When I teach seminars on teamwork, I usually break people into small groups and give them a few minutes to come up with what they think are the five most important aspects of a high performing team. What would you say? Usually groups come up with lots of good ideas, but almost never do they list the importance of “constructive conflict.” Yet, the research on teamwork … [Read more...] about The Power of Constructive Conflict
The Four Fundamental Questions
If you want focused, effective, coordinated action from the people in your organization, then every one of them should be able to answer these four fundamental questions: *Why are we here? *What do we stand for? *Where are we going? *How are we going to get there? Why are we here? This is the mission question. But we don’t need to make people memorize the mission … [Read more...] about The Four Fundamental Questions
The 7th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “Not Ambitious Enough”
A strategy and its associated goals and plans should be focused on a vision that is big, bold, and inspiring. Many strategies are based simply on an analytical forecast of the way things are currently headed. How dull. It was Goethe who said: Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men. In his presidential run, Robert Kennedy used to quote … [Read more...] about The 7th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “Not Ambitious Enough”
The 6th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “No Annual Review”
A major complaint about strategic planning is that it is not worthwhile because no one can predict the future – so why try to set a five year strategy? People who think this way don’t understand strategy correctly. A strategy should not attempt to tell you specifically what you will “do” during the second week of the tenth month of the third year of the strategy time … [Read more...] about The 6th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “No Annual Review”
The 5th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “Lots of Plans, No Strategy” aka “What is Strategy Anyway?”
When I ask for a copy of a strategy or a strategic plan, I usually get a lot of paper with plans and lists and budgets and – sometimes – a few vague goals. But rarely do I see a “strategy.” So what is a strategy anyway? Keeping it simple, a strategy is a general explanation of how you are going to guide your organization’s performance into the future – from here to … [Read more...] about The 5th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “Lots of Plans, No Strategy” aka “What is Strategy Anyway?”