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 … [Read more...] about Your Summer Staff Retreat
Your Strategy & Your Board
How involved should your Board be with your strategic planning process? As usual, opinions vary all over the map on this question. On one end of the spectrum, some people view strategy-making as the responsibility of the staff. The Board should be generally informed – and certainly consulted if anything “wild” is being considered – but their main role is to ask good … [Read more...] about Your Strategy & Your Board
Building Bridges
For the past many months, construction workers have been tearing down and then rebuilding both sides of a bridge I take to work every morning. Traffic was redirected over one side while they worked on the other. So, I have been able to observe their daily progress – and I have a new appreciation for everything it takes to build strong bridges. I think that relates to … [Read more...] about Building Bridges
Improving Your ROF: “Return on Failure”
The cover of the new May issue of Harvard Business Review is titled “How to Really Learn From Failure.” In the article, the authors suggest three disciplines of making sure that you can “Increase Your Return on Failure.”* Do you do an “After Action Review” at the conclusion of every project? This is highly recommended. When you do it, make sure to point out the positive … [Read more...] about Improving Your ROF: “Return on Failure”
Perceptions, Reality, & Wounded Warriors
Many of us were very pleased in 2013 when the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, GuideStar, and Charity Navigator launched The Overhead Myth campaign – their effort to dispel the notion that nonprofits should operate with very low staff and infrastructure expenses. I believe that slow progress is being made in this arena. But now the Wounded Warrior Project controversy has come … [Read more...] about Perceptions, Reality, & Wounded Warriors