The issue she is getting at is that so many people see a problem in the world and then come up with a solution to that problem that they fall in love with.  Many people come to me with a solution to a problem they have observed and they want to start a new nonprofit that is built around this solution.

However, they are so IN LOVE with their SOLUTION that they have not even tested it to see if it WORKS!  This happens with products in the business world and programs in the nonprofit world.

And they often put on blinders that preclude them from “seeing” evidence that maybe this is not such a great solution.

Once we set our Mission, the next thing we want to do is to establish our Theory of Change – how we want to address the mission issue.  This is where we articulate our solution to the problem that our mission is focused on.  It is a theory that needs to be tested.

If we focus on the problem and on collecting data on how well our proposed theory/solution does that, then we are on track to make a real difference.  We should never be satisfied with the results of our tests until we are solving the problem 100%.  That will give us mindset of continuous improvement.

Are you in love with a solution – a program or product?  Change your focus to the problem.  Fall in love with the idea of solving that problem instead.  Then you can start making continuous progress toward fully solving it.

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.

*How can we raise more money?

*Who should we hire (or let go)?

These are likely candidates to keep you awake at night.  But if you are a senior leader for a nonprofit then I am going to add another one to your list.  I know.  You are welcome.

I’m not encouraging more sleepless nights, but I am encouraging you to work on something unless you are sure you have it handled.  I am suggesting that, based on research*, there is a high likelihood that your Board members use different criteria to judge your nonprofit’s performance.

Try this test.  Circulate the following question to your senior staff:

“What criteria should we use to determine the extent to which we are accomplishing our mission?  What results, outcomes, and specific evidence should we look at to make this determination?”

See what you come up with.  Based on research I did years ago*, which has been replicated since and confirmed through my consulting work, you will probably get responses all over the board.  This is not good.  Without agreed upon performance metrics, all you have to rely on are the varied opinions of those on your team.  You are not unlike a football team on which everyone has their opinion on where the goal line is.  This makes it very difficult to coordinate action, set priorities, and make strategic decisions.

And it gets worse.  If you do the same exercise with your Board then I predict even more variance in their responses.  Why is this a problem?  If you think you have had a successful year and they are looking at different criteria than you are, then it could be an unwelcome surprise.

My advice?  Don’t lose sleep over this!  Get proactive and start the conversation with your staff and Board about this soon.  This is way better than you being surprised at a future Board meeting.  And that would end up costing you a lot of sleepless nights in the future.

*If you want to check out the research on this, see the Resources section of my web site at this link.

Inevitably, though, when I give this “speech” someone says “But for my organization it's really hard!”  And they are right.  It is more complex for some organizations than for others.  Happily, we are seeing more tools come available to assist organizations.  For example, a few weeks back I referenced Mario Morino’s new book, Leap of Reason, which is a great resource.  Ten days ago at the annual nonprofit researchers' conference (ARNOVA) I got an update on two other web-based resources that I highly recommend.

The first is a product of The Urban Institute and you can check out the beta version of it at www.oepp.org.  OEPP stands for “Outcomes & Effective Practices Portal” and its purpose is to provide “practical knowledge that nonprofit professionals can use to manage their day-to-day performance.  Information in the OEPP leverages research-based findings that have been synthesized and simplified by experts in the field.  By providing information about program outcomes, effective practices, performance indicators and measurement tools to gauge performance, the OEPP helps nonprofit practitioners to deliver more effective social programs.”  The Urban Institute has been a long time leader in nonprofit research and this is a great tool that will just continue to get better when it is officially launched in March.

The next tool is from The Foundation Center, another major leader in philanthropy.  Their tool is at http://trasi.foundationcenter.org/ and is dubbed TRASI for “Tools and Resources for Assessing Social Impact.”  It is “a searchable, expert-reviewed database of over 150 approaches to measuring the impact of social programs and investments. It also features a community portal for nonprofits, grantmakers, and social enterprises to connect with peers and evaluation experts.”  TRASI was developed in partnership with McKinsey & Company and links to their “Learning for Social Impact" site at http://lsi.mckinsey.com/

This is great stuff.  If you have been stumped on how to develop outcome measures, then check these out ASAP.  Clarifying your outcome measures will make you more efficient and more effective in making a Mission Impact.

“We’re Lost But Making Good Time.”  What a great chapter title – and it is fitting.  So many nonprofits are filled with dedicated, smart, and hard-working people – staff and volunteers – and yet they do not have metrics which objectively tell them how well they are accomplishing their mission.  They know they are busy – making good time – but what kind of progress are they making?  If you have attended one of my workshops or read my book you know that I make the same case of the importance of metrics to determine your Mission Impact.

Many of you reading this know who Mario Morino is – a generous philanthropist and co-founder of Venture Philanthropy Partners (www.vppartners.org), which provides funding for organizations serving the needs of children from low income families in the Washington, DC area.  So he is a person who knows of what he speaks.

If you are someone who believes that your organization needs to do a better job establishing outcomes, then this is the book for you.  It will help you rally others to help with this and it will give you excellent resources to do the hard work of setting your outcomes.

To get the book, go to http://www.vppartners.org/leapofreason/getit

When I checked the other day, Amazon was out of print copies, but you can buy the Kindle version for $1.00 (that’s not a typo).  Even better, it is available as an iBook or a PDF at no charge.

Full disclosure – Mr. Morino lists my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, as one of six “resources that address how to drive change, improve effectiveness, and achieve greatness.”  I am pleased to have my book listed along with resources by Jim Collins and John Kotter.

Get yourself a copy of Leap of Reason today and learn how your organization can make even more of a Mission Impact.