blame on a person, and starts the brain working at analyzing procedure.
This applies to every process. From board evaluations to gala events; from personnel reviews to budget analysis; from Thanksgiving dinners to conversations with a partner. It acknowledges that things could be better – more successful – and moves the conversation to developing conditions for success.
Next time you do a debrief, start with the positive. THEN STAY POSITIVE. Watch how much more thoughtful the discussion can be.
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*Barry & Gail Lord, The Manual of Museum Management
by Susan Detwiler | Feb 2, 2015 | governance
Why don’t the board members know all the programs you put on?
Why didn’t the board president make the fundraising calls like he promised?
It’s really not hard to understand. The people who volunteer to be on the board have other lives. They do care, it’s just that their daily routines are filled with other stuff and the board commitments haven’t found a place in those routines.
Here’s an example:
Preparing to facilitate a strategic planning retreat, I talked with the executive director about plans for getting board consensus on the way forward. In the middle of our conversation, he commented that he wished he could figure out how to get the board to understand everything the organization does. He said the staff keeps telling them, and it’s as if the board doesn’t take in what they say.
Fast forward to the retreat, and a board member speaks up, saying she can’t work on strategy when she doesn’t have a picture of everything the organization does. Another director agrees. There are nods all around the table. Meanwhile, the staff interjected with where the information was, and that the emails keep them up-to-date.
“Clearly,†I said, “there’s a disconnect.†So I stopped the process and asked the board members how they would like to hear from staff.
Well, it was as if a dam broke loose. Email is good, but make sure it’s set up a certain way. The subject line has to have a deadline if you need us to do something. Let’s have a calendar where we can see at a glance what’s going on. Who’s going to be in charge of the calendar? Who will help the Executive Director translate what he wants to say into what the board will hear? Can we have a one-page fact sheet that has all the information we need? Can you keep it up to date and in one place so we know how to get it? Who’s going to create the fact sheet? When will it be done by?
There was palpable energy and eagerness around the table, ready to work on improving communication.
Both the executive director and the board had been frustrated. Board members really wanted to be good advocates. The executive needed the directors to be advocates. But the system wasn’t in place to make it easy for them. They needed to talk to each other to figure it out. In fact, creating a successful model for internal communications became part of the strategic plan.
A few generations back, most people took in information the same way. Everyone knew exactly what to expect and where the information they needed could be found. But in a world where you might have five generations working together between the staff and the board; a world where our boards need to reflect different views, experiences, and backgrounds; this uniformity is just not going to exist. Board members and staff have to work together to find the best way of communicating with each other.
For the board <-> executive partnership to work, start by talking about communication.
Oh, and why didn’t the board president make the fundraising calls? That was something else we had to make easy. Check it out.
I’d be happy to hear other stories of systems to make it easier for directors to fulfill their obligations. Let me know, at sdetwiler@detwiler.com or 302.463.0327.
by Susan Detwiler | Mar 20, 2014 | leadership, management, nonprofit, Standards, work
Does the quality of the Executive Director make a difference?
You bet it does. Or, at least in the corporate world, a great CEO seems to have an outsized impact on the strength of the corporation.
Walter Frick, reviewing work by professors Quigley and Hambrick at Penn State and University of Georgia, makes the case that in corporate America, when business is more dynamic and less predictable, the CEO has a disproportionate effect on the success of the corporation. They looked at data spanning more than 60 years – the equivalent of 18,000 firm-years, that is, the combined years that the firms had been in existence – and found that the effect of the CEO almost doubled from 1950-2009.
What does this mean for the nonprofit world? Look carefully at this quote from Frick:
“an increase in business dynamism has amplified the impact of CEOs over time, but that effect is at its highest in companies where industry and economic constraints still limit the firm’s options.â€
While I wouldn’t make one-to-one comparisons between for-profit and nonprofit organizations, you can’t deny that by its very nature, the nonprofit world is continually under economic constraints, with limited options, facing increased competition for support, higher needs, and declining resources. How well you manage these constraints is a function of the Executive Director and the Executive-Board partnership.
One of the most important functions of a Board of Directors is to hire, evaluate and, if necessary, replace the Executive Director. The quality of the partnership between the Executive and the board has an enormous effect on whether the board’s vision is achieved, or whether the board and Executive spend most of their time on minutiae.
Hiring well, and putting in place a sound evaluation system based on relevant criteria, can make a huge difference in the future of your organization. And, if there is any similarity to the for-profit world, it is even more important in uncertain times.
Consider it an investment in the future of your agency.
For more hallmarks of transformational boards, or to find out more about achieving nonprofit Standards for Excellence™, get in touch. Let’s have a conversation.
Susan Detwiler
by Susan Detwiler | Jan 1, 2014 | governance, management, nonprofit, Uncategorized, work
“I resolve to do more (fill in the blank)…… in the coming year.â€
Congratulations! But what are going to do less of?
A simple and powerful tool for any manager, Do, Delegate, Discard is especially helpful to Executive Directors who are the lynchpin between the Board of Directors and the staff. It makes you focus on making the most of your time, and helps you make best use of the talent around you.
First, write down everything you are responsible for. Everything. That includes bringing in office snacks, managing the $5000 library fund donor and organizing the annual gala. Making thank you calls to major donors, reviewing the copier contract, meeting board members for coffee and writing the copy for the eight page monthly newsletter. Writing the development and communications plan, keeping the FAQs up-to-date, hiring, evaluating and firing staff and developing the employee handbook. Whatever it is, write it down.
Now, make three columns next to the list: Do, Delegate, Discard.
For each item on the list, decide if it’s something ONLY YOU CAN DO, something you can DELEGATE TO SOMEONE ELSE, or something that doesn’t have to be done, i.e., DISCARD.
Caution! Even if you think that only you can do it right, that doesn’t mean that only you can do it. This is where perfectionists stumble. Consider – an Executive Director earning $80,000 a year (plus benefits), and ostensibly working 40 hours per week (ha), is earning $48/hour. Does it really make sense for you to be the author of every article for the newsletter or to maintain the FAQs? Or should you be focusing on staff development, major donors and board interactions? If you honestly believe that only you can do the job, then mark the DO column. These items should be where your organization will derive the greatest benefit from your time.
Control freaks stumble when they contemplate handing off to a subordinate. Â Delegating is scary, but successful delegation ultimately pays off. Staff get the chance to shine and the satisfaction of being responsible for jobs well done. So into the DELEGATE column put reviewing the copier contract, keeping FAQs up-to-date, managing and writing the newsletter, reviewing lower level staff, drafting new handbook pages. It may mean time to train your staff, but developing your staff is ultimately what will make you – and your organization – even more productive.
Superwomen and Supermen stumble on DISCARD. There is a subconscious fear that you will be thought less of if you don’t do every. single. thing. But DISCARD may be the most powerful action you can take. It forces you to stop and think about why a job is done at all. Maybe the 8 page monthly newsletter should drop to 4 pages, or bimonthly, or not even exist. What purpose does it serve; would something else serve that purpose even better? Should stewarding the library fund donor be woven into the general donor stewardship program? Are all the board reports needed? Can you move to consent agendas? Should you drop the gala that nets $20,000 but has hidden labor costs of $50,000?
Deceptively simple, Do, Delegate, Discard is a powerful tool for managing your time, and empowering your staff. It’s a great way to begin the new year, and make room for all those NEW resolutions.
by Susan Detwiler | Jul 8, 2012 | management, nonprofit, Uncategorized
In 1988, Bobby McFerrin released a song that drove me absolutely nuts. “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.†Just ask my husband. I cringed whenever I heard it. The whole idea that you should never worry, and that just being told to be happy would work was just crazy to me.
Frankly, I still feel that way. No, I don’t cringe when I hear the song, but the philosophy that we should never worry just doesn’t work for me.
Stress isn’t your enemy! Stress can be good! It’s how we grow!
Stressing about stress is your enemy. Stressing without release is your enemy. But stress isn’t bad in and of itself. In fact, in orthopedics, there’s something called Wolf’s Law – bone that is subjected to some stress, grows stronger in the area of stress. The same thing with muscles. That’s why we’re told to do cardiovascular exercise – so our heart muscle grows stronger.
It follows through into our work lives. If we’re constantly working in our comfort zones, then we don’t grow. But working outside of our comfort zones is stressful.
So what?
You didn’t learn to ride a bike by not taking terrifying first peddles and falling down a few times.
When it comes to our nonprofit work, we have to face the fact that working outside our comfort zone is the only way we’ll grow beyond what we’re already doing. It may be stressful, but as long as we periodically take some time off to relax and look at what we’ve done, then the stress is good.
If you want to work explore how a coach or mentor can help you or your staff embrace the stress – and work with it instead of against it – let me know! I’m happy to talk about it and see if there are ways that you can put stress to work for you.
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