Process & Impact Milestones

Once you set a goal and you make a plan, then you should set two types of milestones – Process Milestones and Impact Milestones.  I notice that most people do not set milestones and when they do they only set Process Milestones.

Process Milestones are periodic check-in dates in which you look at your Action Plan to see if all of the action steps are being followed.  You can track these in various ways and even use a tool like Microsoft Project if you have a complicated Action Plan with lots of moving parts.

Impact Milestones are periodic check-ins in which you look at the results that your Action Plan is producing to see if you are on track with what you are expecting the plan to produce.  So, it is important to ask yourself – once you set a plan – “what kinds of results should we be seeing x, y, and z weeks/months out if the plan is working as we want it to?”

When you do a Process Milestone check-in and discover that someone has not completed their tasks properly then you need to investigate and put in a fix.  Maybe it was a simple oversight and can be corrected or maybe someone is overwhelmed and you need to reassign duties.  Regardless, you may need to alter your plan slightly to get back on track.  FYI – it is important to schedule these check-ins regularly so your plan does go way off track without realizing it.

However, if you are following your plan just as you had scheduled and you are missing your Impact Milestones – not producing the results you want – THEN you have a problem of a different kind.  When people do not set Impact Measures they are often surprised that everyone followed the plan but – in the end – the results they wanted were not produced.  You should know this much sooner!

What do you do when you miss an Impact Milestone?  You need to investigate carefully.  You made certain assumptions about your plan when you set these milestones.   Are, perhaps, some of your assumptions incorrect?  If so, then maybe you need to call a “timeout” and make a totally new plan.

So often, leaders live in denial after crafting a wonderful plan (mostly their ideas) and it is not working.  Without Impact Milestones, you will not know until it is too late.  If you want to make a Mission Impact then you need Process and Impact Milestones to stay on track.  

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site.  You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

Instant Gratification vs. Innovation

If I told you that if you reduced your nonprofits services by 10% this coming year, you could be back to where you are the next year along with a 20% improvement that would carry on in future years, would you make the reduction?

I hope that you would say “yes” – the math works.

But if I said you had a “chance” to get the 20% improvement – not a guarantee – then it becomes tricky.  And that is the problem that a lot of organizations – for profit and nonprofit – have with innovation.  They are unwilling to take the chance that investing money and time in innovation will pay off in the future.  It is a short term focus.  And it is not unlike the problem of instant gratification.

You have probably heard about the Stanford Marshmallow Study in the 1970s.  Children – four and five year-olds – were given a marshmallow and told that if they would wait to eat it until the adult comes back into the room in fifteen minutes they would be given a second marshmallow.  But if they eat it before the adult comes back, that’s all they get.  (Click here for fun video example.) When these children were tracked through their adult years, the ones who exercised delayed gratification had much higher quality of life in a wide variety of measures.  Having the self-control to focus on the future and delay gratification paid off in a big way for these children.

Can we learn delayed gratification from these children and forgo some of today’s services for the hope of more in the future?

It is admittedly challenging.  Most nonprofits are dealing with real people who have real challenges right now.  But it is likely that you will continue to have people with these needs into the future – probably more than you can serve.  Therefore, investing in the future makes sense if we want a long term Mission Impact.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site.  You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

CEO of Your Health

You cannot make much of a Mission Impact if you do not have good, quality health.  And whose job is that?  You are the CEO of Your Health.  How would you evaluate your performance in that CEO role?  Here are some suggestions for improvement:

*Create A Health Vision.  What do you want your health to look like, feel like, and be like all through the decades as you age?  Create a picture of this for yourself along with a description.

*Set Health Goals.  Set some short term achievable goals – especially if you are re-committing to your health, along with longer term stretch goals that will take you toward your vision.  See here for more on effective goal setting.

*Design a Health Strategy.  Now that you know what kind of health you want, how will you get there?  Who are your Docs and how often will you see them?  What are your sleeping and eating habits?  What vitamins (if any) do you take?  What kind of exercise will you do and how often (FYI: “I don’t have time for exercise” is not a good health strategy.)

*Health Strategy Implementation.  Create specific action plans for your goals and strategy.  As a CEO or supervisor, you know that strategy often breaks down at the implementation stage.  Don’t let this happen to you!  Get a coach if you need one or some accountability partners.  Don’t be discouraged if you have ignored your health for years.  While it is best to start early with implementing your strategy, you can catch up.  Check out the book “Younger Next Year.”

Remember that you “hire” your Docs and they are like consultants.  I fired a cardiologist a few years ago and got a new referral.  When the new Doc asked me why I changed I said “I fired him because he was not paying close enough attention to my situation.”  I have been getting very good service from the new guy.  Also, get second opinions if you question a diagnosis.

[NOTE: Being the CEO of Your Health does NOT mean that you pretend to be an MD! Don’t self-diagnose unless you stubbed your toe and don’t self-medicate unless it’s a beer after your favorite team lost.]

You are the CEO of your Health.  As one of my mentors used to say, we don’t have a “health care system in the USA,” we have a “sick care system.” We need to take control of our health future so that we have good quality of life through the years, can enjoy life more over time, and make a Mission Impact while we can.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site.  You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

Using “Worry” to Your Advantage

What keeps you up at night? Agonizing over some thorny decision? Overthinking possible outcomes? Tormenting over the possibility of failure? You are not alone. The hyper-competitive work environment in which we live feeds our imaginations overtime, and, hence, our worries.

The great Samuel Johnson, a chronic worrier, labeled worry a “disease of the imagination.” We are capable of imagining the worst, allowing a stream of dark thoughts to crowd our mind. Is it worth it? Is worry its own reward? If we fret about an upcoming presentation in front of a large, forbidding audience and it turns out well, do we attribute it to all that effort we invested in imagining the worst?

GUEST BLOGGER:
Dr. J. Gerald Suarez

Great leaders and strategists use worry to imagine potential implications and consequences of their decisions. By doing so, they are able to anticipate what can go wrong and design better plans. Successful entrepreneurs masterfully use worry to sense, respond, anticipate and effectively deal with uncertainty and risk. Other executives see worry as a catalyst to prevent obsolescence or stagnation.

However, when worry escalates and becomes omnipresent, it can lead to postponement, paralysis, fear, distress, all forms of dysfunction, and even medical problems.

How can we manage our worries? Recoding our apprehensions each day is a good way to start. Keep an inventory of worries and become mindful of the things that we can influence and the ones beyond our control. Revisiting our journal will help us assess the actual danger from the imagined peril. We may find that it was never as bad as we imagined it to be. Get the facts and look for evidence since worry is often rooted in misinformation. Avoid the paralysis of perfectionism and learn from failure. Stay socially engaged and share your worries with your executive coach or a trusted colleague. Doing so, can help us see our worries within a new context and help us calm down.

Can we worry less but worry better? Yes, but first we must acknowledge that worry is a type of thinking that is self-imposed. Since worry results from our own mental creations, we must shift our thinking in a serious way, even turn it upside down, and instead imagine positive outcomes, and believe in them. It is our choice: We can be immobilized by fear of failure or motivated by a vision of success, even if success doesn’t actually pan out as we wished. At least we can sleep at night.

 J. Gerald Suarez is professor of practice in systems thinking and design and a fellow of the Center for Leadership Innovation and Change at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. He is an executive coach and author of “Leader Of One: Shaping Your Future through Imagination and Design.” See also a longer version on this topic in The Washington Post.

SWOT Your Goals!

SWOT Analysis (evaluating your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is the most widely used tool in strategic planning.  But that is not the only time you can use it!

It is also very helpful to SWOT any goal – individual or organizational – that you have.  But make sure you put the SWOT in context.  Ask these questions:

*Given my/our commitment to accomplishing this goal, what strengths do I/we have that I/we can leverage to meet it?

*Given my/our commitment to accomplishing this goal, what weaknesses do I/we have that I/we need to fortify to meet it?

*Given my/our commitment to accomplishing this goal, what opportunities do I/we see in the external environment have that I/we can seize to meet it?

*Given my/our commitment to accomplishing this goal, what threats do I/we see in the external environment have that I/we need to block to meet it?

Once you have done a SWOT on your goal then look at your answers to inform your strategy for the way forward.  Pay attention to the sequencing of your actions.  Hopefully your weaknesses and threats are not of great concern.  But if they are, address them up front.  Maybe, for example, you need to fortify some weaknesses before you can seize your opportunities.  And definitely try to use creative ways to leverage your strengths that allow you to seize opportunities.   

Set BIG goals that inspire you!  (Read more here about effective goal setting.)  Then SWOT your goals to develop a winning strategy to accomplish them.  This is how to make a breakthrough Mission Impact.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site.  You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

Is That Goal Really Impossible?

As regular readers of this blog know, I advocate setting Almost Impossible Goals as a way to drive innovation and creativity for individuals, teams, and organizations (read here for further info).

A question I am often asked is, “We have been working on this goal without much progress, how much longer should we try before declaring it Fully Impossible (versus Almost Impossible)?”

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has a great series of
ads about ending cancer.

First, once you think and feel that the goal is Fully Impossible, then it is time to restate the goal – either with a longer timeline or a smaller magnitude.  This is because once you think and feel that it is Fully Impossible, you will not try as hard – which is part of the point.

However, I encourage you not to give up too soon!  If you are not making the progress you want, that simply means that you have not yet invented the way to make it happen!  Even four years into a five year goal, you may invent something new and amazing that will help you accomplish the goal – or at least get really close.

The point is, none of us can predict the future.  We have no idea of what we are truly capable of.  So let’s keep our minds open as long as we can.  If we get to the end of the time we set for accomplishing the goal and we don’t make it, then let’s see what we have learned, be proud that we tried hard, and set a new goal for the future.

In 1970, Congress set a goal to cure cancer by 1976 as a fitting way to celebrate the bicentennial.  And they put a lot of funding behind it.  While we have not fully accomplished the goal, we have made great progress in cancer treatments.  Many people are alive today due to those new treatments.  And, there are thousands of people across the country who have not given up and are still working tirelessly to cure cancer.  I greatly appreciate their relentless effort toward the goal.

Be careful not to declare your goal Fully Impossible too soon.  And if you don’t make it, get recharged to continue the pursuit.  Lives might not depend on it. But then again, maybe they do.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site.  You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

Lean Innovation

Once I was teaching a group of executives about generating innovation through the power of setting almost impossible goals (read more here if you are interested).  One executive responded:

“So, you want me to risk bankrupting my organization by placing a big bet on a new idea?”

“Uhhh, no," I responded.

Some people think that innovation is an all or nothing deal and they catastrophize possible failure.  When you set an Almost Impossible Goal here are three SMART things you can do.  These ideas are inspired by Eric Ries’s book, The Lean Startup:

1.  Spend lots of time brainstorming over multiple sessions.  You want to generate lots of new ideas.  From my last blog and Adam Grant’s book, Originals: “In fact, when it comes to idea generation, quantity is the most predictable path to quality.”  “Many people fail to achieve originality because they generate a few ideas and then obsess about refining them to perfection.”

2.  Experiment.  Select what you think is the best idea and run very small experiments.  Create what is known as a Minimal Viable Product (or Program/Service) that you can test out in the real world.  Important – collect DATA from REAL possible users of the product/program/service.  Make the product/program/service as “minimal” as possible.  Test various options.

3.  Be agile and nimble.  Be prepared to “pivot” – to make changes, small or large, to your original idea.  If the data shows that you have an idea that does not work, try something else!

Innovative ideas do not require tens of thousands or even thousands of dollars to test in the real world and give you an idea if an idea might work.  Use the Lean Innovation approach to create even more effective ways to make a Mission Impact.

*Check out these articles from Stanford Social Innovation Review to learn more:  “Is Your Nonprofit Really Ready to Use the Lean Startup” (March 5, 2014), “The Promise of Lean Experimentation” (Summer 2015).

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site.  You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

How to Become a True "Original"

If you are interested in spurring creativity in your team, leading change, and/or being even more entrepreneurial, then I recommend Adam Grant’s newest book, Originals (2016), to you.

Grant was inspired to research creativity and originality after he chose not to invest in the idea for a new company developed by some of his graduate students because they did not fit his profile of what successful entrepreneurs act like.  The company is Warby Parker.  You have probably heard of them – they were named Fast Company’s Most Innovative Company in 2015 and have been wildly successful.  Grant is not happy that he did not invest.  But why was his entrepreneur profile wrong? What do successful originals really look like?  That is what the book is about.

Here are some insights:

*The importance of creativity: “Ultimately, the people who choose to champion originality are the ones who propel us forward.”  “They know in their hearts that failing would yield less regret than failing to try.”

*Being a “risk taker” not so important: “I want to debunk the myth that originality requires extreme risk taking and persuade you that originals are actually far more ordinary than we realize.”

*Creative Quantity Better than Quality: “In fact, when it comes to idea generation, quantity is the most predictable path to quality.”  “Many people fail to achieve originality because they generate a few ideas and then obsess about refining them to perfection.”

*Achievement Orientation Limits Creativity: “When achievement motivation goes sky-high, it can crowd out originality: The more you value achievement, the more you come to dread failure.”

*Procrastination: It can be a good thing!  If you procrastinate “strategically” – “take a break in the middle of brainstorming” and come back to it later. This encourages divergent thinking.

These are not just Grant’s opinions.  He is a Professor at the Wharton School of Business and all of these ideas are very well researched.

This is just a taste of some of the great ideas in the book.  To learn more, you can check out Grant’s TED Talk here and even take his assessment on how “original” you are.  How original are you???

Creativity and innovation are key to making even more of a Mission Impact.  Check out Adam Grant’s ideas and become even more of an Original.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site.  You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

Creating Your Noble Purpose Statement

Every person associated with an organization should be able to explain the Noble Purpose of the organization in an “elevator” speech that is sixty seconds long or less.

This builds off the last blog where I discussed Lisa McLeod’s recent book, Leading with Noble Purpose.

McLeod uses business examples, but this can easily be translated for nonprofits and government.  In order to create a Noble Purpose Statement, begin by asking three important questions:

1.  How do you make a difference to your customers?  For nonprofits/government, we would ask what difference/impact you make for those you serve.  Make sure to identify the “ripple impacts” you make.  For example, you may provide direct services in literacy education, but what other ripple differences does that make in the community once someone can read.  They can get a job, this reduces unemployment, helps the tax base, impacts the rest of their family, etc.

2.  How do you do it differently from your competition?

3.  On your best day, what do you love about your job?

Going through these questions helps you get in touch with the Noble Purpose of your organization – the difference you make for others.  Your mission statement can inform this conversation, but this is way more than memorizing your mission statement.

This would be a great exercise for a staff retreat or special staff meeting.  By the end, each person should have crafted their own personal version of a Noble Purpose Statement.  Each version should have the same basic theme, but people can emphasize different aspects of the purpose.

Your organization makes an important Mission Impact.  You need to be able to explain it in a clear, compelling way that inspires you and others.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site.  You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

Leading with Noble Purpose

In Lisa McLeod’s newest book, Leading with Noble Purpose (2016), she expands the view of her earlier bestselling book, Selling with Noble Purpose (2012), to encourage leaders at all levels to guide their organization’s performance and strategy based on the Noble Purpose for which they exist.

For government and not-for-profit entities this idea seems to come naturally as – at their origins – these organizations were created with some Noble Purpose in mind.  For some in the for-profit world, this might seem to be a stretch.  Shouldn’t performance be focused on making money?  McLeod says “no.”  Some of her key points include:

*Research shows that salespeople who sell with the Noble Purpose of their company in mind – who truly want to make a difference in the lives of their customers – outsell those who are more focused on targets or quotas.

*Promoting the Noble Purpose of your firm increases employee engagement – which is correlated with customer satisfaction and profit.

*Leading with Noble Purpose can ultimately make more money for a firm.  McLeod says “As a Noble Purpose leader, you must believe that your business adds value to the world and you deserve to be paid for it.”  This is about a company delighting its customers with its Noble Purpose and making good money while doing so.

While Noble Purpose may seem more natural for government and not-for-profit organizations, they also have a lot to learn from McLeod’s recommendations.  In my experience it is very easy for leaders to focus on short term issues and activities, rather than continually reminding their team of their Noble Purpose.  I’ve seen this happen, for example, within the fundraising function where executives can get myopic about dollars raised and lose sight of mission.  While “No Money, No Mission” is a truism, it is vital that we continually remind ourselves of the Noble Purpose of the dollars being raised.

How does one create a focused Noble Purpose for an organization?  That will be the topic of the next blog.  Stay tuned.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site.  You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

Leading with Noble Purpose

In Lisa McLeod’s newest book, Leading with Noble Purpose (2016), she expands the view of her earlier bestselling book, Selling with Noble Purpose (2012), to encourage leaders at all levels to guide their organization’s performance and strategy based on the Noble Purpose for which they exist.

For government and not-for-profit entities this idea seems to come naturally as – at their origins – these organizations were created with some Noble Purpose in mind.  For some in the for-profit world, this might seem to be a stretch.  Shouldn’t performance be focused on making money?  McLeod says “no.”  Some of her key points include:

*Research shows that salespeople who sell with the Noble Purpose of their company in mind – who truly want to make a difference in the lives of their customers – outsell those who are more focused on targets or quotas.

*Promoting the Noble Purpose of your firm increases employee engagement – which is correlated with customer satisfaction and profit.

*Leading with Noble Purpose can ultimately make more money for a firm.  McLeod says “As a Noble Purpose leader, you must believe that your business adds value to the world and you deserve to be paid for it.”  This is about a company delighting its customers with its Noble Purpose and making good money while doing so.

While Noble Purpose may seem more natural for government and not-for-profit organizations, they also have a lot to learn from McLeod’s recommendations.  In my experience it is very easy for leaders to focus on short term issues and activities, rather than continually reminding their team of their Noble Purpose.  I’ve seen this happen, for example, within the fundraising function where executives can get myopic about dollars raised and lose sight of mission.  While “No Money, No Mission” is a truism, it is vital that we continually remind ourselves of the Noble Purpose of the dollars being raised.

How does one create a focused Noble Purpose for an organization?  That will be the topic of the next blog.  Stay tuned.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site.  You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

Time to Think, Part Two: Vacations

As discussed in the last blog, finding time to think during the regular work day is important for our creativity and productivity.

But finding time for a full recharge is just as important.   And that means “unplugging” from work during vacation.

Yet,42% of Americans did not take a vacation in 2014 and workers, on average, give up five vacation days per year.*  And when they do take vacation, they take their work along with them.

In a recent article** in The Wall Street Journal, Brian Scudamore, CEO of O2E Brands, states the following:

“I realized that unless I unplug completely on vacation, I cheat myself out of generating fresh, new, creative ideas. In the long run, business suffers from my burnout.

“I also think that if our people don’t disconnect, they end up compromising their contributions to our overall mission. More importantly, they fail at what should be their top priority: cherishing time with family and friends, and having work-life balance.”

But how to do it?  Brian has a very creative plan.  He works with his assistant to change his passwords on his email and social media accounts, and to not tell him what they are until he returns from vacation.  He has his COO cover for him while he is gone.

“The results have been revolutionary,” says Scudamore.  “I come back from vacation super-charged, rested and feeling like I gave my family and friends my best self.”

I admit that it sounds difficult and amazing that this CEO can pull this off.

But I challenge you and myself to try.  The next time I go on vacation (soon), I am going to take some baby steps.  I am going to try THREE WHOLE DAYS not checking work email.  And then I’ll just glance at it after that.  We’ll see how it goes.  Maybe I will be up for changing my passwords the next time around.

The more refreshed we are – day in and day out – and over time, the better quality we can bring to our work and make an even more significant Mission Impact.  Try a real vacation next time! 

*“Top Five Reasons People Don’t Use Their Vacation Days,” Money & Career CheatSheet, July 4, 2016.

**“How I Make it Impossible to Look at Email During Vacation” by Brian Scudamore, The Wall Street Journal, June 24, 2016.  

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site.  You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

Time to Think

“Slow down, you move too fast.  You got to make the morning last.”

                  -Simon & Garfunkel, The 59th Street Bridge Song

How many times has it happened to you?  You glance at your Smart Phone during a meeting and notice it is 2:30 p.m..  “What!?!  Where has this day gone already?”

Today’s workplace is characterized by endless meetings and tons of email.  We seem to be busy, busy, busy from the time we wake up and glance at that Smart Phone to check emails that have come in overnight.  And recent research from the University of Maryland shows that American workers are spending even more time on the job than they did ten years ago.  But, what about the “quality” of all that busyness? Consider this quote from Wendy Clark, CEO of DDB North America:

“We are infinitely more productive when we have time to think.” (Fast Company, July/August 2016)

Time to Think. What a concept!

Consider this quote from a recent article in The Wall Street Journal*:

“Managers and knowledge workers, such as consultants, now spend 90% to 95% of their working hours in meetings, on the phone and responding to email”

Sound like your life?  And there’s more:

“Research and advisory firm CEB Inc. has found that 35% to 40% of managers ‘are so overloaded that it’s actually impossible for them to get work done effectively,’ said Brian Kropp, a CEB leader who works with chief HR officers.”

 

If you can give yourself time to think, I suggest it will improve the quality of your work in two ways: the quality of your decisions and the quality of your creativity.  It will probably also improve the quality of your relationships.

How to do it?  Two suggestions to begin:

*Renegotiate expectations about your availability with everyone

*Begin blocking time exclusively for you to think and get your own work done.  No meetings!

You deserve it.  Give yourself Time to Think.

*The Wall Street Journal, “So Busy at Work, No Time to Do the Job,” June 28, 2016.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site. You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

The Money & Mission Balance

How much of a reserve fund should you have?

We can debate exactly how much is too much some other day, but I bet you know your nonprofit should have a much bigger reserve than it has now.  Could your organization survive another Great Recession?

The challenge we all face is finding that balance between “Money” and “Mission.”  Nonprofits don’t exist to “make money.” But we need it to fuel our efforts – short run and long run.  This past Spring I co-taught a graduate fundraising course for our Center for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership at University of Maryland.  Our mantra was “No Money, No Mission.”

If your organization wants to exist to serve others in the long run – which most nonprofits do – then I suggest that you budget effectively for the long run by proactively setting up a Long Term Investment Fund.

Here is the budgeting process I recommend:

1.  Conservatively forecast revenue.  NOTE: Don’t start with expenses on what you WANT to spend.  Start with reasonable forecasts for revenue and then set expenses.  Otherwise, you will tend to overestimate revenue.*

2.  Liberally forecast expenses for programs/activities that you would like to undertake. 

3.  Add an additional expense line in the amount of 2% of revenue for “Long Term Investment Fund”

4.  Eliminate expenses until you have a projected surplus of 2% of revenue

If you follow this faithfully then you should produce a solid surplus every year that can go into your Long Term Investment Fund (reserves).

And yes, you will probably have to cut some funding from programs in the coming year in order to meet the surplus and reserve targets.  Maybe you don’t get all the way to the 2% targets in the first year you do this, but I encourage you to work toward them.  Otherwise, you will never have enough of a reserve.

This is really not about Money vs. Mission.  It is about Mission today or Mission today AND tomorrow.  It is hard to discipline one’s self for today because you are CEO now or Board Chair now, but you need to think of tomorrow and being prepared to withstand another Great Recession.  Those you serve will need you then even more than they do now – and you need to be there!

No Money No Mission!

*Forecasts are reasonably predictable – based on data.  Goals are what you WANT.  Forecasts are what you are sure of and they belong in budgets – not goals.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site at www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com   You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting

Your Summer Staff Retreat

Many organizations like to take a day during the summer to call a “time out” and gather the staff together for a retreat.  Depending on the size of the organization, this could involve everyone or, at larger organizations, departments may end up having their own retreats.

What makes for a successful retreat?  Here are some tips:

*It’s a Retreat.  Some organizations say they want a “Charge” or an “Advance” – not a “Retreat.” There is a time and place for all of these.  The type of “Retreat” I am referencing is when we have all been working really hard all year and we want to relax, celebrate, pause, and reflect.  You can Charge later.

*Get Away.  It does not have to be held at a fancy, expensive lodge in the woods.  It can be as simple as a local park or conference room at a hotel.  Just get out of the office.

*Unplug.  Turn in all smart phones at the beginning of the day and give them back when the day is done.  Have one phone number that everyone can give out for emergencies.

*Set Clear Expectations/Goals/Agenda.  A “Retreat” means something different to a lot of people.  Make clear what the expectations are for the day.

*Don’t Over-Program.  The idea is to relax, celebrate, pause, and reflect.  Give yourselves time to do that.

*Highlights for the Year.  Take some time to reflect upon the most important accomplishments for the year.  Celebrate!  You have been working hard.

*Lessons Learned.  This can start as an individual reflection and then move to the organizational level.  What have we learned about how to do our work most effectively?

*Small Groups.  Do a lot of activities in small groups with reports back to the larger group.  Mix the groups up so people get to know others even better.

*Reconnect to Mission/Vision.  Make sure to wrap up with some activities that remind everyone of the important work that you do, the impact you make, and your visions for the future.  Success stories are a nice way to do this.

*What else?  There are lots of other productive activities you can do to round out a solid staff retreat – ropes course, team-building exercises, personality assessments, etc.   

Take some chill time this summer to Retreat with your team – to relax, pause, reflect, and celebrate the Mission Impact you are making.  You all have been working hard!  You deserve it!!!

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site at www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com   You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.