Orgforward Opines

Several years ago I had the opportunity to work with a small nonprofit in the local area on a comprehensive organizational identity and strategy alignment process. As they explored what they valued and how best to advance their work in alignment with those values, focus turned to the board and any implications the newly articulated vision and values might have on the board itself. At one point, one of the board members asked if they should start thinking about the board as an opportunity to develop the leadership of young women (a clear extension of their mission and values). This was one of the most brilliant questions I had heard in many years of doing board development work. Not just because it indulged my own passion for developing leadership among young people, but because it also demonstrated a deep desire to have the board be aligned with AND integrated into the vision and values of the organization as opposed to the proverbial steward/caretaker of those values.   In pre...

I doubt anyone would argue that to succeed successfully and sustainably one needs a plan. In fact, we hear the words throughout our sector all the time. We set time aside to develop a strategic plan with goals, benchmarks, time-frames, new mission statements AND then we go to work. Unfortunately, we often go to work doing exactly what we have always been doing, often getting frustrated as we cannot seem to get those strategic goals underway. Guess what, you are not alone. McKinsey & Company conducted a survey in 2006 and found that nearly 90% ** of organizations failed to implement their strategy, as identified through the goals of their strategic plan.*  (**2026 UPDATE - In the past 20 years things have only gotten slightly better. 2025 research by Gartner has this number now at 85%; Harvard Business Review has it around 70%; and Kaplan & Norton at 90% - all of which don't change the point of this post in any significant way) Kudos to the 10%, but what about the rest of...