Orgforward Opines

You are all doing incredible work , finding ways to continue to provide vital services AND maintain viability even when confronting the reality that the current fiscal year’s budget is gaining greater irrelevance under the extraordinarily ‘abnormal’ operating conditions of the COVID-19 response. The current reality of what predictable expenses and revenue are, is not only different, but wholly unimagined. So then, what does a healthy & realistic budget process look like given that many of you are approaching the close of your fiscal year and the demands of drafting and approving next year’s budget in a time of so much ‘unknown.’ I want to start with an observation … Your organization is not the organization’s budget. The organization is the day-to-day operations that put assets to work creating benefit in the world, not the prediction that was made several months ago about the sources and allocation of money for a given 12 month period (aka your budget) - nor are you the predictio...

"Houston, we have a problem"   While this may never have actually been said on the Apollo 13 mission, it holds a great deal of meaning in our society. It is our shorthand for expressing that things are not going as we had planned, and, in fact, our situation is dire and potentially life threatening. So, here is a statistic from BoardSource's 'Leading with Intent' research - 2021 * Only 31% of nonprofit CEOs report that their boards have a very positive impact on their organization's overall performance (Pause and re-read that) While that sinks in, let me introduce another concept: asset . Usually, we think of an asset as something of financial value. However, in our world of community benefit, we rightfully consider assets as 'anything valuable or useful' (thank you Collins English Dictionary). Specifically, assets are things that positively contribute to our ability to advance community benefit (aka achieve our mission outcomes). This lens helps cla...

Wait, did a leadership guy just say “values don’t matter?” Yes, in terms of how we generally approach values. Read on if you’re curious. You will be hard pressed to find research in the Organizational Design/Development world that doesn’t outwardly examine or at least make a strong nod towards values and culture. The general prescription we get is that values shape culture and culture shapes outputs (i.e. productivity) and outputs lead to outcomes. I am all-in on the concept that values are at the core of organizations. But (because there is always a but in a blog post) … my concern is that values get cast as a set of prescriptions, an input to the system, that, if right, will make for a healthy, productive organization. As long as people have the instructions - values posters, norms statements, principles of conduct, etc.- people should be able to “value” the way we need them to and our culture will go from icky  - toxic in the worst case - to awesome . How’s that working for you...

I love aha moments. As a learner and teacher, it is like a Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza in my head when suddenly an idea crystallizes, and things fall into place – sense-making at its best. After teaching financial leadership for a decade with a headstrong desire to find more ways to make people more confident, competent, and comfortable with the financial side of organizations, I recently had an aha present itself to me about organizational budgets and how we engage with them. (I know some out there will be aghast that it took 10 years) First, some context Few things create anxiety and stress as much as budgets. In my early years, budgets happened to me and I knew little about where the numbers came from. Later, as a senior director, I was expected to build budgets and come up with revenue and expense predictions to impose on myself and others. Even later, I was presented with budgets and asked to approve and monitor progress as a board member. Rarely, did I feel confident an...

I am a bit trepidatious to even use the term "capacity building" in this post. It elicits so many reactions, many of which are accompanied with a sigh or one of those monstrous eye-rolling routines teenagers have perfected when embarrassed by their parents.    Just typing the words makes my face tighten and my eyes start that movement. I brace myself for the list of advisory "best practices" that are about to fill the air with everything "we should do" to be sustainable (Now, let me add raised hackles to the sighs and eye-rolling since "best practices" and "sustainable" have been invoked) What is it that leads me to react so strongly in this space where people are genuinely working to help people and organizations succeed? It is the prescriptive nature of "capacity building" and "best practices." The words "capacity" and "best" are normative words. They are dependent on a set of values and the con...

Previously, I wrote about leadership being about creating conditions that support others achieving outcomes. Our strength comes from identifying the beneficial conditions and our influence draws on our ability to create those conditions. All of this is premised on the assumption that we are working to create a different set of outcomes moving forward than what we have experienced so far. (BIG BIAS ALERT: If there is no vision of things being different, no leadership is required!) How we listen and subsequently engage in our conversations with people is one place where we really can exercise these core leadership constructs. I say this, because what we listen for, notice, and affirm (talk about) when relating with others is a GIANT condition that affects the other person’s behavior and our own. (Remember, our behaviors are a direct result of the conditions we are experiencing*) David Rock explores the nature of conversation in his book “Quiet Leadership.” He observes that what we talk ...

“Should I bill by the hour or by the project?” This is probably the most common and challenging question in our community of consultants as we strive to be catalysts for change while also making a financial living. We often toil when asked what an engagement will cost or squirm when the direct question, “what is your hourly rate,” gets posed.  Our heads start spinning as we ask ourselves the backend questions – What is my time worth? What if it takes me longer (or shorter) than I expected? What do others charge? Are different tasks charged at different rates? What if the client balks at my rate when compared to their own salary? (and the list goes on…) To cope, we either strut our inner peacocks, declaring what we are worth because of our pedigree, history, and potential OR we self-deprecate, feeling guilty that we are asking too much of cash-strapped organizations – all the time praying we can cover our own bills. This is not the roller-coaster ride we need, nor does it create the...