So you’ve launched your non-profit, practicing fully the five habits Robin Morgan offered in the 5 Habits of People who Start Non-profits Successfully post (link). While a cause for celebration, your work does not stop there. Morgan feels that there are three (3) habits which are essential to a new non-profit in it’s early years. Acing the launch, but not properly running a young organization in the first year or two, isn’t a route to successful leadership.
- Practicing the 3 post-launch habits Morgan offers in this post will allow you to effectively run and led the non-profit you’ve envisioned and launched. If you master all three, you, and your organization, will reap the benefits!
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Robin Morgan
In 5 Habits of People who Start Non-profits Successfully, I shared the things a person needs to do before they open their doors. In a nutshell: Tapping your passion, getting the training (basic skills), doing the research (including talking to people), funding groundwork, & making the decision to start a non-profit.
However, once you’ve started your new non-profit, you need to work to allow your organization to survive and thrive! There are three (3) habits which need to be mastered in the early years. While important at all stages of a non-profit’s life, if they are not mastered early, the success of a leader’s organization will be greatly compromised.
- Be observant, teachable, and willing to compromise
Most non-profit, Founder/Executive Directors (ED) see an unmet need and have the passion! Few, however, have all the skills and knowledge needed to run their organization. If you follow the 2nd habit that I recommended in my 5 Habits post (getting training in the basics), you will be well-positioned to prosper. However, the education of a non-profit ED should be an ongoing process. As changes occur in an emerging organization, being observant and teachable becomes vitally important. Those who aren’t observant fail to see opportunities and obstacles. Seizing opportunities and dodging obstacles may be the difference between thriving and simply surviving. Those who are unteachable, who are reluctant to educate their self, are putting the non-profit at risk.
Two non-profit leaders in the Greensboro NC area, who I’ve worked with over the years, are similar in several ways. I meet both of them when I was speaking, at High Point University, for an Executive Directors Institute sponsored by the Guilford Nonprofit Consortium. The topics I was speaking on: Financial responsibilities which non-profit organizations have; the related commitment and duties for an Executive Director.
- One of the woman called me just a few days after that workshop. The other called me two months later, asking for help in managing her non-profit. As I worked with these two Leaders, I got to know them fairly well.
Each of these woman brings their passion to their unique organization. Each worked in a profession very different than the non-profit they launched and are now spearheading. While it was their passion which motivated them to start a non-profit, it is not what has allowed each to be successful. To put it simply, both of these woman are what I call teachable.
They’re willing to compromise. They’re willing to open up their minds. They’re willing to take advice from others, whether they agree with it or not.
- Does this sound like you?
When advice is offered to them, they are willing to receive it, consider it fully, and apply it. Why have these 2 woman have been so successful? Because, in light of their leadership attitude and ongoing training, their organizations can do more than just survive. They reflect all 3 qualities of this habit: Observant; Teachable (willing to learn); and a willingness to Compromise. Once they have received advice, they are open to applying it too. To be frank, some leaders I’ve observed have closed minds or are very reluctant to apply sound advice which they’ve been given. Such leaders are I feel more prone to fail than to succeed.
- Apply what you’ve learned and know should be done
An effective non-profit leader is one who is willing to apply what they have learned and know should be done.
Such a leader avoids procrastination or analysis paralysis. They aren’t resistant to change.
Unapplied knowledge and wisdom doesn’t get you very far. What good does it do to learn new things and accept compromises (in principle), but to not take the next step – and apply what you’ve learned and agreed to do? To know the way, but not go the way, isn’t a strategy for a thriving non-profit.
- Be willing to Manage Smart and Lead
What does a Leader, an Executive Director/Founder, who has mastered this habit look like?
They do their homework (before starting), secure the initial funding, learn fast, and aren’t afraid to apply what they’ve learned. They are willing to ‘roll up their sleeves’ and are eager to get out of the office, into the community, as much as possible.
In short, hard-working leaders who’ve mastered all seven habits I’ve already suggested (including the five in my 5 Habits post) will have mastered this last habit too.
Being a paper-pushing Executive Director, regardless of how many hours you’re in the office, is different than managing smart and leading. Such ineffectual Directors are hard-working, but they aren’t smart Managers or Leaders.
A successful non-profit leader understands that a passion-only approach to leadership is a recipe for failure. They know that, in an ever-changing world, refusing to be observant (and see changes) is unwise. So is refusing to learn, and smartly apply, new things. They know their success as a leader isn’t about simply ‘pushing paper’ in the office and running out the door at 5 o’ clock.
To practice the five pre-launch habits I suggested in my prior post (link), but to practice none of the three post-launch habits I set forth above, is like buying a brand new car, proudly driving it home, but refusing to maintain or insure it.
LEARN
- Passion – This was the impetus to begin the non-profit. Now what?
- Chameleon – Can you adapt to your Surroundings and your Situation?
- Foresight – Beyond being observant, can you see what is coming up around the corner? This requires staying ahead of others to see where the environment is moving. Wayne Gretzky, an enormously successful hockey player, said it best: “Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where the puck is”.
- Humility – People that don’t make the mistake of overstating their own importance usually are open-minded enough to do what? Extol the values which are necessary to be viable after the launch.
- Don’t just think, DO what is necessary. Action is required to make it all happen.
GROW
If you made it to the end of this blog post, the topic must be of interest to you. Here is the question that you should ask yourself now:
- What if the qualities, based in the three habits Morgan recommends, are simply describing someone who I am not? What do I do then?
Here is the answer we humbly have to offer: Reflect and act on the work of Gary Zukav.
- He, an author and self-described spiritual guide, has appeared on Oprah Winfrey over 30 times He penned the best-selling book The Seat of your Soul.
One of Zukav’s foundation principles is the Power of Intention. The premise behind this power, as outlined by Oprah Winfrey in the preface of his book, states:
“Every action, thought, and feeling is motivated by an intention, and that intention is a cause that exists as one with an effect. If we participate in the cause, it is not possible for us to participate in the effect. In this most profound way, we are held responsible for our every action, thought, and feeling – which is to say for our every intention”.
So it begs the question: What is the intention, the true intention, of your non-profit? If the intention is to truly fulfill the Mission which you outlined at the outset, then it becomes incumbent upon you to do what? To figure out, acquire, or literally make it your personal mission and conviction that the space, between the person you are today and the person you need to be, to Build, Thrive, & Survive in your non-profit, is a GAP. That GAP becomes your laser target of focus going forward.
Is that simple? NO!! Is it true? We believe the answer is YES. So go forward.
Robin Morgan offered her insights into the things which a person needs to do, after launching a non-profit, to give it the best chance to succeed.
A person who is an unobservant, know-it-all, and is also reluctant to apply the good advice of others, has surely NOT mastered the three habits Morgan offers. Even if that person is teachable, but often refuses to apply what they’ve learned, they aren’t being the leader their organization needs.
Again, to know the way, but not go the way, isn’t a strategy for a thriving non-profit.
Your Outcomes Well
Better outcomes through Best Practices (Non-profit leaders)
Photo credit: Ranga Krishna Tipirneni/flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Your Outcomes Well
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