INSIGHTS
Four Pillars of Successful Performance Reviews
For the most part, leaders agree on the importance of performance reviews and high performing individuals crave feedback. So why does it feel so difficult to create an effective performance review process? And how should reviews be designed to ensure they are effective? In order to function at their best, performance reviews need to be consistent, objective, contextual, and impactful.
Capacity & Cost Savings Through Org Design
It is important nonprofit organizations remember to address ‘how we work’ before ‘how many of us are working’ in order to tackle capacity issues more effectively. Our nonprofit consultants recommend addressing the root cause of capacity issues to free up time and resources that can be used to achieve your nonprofit organization’s strategic goals. This will lead to improved performance, reduced costs, and increased efficiency.
The Secret to a Successful Nonprofit Merger
In recent years there has been a massive upswing in the number of nonprofit mergers and affiliations throughout the country. As a nonprofit consulting firm that has facilitated a number of merger transactions for our clients, we have seen firsthand the factors that contribute to deal success. A nonprofit merger or affiliation (M&A) is weighted heavily on the relationships that exist between two organizations. Meaning, the currency of a nonprofit deal is the relationship that exists between the two organizations, which means the progress of the deal will move at the speed of trust.
CEO’s Guide to Managing Capabilities and Complexity
In recent years the role of nonprofit CEO has become increasingly complex. Between managing large-scale turnaround, merger integration, reducing costs, and technology implementation, nonprofit leaders are challenged with issues that require innovative thinking and new approaches to managing.
In this article, we are going to provide insight into two areas of focus that go hand-in-hand to help CEOs achieve short and long-term goals.
How to Gain a Digital Competitive Advantage Over your Peers
Your non-profit peers are all working hard to serve their community and fulfill their mission. How can you know if you are gaining or losing ground against them? And once you know where you stand, is there anything you can do about it?
While obvious metrics like the number of employees they have or their total budget will give you an overall sense of their scale, these metrics alone cannot tell you whether you are winning mindshare or gaining an edge in awareness, which can lead to better fundraising or an increase in your base of volunteers.
Fortunately, there are ways to use online resources to find out how you compare to your peers. By analyzing search keywords, organic search traffic, ad budgets and social media sites, you can get a good idea of where you stand and where you need to improve.
Benefit Strategy: Keep, Cut, Create, and Communicate!
A benefits package is a great way to demonstrate how much you value your nonprofit employees. An effective benefits strategy is one that meets your employees’ needs while staying within your budget. A great benefits strategy combines employee needs, business needs, and aligns with your culture. If a merger isn’t in your future, it’s still important to reevaluate your benefits package regularly and remember to balance employee needs with the organization’s culture and budget.
So you have a DEIB strategy. What now?
Over the course of the last three years, many nonprofits have rightfully prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion. But where do those initiatives stand today? Are organizations seeing the progress they hoped for? If you’ve seen some progress, but want to make sure your efforts don’t stall or if you aren’t seeing the engagement you hoped for, it might be time to regroup and make a new plan.
Understanding the Benefits and Potential Drawbacks of Mergers
Nonprofit mergers can provide organizations with the opportunity to achieve economies of scale, increase market share, and diversify their program or service offerings. However, there are also potential drawbacks such as cultural conflicts, financial risks, and regulatory hurdles that organizations need to consider as part of the merger process.
3 Themes Taking Us Into 2023
2022 continued to be a year of rapid change for our mission driven clients and for the health and human services, association, credit union, and higher education sectors they operate in.
As the major shifts in the landscape show no signs of slowing, our nonprofit consultants have identified three themes that have been the focus of 2022 that will carry over into 2023: nonprofit consolidation, succession planning, and enhancing board governance.
The Top 3 Takeaways from Nonprofit Organization Design Projects
You may have heard the phrase “structure follows strategy”, which signifies the need to assess and change how an organization operates to ensure its ability to fulfill its’ nonprofit strategic plan. When our nonprofit consultants engage with clients during organization design projects we often see 3 common themes that arise throughout the process. The way in which the organization and its leadership respond to these themes is critical to success and the ability to achieve desired outcomes.
Making Mergers & Affiliations Part of Your Strategic Plan
The most challenging part of implementing nonprofit M&A as a strategic solution is that the relationship building process between organizations can often take time and success is not guaranteed. However, mergers and affiliations can be used to reach a level of scale that can’t be achieved organically, which may be a necessity to remain competitive, sustain payroll, address succession, or to improve an organization’s ability to meet the demands of those being served. Mergers are a vehicle that will allow leaders to fulfill their strategic needs at scale.
5 Reasons to Start Strategic Planning Today
With 2023 quickly approaching, many purpose-driven organizations may be thinking about designing new strategic plans to help ensure long-term sustainability and viability.
Whether you operate in health and human services, higher education, credit unions, or associations, our strategic planning consultants have 5 reasons for you to start strategic planning today.
The Top 3 Areas to Address when Transitioning from Strategic Planning to Implementation
The nonprofit strategic planning process is a time that unites leadership and teams to collaborate, innovate, and ultimately create a solid plan that will guide the organization into the future.
But what comes next?
When the planning process is complete, many nonprofits are left to wonder how to implement the plan and meet the goals that have been set forth. The enthusiasm begins to wane and is replaced with feelings of unease and uncertainly as bigger and more timely decisions must be made.
If you have felt this shift, then you are not alone. Our nonprofit consultants have recommended 3 areas to address when transitioning from strategic planning to implementation.
Leading Through Times of Organizational Change
Change involves going from the current way of doing things to a desired future state. Throughout the change process it is the organization’s leaders—the sponsors of change—who play the most critical role in determining the success of the effort. It’s easy to lead when all goes according to plan. However, organizations typically experience challenges with implementation. While these challenges can be temporarily uncomfortable, organizational leaders should not let that deter them. Instead they need to embrace change and view it as part of their role. Organizational leaders need to be adaptable by being able to detect and respond to change. That begins by embedding change and innovative thinking into the organization’s culture.
5 Nonprofit Strategic Planning Tips for Senior Leadership
A dynamic and effective nonprofit strategic plan is arguably one of the most integral parts of any organization’s viability and success in today’s landscape. Get 5 Tips from our nonprofit consultants to make your strategic planning project a success.
4 Steps for Taking On Technology Today!
Complexity is a word that today's nonprofits are all too familiar with and the manner in which leaders address it can mean the difference between success and failure.
What is making the difference for many leaders and giving them the competitive edge, is the understanding, adoption, and implementation of improved and scalable technology solutions.
However, the adoption of new technology and digitalization can be a culture shift for many nonprofit organizations. The multitude of options, new terminology, and projected costs can - at times - make it feel as though it would be easier to maintain the status quo. For new systems to be successful, it requires an organization-wide commitment to learning, exploration, and buy-in. This begins with senior leadership making a commitment to the change.
Clarity, Capacity, or Capability? 3 Methods for Improving Team Performance Today
As a nonprofit organization implements new strategy or experiences growth, there are oftentimes roles within that organization that require new skills and capabilities, and deeper levels of understanding by management. Whether it be the ability to manage more complexity, learn new skills, increase the sphere of oversight, and/or operate with an increased level of strategic perspective, some team members embrace the challenge and exceed their perceived limitations while others may struggle to succeed in a new or expanded role.
Learn how to better structure the roles within your organization to support success or identify areas where change is necessary.
New Nonprofit Partnership Opportunity! Blue Skies Ahead?
Effective partnerships have always been critical to accelerating impact. On the other side, poor partnerships have drained significant resources, energy, and good will.
While many organizations focus on the legal aspects of forming partnerships, it is also critical to consider some of the softer issues necessary to identifying and developing effective relationships. Here are some of the issues and questions that you and your team should discuss before signing on the dotted line.
Ten Steps to Reinvigorating a Partnership Gone Bad
Nonprofit partnerships are wonderful when they work as intended. Great partnerships can help amplify your story, augment your capacity, accelerate impact, and much more.
But what about when they do not go as planned? Even when both parties have done their due diligence before signing on the dotted line, there are times that partnerships require renegotiating or unplanned, early closure.
While it may feel easier to let a not-so-great partnership to slowly fade, it's actually better in the long run to lead with a professional, proactive approach to addressing issues in a constructive way.
Follow our ten steps for reinvigorating a nonprofit partnership and get back on track today!
The Driving Forces Behind Nonprofit Mergers & Affiliations and Why Leaders Should Address Them
As organizations navigate the external forces and internal disruptors that are impacting and shaping each sector, we are seeing the pace of mergers and affiliations (M&A) accelerating with no signs of slowing.
While some organizations are being forced to consider M&A as a strategy for survival, others are embracing it as an opportunity to better serve their clients, build upon the beneficial work they are already doing, expand their reach geographically, and offer more to their employees.
Most nonprofit leaders today are aware of the forces driving mergers and affiliations, but any decision on what force or forces to address can’t be made without understanding how the organization(s) may benefit.