 1. Making better
use of time
Admit it, somewhere
in your office lay the unopened directions to that handheld device
you just had to have, but for some reason can't figure out.
That's just one
example of an information integrator that combines more than one
thing, theoretically increasing productivity. Integrating technologies
that are coming into existence can be advantageous to nonprofits,
if they know how to use them.
Columnist Thomas
A. McLaughlin gave a few pointers for nonprofit managers who want
to implement information integrators.
-
Read the manual.
It's surprising how many ordinary software packages have information
integrators built into them that no one has thought to use.
-
Link two unconnected
software packages directly. Many applications permit the use
of commercial third party software links to directly connect
them without human interaction.
-
Link software
via the Internet. It may be possible as an interim measure to
link two different software packages, such as a membership database
and an accounting package, to each other via the Internet.
-
The hardest
part of creating information integrators is not the technology.
It's the politics.
2. Putting a
strategic plan in place
Just about anyone
would agree that strategic planning is essential for a nonprofit.
At an international conference on fundraising, Simone P. Joyaux of
Joyaux Associates offered the concept of an organization ensuring
its relevance through strategic planning. Joyaux presented eight
key results produced by an effective strategic planning process:
-
Determine
shared vision and direction of your organization and define how
to get there. This would include validity of mission, direction
and priorities and limits.
-
Justify your
organization's existence in the community and clarify your organization's
position in the marketplace. Assess community needs, identify
responses to meet those needs and examine institutional capacity
to meet them.
-
Identify constituents
and build stronger relationships with them. Both old and new
constituents -- build constituent understanding of community
needs.
-
Build an aligned,
cohesive organization. Engage the hearts and minds of those closest
to the organization, produce positive experiences for participants
and foster shared vision, ownership and teamwork. Clarify roles
and relationships and distribute the workload.
-
Build a learning
organization. This includes pluralism, development of individual
and team skills, flexibility, critical thinking and creativity.
Create a forum for conversation, dialogue and improved consensus
decision making.
-
Identify cost
of doing business and income sources. Justify fund development
and create a case for support.
-
Set benchmark
for success. This means defining accountability, outlining criteria
for success and evaluation and establishing general time frames.
-
Produce the
best planning process and written plan.
3. Using outcome
information
Managers and supervisors
are often considered the primary or sole users of outcome information,
but The Urban Institute, in its Series on Outcome Management for
Nonprofit Organizations, maintains that staffers and volunteers
also can make good use of such material.
According to the
Urban Institute, service workers can use the information in the following
ways:
-
Adjust services
for individual clients or groups of clients while clients are
still in service. For example, mental health workers can obtain
periodic data on an individual patient's progress via an assessment
or look at aggregate data to discern patterns.
-
Adjust service
delivery approach for future clients. Aggregate data can help
identify potential problems and modify services. For example,
if many former clients report trouble reaching a certain worker,
a change in schedule may be needed.
-
Work with other
staff to identify service delivery approaches related to particularly
successful or unsuccessful outcomes. Service-workers-only meetings
may help facilitate this.
-
Make a case
for additional training, particular equipment or other changes.
Outcome data can provide evidence of a need and document improvement
after a change is made.
-
Experiment
with new procedures. Nonprofits should encourage individual service
workers to identify new procedures and try them out systematically.
Data on outcomes for new and old procedures can provide strong
evidence to the service worker about the relative effectiveness
of new vs. old procedures.
4. Servant
leadership isn't autocratic
We usually think
of leaders as those who get others to do their bidding, issuing orders,
seeing that they are obeyed.
In 1970, however,
Robert Greenleaf, a retired executive from AT&T who established the
Center for Applied Ethics, proposed the concept of what he called "servant
leadership." This offered a new way to view and more importantly
to practice leadership.
Some of the highlights
of the servant leader, as articulated by Greenleaf:
-
Servant leaders
take people and their work very seriously. Valuing people is
essential.
-
Servant leaders
listen and take direction from the troops. They know they do
not have all the answers, so they also ask questions and work
to build consensus. Although it takes time because everyone's
view is solicited, when everybody is on board great things happen.
-
Servant leaders
heal. They have an openness and willingness to share in mistakes
and pain.
-
Servant leaders
are self-effacing. They do not draw much attention, do not glorify
leadership, but focus instead on the greater good of the group.
-
Servant leaders
are stewards, careful with what has been entrusted to them.
In nonprofit organizations,
leaders (who do not necessarily need to be in the top management
positions) must deal not only with those who work for them but also
with volunteers, clients, donors, the government and possibly even
other organizations, for-profit or nonprofit.
5. Detecting
outcomes for analysis
As the idea of
outcomes becomes important for many nonprofits, there is a desire
to gather as much information as possible. Gathering will not be
enough, however. Evaluation of the information will be of critical
importance.
In its Series
on Outcome Management for Nonprofit Organizations, The Urban
Institute offers several uses for outcome analysis that will be essential
in identifying how to improve services and, yes, outcomes.
-
Identify outcomes
that need attention. Organizations should collect data on more
than one outcome indicator so they have enough information on
service outcomes (including the quality of service delivery)
to base proposals for change. Recent findings can be compared
to earlier periods.
-
Identify client
groups that need attention. Programs with different types of
clients often find that outcomes vary widely by client characteristics.
These can include age, gender, race or income level.
-
Identify service
procedures and policies that need improvement. This information
can be used to improve procedures, facilities or staff whose
outcomes are not as good as others. Typical breakouts of this
data include particular office or facility, particular service
delivery practice, amount of service provided or individual staff
member/team of workers. Data on service characteristics combined
with client characteristics may provide a more comprehensive
perspective for interpreting outcome data.
-
Identify possible
improvements in service delivery. At the very least, the data
can help support proposals to change particular program practices
or policies.
6. Philanthropic
Alliances
The formation
of alliances and partnerships is nothing new in the nonprofit world.
Working relationships between organizations have proved to be extremely
effective for all members.
In her book Creating
Philanthropic Capital Markets, Lucy Bernholz discusses three
types of alliances that are the most dominant and that play the
biggest part in the world of nonprofit organizations.
The three types
of alliances are:
-
Foundation
Networks. There are hundreds of ways in which these can
work together, from local to international, from formal to
informal. National associations focus primarily on broad membership-specific
services, networking and peer exchanges. Many foundations are
not part of alliances, but if they are, they are likely to
be informal personal connections and definitely field requests
for ad hoc advice.
-
Funder
syndicates. When organizations actually try to accomplish
something together, the informal, non-membership structures
have proven most effective. Usually, they are issue-based,
require no infrastructure outside the organizations, are organized
along the lines of accomplishing specific goals, and have no
role played by membership, dues or fees. They disband when
the goals are accomplished, although strong relationships remain.
-
Joint ventures. In
this structure, two or more organizations partner to co-produce
a set of tools, products or services. Community organizations
can come together to develop common marketing strategies, jointly
trademark certain giving vehicles and share programs. In other
cases, regionally focused private foundations will partner with
national funders on a mutual interest.
7. Share outcomes
data as much as possible
Outcome information
can play a huge part in any organization's ability to deliver its
services. The gathering and evaluation of such information have become
routine for almost any organization, regardless of size or mission.
As part of its Series
on Outcome Management for Nonprofit Organizations, The Urban
Institute argues that staffers, as well as managers, can make productive
use of outcome information. Further, it maintains that managers
can encourage staffers to utilize outcome information by adopting
the following practices:
-
Involve service
workers in developing the outcome measurement process and selecting
the outcome indicators. Such involvement can have a double effect:
it can lead to forming more appropriate indicators and it can
enhance staff commitment.
-
Involve service
workers in setting the target values for each year.
-
View the outcome
management process as a way to help service workers, not as a
way to cast blame if outcomes are not as good as hoped.
-
Share outcome
reports with service workers promptly. Give them an early opportunity
to review the information and elucidate on unexpected results.
-
Include outcomes
achieved when evaluating personnel, to the extent appropriate.
Remember that factors beyond the control of staff members may
influence outcomes.
-
Use outcome
information to demonstrate that service workers and the organization
itself are accomplishing their objectives. This can help attract
a motivated workforce that wants to stay with an effective organization.
Using the data as a threat, on the other hand, can hurt retention
and hiring.
8. When
gifts are questionable, at best
Between heightened
media scrutiny and high-profile political posturing, the issue of
organizations accepting "tainted" money is even more troublesome
than ever.
Eugene R. Tempel,
executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University,
offers seven guidelines for organizations that are considering gifts
that may seem questionable.
Guidelines to
consider include:
- Will taking
the money provide a short-term benefit to our clients at the risk
of damaging our reputation and impacting long-term sustainability?
- If we turn
it down, what services will we not be able to offer?
- If we do take
it, what negative impact could it have on our organization?
- Would it offend
key stakeholders or damage long-term relationships with donors?
The next three
items are issues that might arise with some nonprofits:
- Who are we
to judge donors' motivations?
- If we don't
accept tainted money, does it continue to promote negative values
in the community?
- If we do accept,
are we "cleansing" the money and promoting a positive image for
the donor?
Further, there
are ways by which nonprofits can prepare for such a situation:
- Understand
that most "tainted money" questions are ethical dilemmas in which
two values conflict.
- Establish policies
for dealing with such situations before they arise.
- Publicize ahead
of time factors that are considered in gift acceptance.
- Communicate
openly about accepting a gift when questions might be raised.
- Create policies
related to permanently naming buildings and programs, and to guide
decisions when today's legitimate gift becomes tomorrow's tainted
money.
9. Contingency
planning and disaster preparedness
Many nonprofits conducting
security and preparedness assessments in the wake of the September
11, 2001 attacks found they were ill prepared to keep employees safe
and assure the continuation of the business. Every nonprofit, no
matter how big or how small, should have a plan in place that includes:
- Operational continuity
- Business continuity
management
- Business process
continuity
- Business resumption
planning
- Business recovery
planning
- Disaster recovery
planning
- Emergency response
- Crisis management
- Contingency planning
and management
- Risk assessment/analysis
- Business impact
analysis
According to a presentation
prepared by Rhonda E Jones, co-founder of the Concord, Calif.-based
Enterprise Security and Availability Group, LLC for a recent AICPA
Not-for-Profit Financial Managers conference, the five factors for
creating a report are: revenue/profit continuance goals and objectives;
legal/regulatory influences; personnel/life safety requirements;
image/brand protecting; and market share protection/growth.
To prepare a report,
a company should first address the processes that most negatively
impact the five factors, adopt focused policies that accurately consider
recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives, factor in
human dependencies more conservatively than technical dependencies,
match the continuity/recovery solutions with the needs and spend
the money necessary to mitigate the risks.
Plans should be written
to a level of detail that a competently skilled individual could
execute the procedures to the desired outcome with minimal intervention.
Included in the plan
should be personnel contact information, IP addresses, network diagrams,
license information and encryption keys. The more sensitive material
should be protected, however.
10. Being a Serving
Leader
Good leaders can
become great leaders through their willingness to change and be changed
by the greatest challenges in their lives. This is the advice of
Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert in their book The Serving Leader ,
part of the Ken Blanchard Series of Simple Truths Uplifting the
Value of People in Organizations .
The Serving Leader
takes five actions that can transform a team, an organization or
a community:
- Up-end the pyramid.
You qualify to be first by putting other people first. You're in
charge principally to charge up others.
- Raise the bar.
To serve the many, you first serve the few. The best reach-down
is a challenging reach-up.
- Blaze the trail.
Teach others the knowledge, skills and strategies they need to
succeed. And work hard to get obstacles out of their way so they
can make progress.
- Build on strength.
A high-performance team is put together with the greatest care
and attention to how each person's strengths can be used to the
max and how the weaknesses will get covered by someone else on
the team.
- Run to great purpose.
To do the most possible good, strive for the impossible. Sustain
the self's greatest interest in pursuits beyond self-interest.
11. Asset
misappropriation fraud
It's never good when
an organization is bleeding money, especially when it's a case of
fraud.
Char Davies, founding
partner of Seattle-based regional accounting firm Jacobson Jarvis
and Co., told nonprofits how "asset misappropriation" happens, during
a recent nonprofit accounting conference.
- Cash receipts
-- High-risk if there's many small dollar amount transactions.
- Cash disbursements
-- Risk is usually low if minimal internal controls are in place
Fraud happens outside
an organization because of a real or perceived need for money, according
to Davies.
It happens inside
an organization due to inadequate segregation of duties.
- Employees take
advantage of weak internal controls and lack of monitoring.
- Employees find
ways to circumvent or compromise policies created to avoid embezzlement
of fraud.
The "fraud triangle" consists
of three points:
- Opportunity --
access, time and skill
- Rationalization
-- "I'm underpaid"
- Motivation --
real or perceived financial need.
The one place an
organization can exercise control, according to Davies, is in the
opportunity area. The overall message when dealing with employees
is to "trust and verify." Stress that the organization is steward
of donors' money and the public expects nonprofits to use funds wisely
and protect them from loss, according to Davies.
12. Plan
to be an activist manager
An action plan for
becoming a more motivational leader includes identifying the following
characteristics of internal motivation: choice, competence, meaningfulness
and progress, according to Joseph Albert, Ph.D., associate dean,
School of Professional Studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane,
Wash.
During a recent American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants conference in San Francisco,
Albert described the characteristics. Choice is the opportunity one
feels to select task activities that make sense and to perform them
in ways that seem appropriate. Competence is a feeling that one can
effectively perform an assigned task and the confidence a person
possesses in their ability. Meaningfulness is the expression that
a task is worthy of time and effort. Progress is a sense of achieving
objectives.
Albert advised that
the questions one should ask his/herself when formulating a plan
for leading in a more motivational fashion are:
- Of the four characteristics,
which do I feel I am strongest at and which do I need to work on?
- If I had to choose
one area to begin with, which would it be and what can I start
doing tomorrow to raise the level in my workers?
- Which area am
I least clear on? What can I do about that?
13. Creating
change in your organization
For many nonprofit
organizations, the future is a frightening concept that bodes only
bad news. Most frightening of all, of course, is the fact that the
future might bring change, and that is truly scary.
In her book Creating
Philanthropic Capital Markets, however, Lucy Bernholz declared
that not only can nonprofits benefit from change, but they can
also embrace it and even bring change about, for the group's own
benefit and that of the philanthropic world in general.
Bernholz offered
several reasons for nonprofit actors to involve themselves in the
work of defining and influencing the direction of nonprofit industry
changes:
- Change is certain.
Some industry members, such as established endowed foundations,
may be immune to change. Others, however, will not have this luxury.
In addition to competitive pressures, there is an atmosphere of
regulatory scrutiny that will be manifest in new tax laws and requirements.
Changes in federal tax laws may herald the end of new foundation
creation by 2010 if estate taxes are not re-implemented. The sector
is no longer purely nonprofit, distinct from for-profit operations.
- Market forces
will begin to shift from those present in an emerging industry
to those of a mature industry. Typical industries demonstrate their
maturation by the increase in numbers of institutions that serve
them.
- Left undirected,
the current forces on the industry push more strongly in the direction
of fragmentation than in the direction of aggregation.
- Community needs
and opportunities will continue to demand more effective application
of federal, human, technological and intellectual resources.
14. Setting
balanced performance measurements
Performance measurement
and management are hot topics for nonprofits, with an increasing
amount of scrutiny becoming an important factor.
In his book Balanced
Scorecard: Step by Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies ,
Paul R. Niven offers suggestions for improving performance.
Nevin describes the
Balanced Scorecard as a selected set of quantifiable measures derived
from an organization's strategy. It retains financial measures but
complements them with three other perspectives:
- Customer perspective.
Two critical questions must be answered here: Who are our target
customers? And What is our value proposition in serving them? Rather
than trying to focus on many values, a more practical approach
may be to choose one discipline in which the organization possesses
particularly strong attributes.
- Internal process
perspective. This is used to identify key processes at which the
organization must excel in order to continue adding value for customers.
To satisfy customers, an organization may have to identify new
processes rather than focusing on improvement of existing activities.
- Learning and growth
perspective. These are really the enablers of the other perspectives.
The measures designed in this perspective will help the organization
close the gap between organizational infrastructure and employee
skills, information systems and organizational climate. In addition,
closing that gap will help ensure sustainable performance for the
future.
15. Making
controversy a productive exercise
It is possible that
all of us will become embroiled in a controversy at some time in
our lives. For the manager of a nonprofit organization, controversy
can occur within the organization, such as between individuals or
groups, or outside the organization among parties that the organization
either helps or must deal with. Sometimes, mediation becomes an unavoidable
necessity.
In their book Leading
Diverse Communities, Cherie B. Brown and George J. Mazza offer
a six-step process that they maintain can be helpful in moving
a discussion forward instead of becoming bogged down on personalities
or side issues.
The six steps are:
- Have the other
person tell you his/her position. Without interrupting or planning
a rebuttal while that person is speaking, listen carefully to what
is being said.
- Repeat back to
the person who has just spoken in exactly the same words, if possible,
the precise reasons that person gave for the opinion.
- Ask a question
that communicates that you value the other person's opinion and
want to know more about how the individual sees the issue.
- The parties switch
roles and repeat the first three steps.
- Write down the
concern of both persons, checking to make sure that the recorded
concerns accurately reflect the respective positions.
- Review both parties'
concerns, pointing out areas of agreement. Then propose a reframed
question that takes at least one concern from each side into account.
16. Knowing
when to approve changing software
Any organization
needs to take a look at itself to ensure that it is operating at
peak efficiency. For many nonprofits, this self-scrutiny may include
a need to review their databases and the software to support them.
Several tips and
caveats on considering a change were offered at a recent conference.
Among the potential benefits of a database change are the possibility
of obtaining more tech savvy fundraisers, increased goals, significant
growth, unifying or integrating separate databases, moving to a new
type or level of fundraising. The bottom line is, is your software
as sophisticated as your fundraising?
A needs assessment
then comes into play, focusing on what is wanted and how a change
can help achieve it. Essential to the assessment are the following:
- Interview key
stakeholders.
- Determine if software
is really the problem.
- Help staff members
envision new capabilities.
- See what staff
members need and what is on their wish list.
- Know what the
organization can afford or support.
- Decide: "Best
of breed" or integrated package?
- Does your organization
have special requirements?
- Are there vendor
or technology restrictions?
Once these have been
addressed, it may pay for an organization to determine if it can
build its own database. This entails several considerations:
- Risk -- how do
you know it will work?
- Distraction --
if fundraisers become database designers.
- Support and maintenance
-- is there any?
- Documentation
-- will there be any?
- Training -- will
it be a game of "telephone?"
- Cost -- can you
get a firm price?
17. Procedures
for risk reduction
The primary functions
of the American Heart Association's (AHA) internal risk reduction
program are to deter, prevent, detect and investigate fraud and abuse
that may be committed by staff, other agents and outside third parties.
Walter D. Bristol, CPA, executive vice president and chief financial
officer at AHA presented the nonprofit's program during an American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants conference in San Francisco.
The AHA guidelines
state that the benchmark of an effective program to prevent and detect
violations of law is the exercising of "due diligence" in designing,
implementing and monitoring an internal risk reduction program. The
AHA requires "due diligence" to include the following steps:
Establish compliance
standards and operating procedures, to be followed by staff and other
agents, that are capable of reducing the possibility of criminal
conduct.
Designate a risk
reduction officer along with other individuals to oversee compliance
with standards and operating procedures.
Use "due care" to
ensure management and other positions with discretionary authority
are not filled by persons with a propensity toward crime.
Standards and operating
procedures must be effectively communicated to all staff and other
agents via mandatory training and/or by disseminating publications.
Monitor and auditing
systems must be reasonably designed to achieve compliance with standards
and detect criminal conduct by staff or other agents. Must provide
a publicized reporting process whereby staff and other agents can
report criminal conduct without fear of retribution.
Standards and operating
procedures must be consistently enforced through appropriate disciplinary
mechanisms.
Following the detection
of an offense, the association must take all reasonable steps to
respond to the offense and prevent similar offenses. This includes
any necessary modifications that are needed to the existing program.
18. Tips
for an orderly transition
An executive transition
can be a difficult time for any nonprofit, but it must be dealt with
the organization's future in the forefront.
The parting might
be friendly, with positive feelings all around and a smooth transition,
or completely unfriendly, with a risk of hard feelings, organizational
problems, concerns about the security of records and organizational
drift. In fact, some of the negatives could even attend a friendly
parting of the ways.
Development can suffer
badly during a transition, even a good one, and several tips for
development directors during transitions were offered at a recent
conference. They are:
- Remember that
donors dislike uncertainty. Provide reassurance with regular communication,
both written and in person. Lay out five or six communication steps
in advance, rather than making them up as you go along. Keep donors
informed of the transition plan.
- Show more leadership.
Be a strong, proactive leader.
- Do more with less.
Get the most out of emails, bulk mail and the telephone.
- Introduce the
new executive director or interim to key constituencies, one on
one, in small group meetings and with email and regular mail.
- Realistically
assess the new or interim executive director for fundraising knowledge,
strengths, weaknesses, specialties and personality, and utilize
the strengths.
- Help your staff
adjust.
- Adjust your annual
plan to fit the new executive director.
- Analyze the criteria
the board used to hire a director.
- Be ready to make
adjustments to the new executive director.
- Adjust overall
fundraising to the new executive director.
19. Leadership
instability
Instability can be
bad for any organization. Operations may be adversely affected, and
morale can suffer badly, in a snowballing way.
In their book Leadership
in Nonprofit Organizations, Barry Dym and Harry Hutson argue
that, as troublesome as instability may be, it can present an opportunity
for momentum and creative ideas because feelings of confusion and
anxiety make people receptive to new ideas and unfamiliar concepts.
Dym and Hutson identify
three states of instability, and they offer what they call the preferred
intervention style in each case:
- Confusion and
disorientation. Leaders and staff become more confused and disoriented
than they let on. They may lose confidence in themselves and each
other. Preferred intervention: Instead of putting on a brave face,
name and affirm the confusion. The organization may then push toward
a new and coherent way to operate.
- Anxiety. This
combines confusion with worry. Organizational problems become personalized,
and staff take them home. Preferred intervention: leaders must
name, not ignore or deny, the cause of anxiety. A leader should
draw out both individual and collective elements of anxiety. This
is a time to provide structure, maybe a new strategic plan.
- Panic and crisis.
People become fearful and grow irrational. This become contagious,
and leaders look on helplessly. Preferred intervention: Remain
calm, and share thoughts that can become the seeds of creative
solutions. An organization can become transformed because the disorganization
caused by panic loosens patterns and opens the door to radical
new patterns of experience.
20. Planning
involves having a "Plan B"
Good leaders are
usually ready for a variety of occurrences. Anticipating trouble
before it happens can pay big dividends, but there are even benefits
to being prepared for good things. However, workers as well as leaders
can also prepare themselves to deal with unforeseen circumstances.
In their book Leadership
in Nonprofit Organizations, Bary Dym and Harry Hutson offer
what they call responsive states of readiness shown by board members,
volunteers and employees. They also suggest interventions or approaches
that they recommend leaders take in each case.
The four are curiosity,
receptiveness, urgency and determination.
- Curiosity. Staff,
board and volunteers may be curious about what a leader has in
mind. When encountering curiosity, leaders should offer information
and avoid pushing.
- Receptivity. Receptive
people are open minded. This offers leaders the opportunity to
present two or three approaches that they think will work.
- Urgency. With
this, there is a strong perceived need to do something as well
as a perceived need for help. During times such as this, leaders
should make clear, decisive suggestions. They can emphasize the
type of structure, process and working methods that will win the
day.
- Determination.
When people are determined, they believe they have identified a
problem and must solve it. For trusted leaders, this kind of readiness
can be extremely welcome because the will and energy are in place.
The leader has only to provide a credible way to move forward.
21. Value
in public participation in policy
Involving the public
in goal setting or policy planning can be a beneficial practice for
nonprofit organizations. Public participation involves both informing
the public at large and incorporating public-involvement ideas into
practice.
In his book The
Public Participation Handbook, James L. Creighton presents
the core values for the practice of public participation as given
by the International Association for Public Participation.
There can be a big
gap between the idea of public participation and its actual practice,
and the core values are intended to provide not only a rationale
for engaging in public participation but also guidelines for putting
ideas into practice.
Those values are:
- The public should
have a say in decisions about actions that affect their lives.
- Public participation
includes the promise that the public's contribution will influence
the decision.
- The public participation
process communicates the interests and meets the process needs
of all participants.
- The public participation
process seeks out and facilitates the involvement of those potentially
affected.
- The public participation
process involves participants in defining how they participate.
- The public participation
process provides participants with the information they need to
participate in a meaningful way.
- The public participation
process communicates to participants how their input affected the
decision.
22. Motivation from inside and
outside
Motivated staff and
volunteers are essential to a successful organization and it is imperative
for leaders to identify the difference between internal and external
motivation, according to Joseph Albert, Ph.D., associate dean, School
of Professional Studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.
During a recent American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants conference in San Francisco,
Albert described external motivation as something outside of a person
to which the person attributes the cause of their behavior. People
who are externally motivated will persist in the task as long as
the external motivator is present and the quality of the externally
motivated behavior is akin to being "pushed" to do something, he
added.
Internal motivation
occurs when the person attributes an internal experience to the cause
of their behavior, and that valued experience occurs while pursuing
the task. Albert said that, in a sense, people experience a "pull" by
the nature of the task itself. People who are internally motivated
exhibit higher levels of motivation, effort, creativity and persistence
in accomplishing the task, he added.
External motivation
and internal motivation is an example of control (external) versus
commitment (internal).
Externally motivated
behavior persists as long as the reward or punishment is apparent.
In a sense, workers are "controlled" by the external stimuli.
Internally motivated
behavior requires no threat or reward. The reward is the feeling
that comes with accomplishing the task.
Commitment is greater.
Internal motivation
includes:
- Pride in workmanship
- Joy of work
- Persistence in
the face of obstacles
- Creative approaches
to problem solving
- No need to be
reminded, pushed pressured, or rewarded by superiors
- Reduced stress
- High levels of
job satisfaction
- Low rates of absenteeism
23. Knowing
your strengths and weaknesses
Many nonprofit managers
find themselves caught up in challenges that must be handled each
day. In his book Marketing Management for Nonprofit Organizations,
Adrian Sargeant offers a look at the strengths and weaknesses of
nonprofits, as suggested by the World Bank.
This outline may
seem very simple, but the author thinks it can be helpful in forming
an idea of just what nonprofits are all about.
The strengths:
- Strong
grassroots links. Voluntary organizations comprise groups
of individuals directly involved with social issues.
- Field-based
development expertise. Many organizations are better
placed than government to use their experience.
- The ability
to innovate and adapt. Many are small and thus can adapt
more quickly than large for-profit companies.
- Participatory
methodologies and tools. Many organizations are democratic
and inclusive.
- Long-term
commitment and emphasis on sustainability. They are
formed to deal with issues and stay around until they are solved.
- Cost effectiveness. They
have learned to do a lot with a little.
The weaknesses:
- Limited
financial and management expertise. Their very nature
means they may draw people with vast "subject" knowledge but
little financial or managerial expertise.
- Limited
institutional capacity. Their small size may limit their
ability to deal with problems.
- Low levels
of self-sustainability. Resources, such as funding,
may not match enthusiasm.
- Small-scale
interventions. Their effect on a particular cause may
be minimal.
- Lack of
understanding of the broader social or economic context. A
narrow focus can limit perception of the bigger picture.
24. Using
more public participation
Involving the public in such processes
as policy making and decisions is a concept familiar to many in the
nonprofit world. Not quite so familiar, however, is an understanding
of just what is meant by this term.
In his book The Public Participation
Handbook, James L. Creighton defined public participation
as the process by which public concerns, needs and values are incorporated
into governmental and corporate decision making. Further, he presents
the elements that he has found to be included in every situation
of public participation.
It should be noted that some forms of
apparent public involvement can be excluded from this consideration,
even though they are legitimate components of a democratic society.
They are the electoral process, lawsuits and strikes and extralegal
protests. They are important, but they are not the kind that are
of primary importance to nonprofit organizations.
The considerations that are of importance
to nonprofits are:
- Public participation applies to administrative
decisions that is, those typically made by agencies (and sometimes
by private organizations), not elected officials or judges.
- Public participation is not just providing
information to the public. There is interaction between the organization
making the decision and the people who want to participate.
- There is an organized process for involving
the public. It is not something that happens accidentally or coincidentally.
- The participants have some level of
impact or influence on the decision being made.
25. The
pitfalls of the evaluation process
Foundations that are trying to assess
the worth of organizations asking for their money may find it helpful
to undertake formal evaluations, which are conducted by a third party,
usually an entity that specializes in such work.
Although such evaluations can be helpful,
there are potential pitfalls, say Michael Quinn Patton, John Bare
and Deborah G. Bonnet in their chapter on building strong foundation-grantee
relationships in the book Foundations and Evaluation.
According to the authors, evaluations
have the potential to harm relationships because:
- Evaluation can tell funders more than
they want to know and surface issues they'd rather not face.
- Evaluation can tell foundation leaders
more than the program officers want them to learn.
- Evaluation can insulate foundation
staff from grant recipients.
- The evaluation burden can make a grant
cost more than it is worth.
- A cluster evaluation can make grantees
feel like "data points," which they really are.
- Evaluation consultants are often seen
as representing the foundation even though they are working as
independent contractors.
- Heavy-handed funders get in the way
of good evaluation.
- Evaluators can be useful as translators,
but they can also get in the way f much-needed direct communication
between foundations and grantees.
- Evaluators can be compared to ax murderers.
26. Exercise
can make a disaster preparedness plan work
For
a company's disaster preparedness and contingency plan to work, it
must be practiced, according to a presentation prepared by Rhonda
Jones for a recent AICPA conference. Jones is co-founder of the Concord,
Calif.-based Enterprise Security and Availability Group, LLC.
"Exercises ensure that plans can be successfully
applied to recover the business processes that they have been developed
to safeguard," Jones wrote in her report.
Exercises also enable a company to train its
employees and test the plans to see if they work. Exercises can serve
as:
An audit tool;
- Give the company a chance to benchmark
it's plan;
- Act as a rehearsal should a disaster strike;
- Test processes and procedures;
- Will provide a psychological benefit to
participants;
- Build team unity; and,
- Reinforces acceptance of the process.
Exercises can consist of walkthroughs, tabletop,
field, unannounced and announced and unannounced. To make sure an
exercise will be successful, a nonprofit should decide on the methodology,
establish a scenario, set exercise objectives, define the rules,
identify participants and observers, have fun – utilize the
drama queens and kings, and document exercise results.
Some of the scenario ideas that Jones suggests
are:
- The big lottery winners depart;
- Power outage/water outage;
- Bio-health event;
- Fire in the trash can/coffee pot/popcorn;
- Virus event;
- Telephony failure;
- Technology event (water in the data center);
- Total building destruction.
Once an exercise has been completed there
will be massive amounts of information to be digested. After the
data has been looked at and assessed, a company can revise its plan
to cover deficient areas. Just as the organization changes, grows,
and expands, so must the business continuity program.
27. The
pitfalls of the evaluation process
Foundations that are trying to assess the
worth of organizations asking for their money may find it helpful
to undertake formal evaluations, which are conducted by a third party,
usually an entity that specializes in such work.
Although such evaluations can be helpful,
there are potential pitfalls, say Michael Quinn Patton, John Bare
and Deborah G. Bonnet in their chapter on building strong foundation-grantee
relationships in the book Foundations and Evaluation.
According to the authors, evaluations have
the potential to harm relationships because:
- Evaluation can tell funders more than they
want to know and surface issues they'd rather not face.
- Evaluation can tell foundation leaders
more than the program officers want them to learn.
- Evaluation can insulate foundation staff
from grant recipients.
- The evaluation burden can make a grant
cost more than it is worth.
- A cluster evaluation can make grantees
feel like "data points," which they really are.
- Evaluation consultants are often seen as
representing the foundation even though they are working as independent
contractors.
- Heavy-handed funders get in the way of
good evaluation.
- Evaluators can be useful as translators,
but they can also get in the way f much-needed direct communication
between foundations and grantees.
- Evaluators can be compared to ax murderers.
28. Leadership
means taking action
An action plan for becoming a more motivational
leader includes identifying the following characteristics of internal
motivation: choice, competence, meaningfulness and progress, according
to Joseph Albert, Ph.D., associate dean, School of Professional Studies
at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.
During an American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants conference in San Francisco, Albert described
the key characteristics. Choice is the
opportunity one takes to select task activities that make sense and
to perform them in ways that seem appropriate. Competence is
a feeling that one can effectively perform an assigned task and the
confidence a person possesses in their ability. Meaningfulness is
the expression that a task is worthy of time and effort. Progress is
a sense of achieving objectives.
Albert advised that the questions one should
ask his/herself when formulating a plan for leading in a more motivational
fashion are:
- Of the four characteristics, which do I
feel I am strongest at and which do I need to work on?
- If I had to choose one area to begin with,
which would it be and what can I start doing tomorrow to raise
the level in my workers?
- Which area am I least clear on? What can
I do about that?
29. Building
a capacity framework
Many nonprofit managers have come to recognize
the need for increased capacity in their organizations, but many
lack a clear understanding of just what is involved.
In his book Managing at the Leading Edge,
Mike Hudson offers the Capacity Framework, a breakdown of seven essential
components of nonprofit capacity that was developed by the consulting
firm McKinsey & Company after conducting case studies of 13 nonprofits
that engaged in capacity building during a 10-year period.
The elements of the Capacity Framework are:
- Aspirations. An organization's
mission, vision and overarching goals, which collectively articulate
its common sense of purpose and direction.
- Strategies. The coherent
set of actions and programs aimed at fulfilling the organization's
overarching goals.
- Organizational skills.
The sum of the organization's capabilities, including such things
as performance measurement, planning, resource management and external
relationship building.
- Human resources. The collective
capabilities, experiences, potential and commitment of the organization's
board, management team, staff and volunteers.
- Systems and infrastructure. The
organization's planning, decision-making, knowledge management
and administrative systems, as well as the physical and technological
assets that support the organization.
- Organizational structure. The
combination of governance, organization design, inter-functional
coordination and individual job descriptions that shapes the organization's
legal and management structure.
- Culture. The connective
tissue that binds the organization together, including shared values
and practices, behavioral norms and the organization's orientation
toward performance.
30. Developing
capacity strategies
Despite their noble intentions and feisty
attitude, many nonprofits are small local organizations that are
underfunded and understaffed. Even if they want to make a dramatic
improvement in their impact, they often have no idea of how to go
about doing it.
In his book Managing at the Leading
Edge, Mike Hudson offers four possible strategies that nonprofits
can employ in order to become more effective.
The four approaches are:
- Diversification strategy. Most nonprofits
diversity even if they do not plan to do so. They may begin by
providing services and then campaigning for their cause, or they
may expand the range of services they provide. Diversification
may draw new resources and does not usually threaten the coalition
of stakeholders that has been established. One drawback is that
an organization may diversify and then find it does not have the
capacity for everything it wants to do.
- Specialization strategy. The flip side
of diversification, this is an intensified focus on what the organization
already does. This could mean enhancing existing services or improving
service quality.
- Scaling-up strategy. It is a strategy
for replicating successful approaches so they can benefit more
people. Organizations that have scaled up successfully include
the Red Cross, Volunteers of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Critics charge that this is a business perspective that is concerned
only with efficiency and impact.
- Scaling-deep strategy. Organizations
that employ this strategy focus deeply on a limited geographic
area and on a well-defined user group.
31. Is
your disaster recovery plan ready?
Having a disaster recovery plan in effect
well before a catastrophe strikes is vital for any organization.
Waiting until the cataclysm has left does not accomplish anything.
In his book Disaster Recovery Planning
for Nonprofits, Michael K. Robinson offered some considerations
and tips for any organization pondering a disaster plan. A well-thought-out
and implemented plan is necessary before disaster of any size strikes.
A good plan should include a schedule of phases,
from response to recovery to restoration.
Priority should be established of what is
vital to protect, what is important to protect and what is useful
to protect. The first element that is vital to protect is people.
After that, the essentials are:
- Financial data
- Copies of signed contracts
- Databases
- Custom software
- Human Resources files
- Insurance files
- Proof of ownership/proof of loss.
There should be a team approach to a disaster
recovery plan, but not everyone should be involved because some data
may be sensitive in nature. Loss of data is a huge problem, but it
is not just an IT issue.
Having a plan may mean purchasing equipment
that seems redundant, and equipment and procedures should be tested.
Make sure there is a means of retrieval in
the event the system crashes.
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