Are You a Sprint or Marathon Nonprofit?

Is your nonprofit running a Sprint or a Marathon?

Beware – you might be running a Marathon as if you are running a Sprint.

Here are a few questions you can answer that will tell you if your nonprofit is running a Sprint or Marathon:

Is your staff compensated above the seventy-fifth percentile for their positions in comparable organizations?

Do you regularly budget for and produce annual financial surpluses?

Is work – life balance encouraged by leaders and practiced by most employees?

Do you regularly budget for and spend funds on “infrastructure” like technology?

Do all employees have a professional development plan which includes funding?

If you answered NO to all five of these questions, then your organization is definitely running a Sprint. 

If you answered YES to all five, then you are running a nicely paced Marathon.

Can those you serve afford for you to be running a Sprint, when you should be running a Marathon?  If you take a short term view of your mission, then you use that to justify why you are going all out right now in everything you do.  But you then run the risk of burning your people out or losing them to better run “Marathon” organizations or bankrupting your organization.  Or maybe worse, you end up doing low quality work which really doesn’t help anyone.

It’s hard.  You have a sense of urgency for your organization’s mission.  But if – like most nonprofits – your mission addresses a protracted issue, then you need to blend your sense of urgency with a sense of responsibility for the long term thriving (beyond just surviving) of your organization.  And that’s making a true Mission Impact.

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.

The Moon Shot vs Cancer

One of the best examples of a successful Almost Impossible Stretch Goal is the Moon Shot.  (To read more about the power of Almost Impossible Goals, click here.)

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy – in a speech to a joint session of Congress – announced the goal of landing a man on the moon and safely returning him to Earth.  For those of you not alive in the 1960s, it was a magical time.  “Could we do it?”  As every Apollo mission moved forward, the anticipation grew.  And, of course, there were setbacks.  But – on July 20, 1969, we made it!

When President Kennedy announced the goal, many in the scientific community thought it was impossible to achieve – and certainly not in the time frame he set.  But others were inspired to go for it.  New technologies were invented and the entire country was proud, and inspired.

There were none more inspired than the U. S. Congress.  Brimming with confidence, they decided to apply the same Almost Impossible Stretch Goal mentality to another urgent national issue – the scourge of cancer.  They passed a resolution to “cure cancer by 1976 as a fitting celebration for the bicentennial.”

So, what gives?  They set the goal, but cancer is still not cured – why?

First, Almost Impossible Goals will generate creativity toward their achievement, but there is no promise that the goal will be fully achieved.

Second, even though a goal may not be fully achieved it can still lead to great progress.  I will give you a very personal example.

Last year when I had my annual physical, my doc was looking over my chart.  “Wow, you were diagnosed with cancer in 1983.  You know, had that happened ten years earlier you would probably be dead right now.”  Okay, that was a sobering comment.  Then he added, with a smile, “We came up with a lot of a great new drugs in the 1970s.”

So, while we have not yet cured cancer, we have made a lot of progress and I am very thankful for that.

FYI – I officially celebrate my 30 year anniversary of my cancer diagnosis on this Sunday, February 24.  Feel free to have an extra drink this weekend to celebrate with me.

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.

Fighting Gravity

Why is it that even the most inspiring visions sometimes . . . fizzle?

It’s because excellence and true leadership are really, really hard.

It’s like Fighting Gravity.

Fighting Gravity was also a fun ska band from Richmond once upon a time.

Gravity – normalness – pulls at us every day.  Try to escape gravity by pulling away from the “norm” to do something “special,” “unique,” and “exceptional?”  Gravity tries to pull you back down.  “Who are you to try to do something so different and special?  Aren’t you busy enough just trying to keep up with the day to day?”

Of course you are.

Here are three ideas for keeping vision alive.

#1.  Keep talking about it.  Remind one another at the beginning of every staff meeting and every board meeting.  “This is where we are going, and why, and how it will make a difference.”

#2.  Track your progress and talk about it.  Remind one another regularly – at staff and board meetings – of the progress you are making toward the vision.  We often get so caught up in the “doing” that we don’t appreciate our successes.

#3.  Surround yourself with pictures, posters, inspirational messages that remind you of your vision and mission.  I was inspired by the great pictures of kids on the walls of the Ronald McDonald House in Baltimore when I visited there and by the artwork made by clients at Healthcare for the Homeless.

Keep your vision alive, fight gravity, and make even more of a Mission Impact.

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.

The Mind of a CEO

Are you a CEO or senior leader in your organization?  What’s on your mind?

My guess, with all due respect, is that there is a lot of junk in there.

Here is what I suggest should be on your mind.

1.  Future Picture.  What would the world look like if you were accomplishing your mission 100X more than you are now, and what does your organization need to look like – ideally – in order to make that happen?

2.  Goals.  What are the three most important goals that your organization needs to accomplish this year to take you toward that that Future Picture?  These one-year goals should be connected to your Five Year Strategic Stretch Goals.  (Make sure all your goals are SMART; see The Power of Goals)

3.  Action Items.  What are the five most important things that the organization has to get done during the next thirty days in order to make progress on the three goals?  These are not the five things that YOU should do, but the organization.  It’s your job to make sure that whomever is working on these Action Items is making progress.

Every Monday morning, remind yourself of #1 & #2, and make your new list of the Five Action Items.  This is what should be prominent on your mind all week.

Regularly remind your team of the Future Picture, Goals, and Action Items.

As a CEO, your challenge is to block everything else out and maintain focus on those Five Action Items.  Everything else is junk.

Your #1 job is maintaining organization FOCUS.

And FOCUS produces Mission Impact.

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.