Transcript
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roadblocks don't have to shut down your organization's progress.
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By taking a few simple steps, before you know it, you'll be back on the road and effectively carrying out your mission.
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Welcome to the practice of non-profit leadership.
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I'm tim barnes and I'm Nathan Ruby.
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Nathan, have you ever been on a road trip enjoying the ride?
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The music's up high and all of a sudden, boom, you run into a roadblock.
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The road's closed ahead.
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How frustrating is that.
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Well, it's pretty frustrating, tim, and typically I try to see how I can bail off the road.
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I'm on looking at my phone's GPS trying to recalculate and then I have my own idea of where I should go, and then Siri and I get into a discussion on which way we should go.
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But ultimately the GPS is normally right most of the time, but not always.
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That's a great point, nathan, and we won't talk on this episode about how much I argue with Siri, but that's all right.
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But I can't begin to tell you how many roadblocks I've run into when I've been leading a project or an organization.
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I wish there was a GPS for leaders when they run into.
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When I've been leading a project or an organization.
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I wish there was a GPS for leaders when they run into roadblocks.
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That would be a great thing.
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Maybe we could develop.
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I don't know.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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We could do a whole class on that or something.
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Gps for nonprofit leaders oh gosh, we should write that down.
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But there are some actions that a leader can take to help them deal with roadblocks and get back on the road, back on the way to their destination again, and today we want to share five actions that you can take when facing a roadblock in your organization.
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Before we get started today, Tim and I would like to ask if you haven't pushed the follow button yet, would you do that for us?
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Just click on the follow button and that way, every time Tim and I post new content, you will be the first one to know.
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Well, that's great, nathan.
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We love that people are following us and we love to stay connected to the people.
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It's interesting Oftentimes we talk about things that we're facing in our own organizations, and I think both of us can think about places and times when we hit these roadblocks.
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But here are some things that we've learned about how to respond to that Respond.
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When we come to a point in our organization where we just don't know where to go, we're just we're stuck, there's something blocking us.
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What do we do next?
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And here's a couple of points that we want to share with you.
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First one is to assess the situation.
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Before taking any action, it's crucial to understand the root cause of the roadblock.
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What's the real issue here?
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Sometimes what we see isn't always what's really there, if you understand what I say.
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Sometimes we think here's the problem, but it's really not because we're reacting as opposed to taking a little bit of time to assess the situation, and that you know that means gathering, you know, the relevant information, taking the time to analyze the situation and identify the specific issues that are hindering our progress, what's really in our way.
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And, nathan, I know you'll appreciate this and you can correct me if I'm wrong about what I'm going to say here.
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I wouldn't dream of it.
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But let's say your nonprofit is facing a funding shortfall.
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That's your roadblock.
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You can't move ahead because your funding is falling short of what you need to actually carry out your mission, to assess the situation, taking the time to conduct a financial review, to identify, you know, are there gaps in the budget?
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Are there potential areas for cost-saving measures?
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So maybe you need to adjust the budget, some of your plans, but even more importantly is to take a look at your fundraising strategy.
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Oh, I haven't communicated with my donors in three months, or maybe six months it could be a problem, right, nathan?
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Maybe six months it could be a problem, right, nathan?
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Yeah, it could be, you never know.
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But I would say, if your donors don't hear from you, yeah, that probably could be a reason why fundraising might be lagging behind a little bit, and that's exactly the point we could say.
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You know, we could be frustrated.
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Our roadblock is that our donors aren't giving.
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They've stopped giving to us.
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I don't understand.
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Why aren't they giving?
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Well, taking the time to assess a situation it sounds easy, doesn't it?
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But so oftentimes we just react as opposed to taking the time to take a good look at what the issue is.
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Yeah, and I think what you just said taking the time, and often as executive directors, and especially in smaller organizations, but larger ones too and to some degree, is there's no time to take the time to assess, because we're making decisions, things are popping up in real time and you have a situation like this with a budget shortfall.
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Well, that's not the only roadblock you're facing at any given particular time and things are vying for your attention.
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I think finding a way to even if you have to leave the office or go outside or go to the park or go to the coffee shop, and take 30 minutes or 45 minutes or an hour and a blank piece of paper, and just sitting down and you know what's happening, what's the real issue, what's the root causes, what are my courses of action, what are the pros and cons, and just spending time and I think ideas will come to you and good solutions will come to you.
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If you allow yourself the time and the bandwidth to just sit and think and let that stuff come to you, I think you will surprise yourself sometimes of you could come up with some pretty good solutions if you just do that.
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I have found in my own experience, nathan, just to be able to step away from my desk and to take a walk, and especially if I can get outside, take a walk and it's amazing how much clarity happens when you get out of your environment.
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So anything you can do, like you said, to step away from the situation and just let your mind think.
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So take the time, don't just react.
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Take the time to assess the situation.
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The second response to a roadblock could be to encourage some open communication in your organization around this situation.
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So encouraging open communication within the organization can help in identifying the solutions and fostering a collaborative environment where we let other people get a part of finding a solution, and this includes board members, other staff, volunteers, maybe even donors may have some insights into the roadblock that you're facing.
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I don't know about you, nathan, but sometimes as I know for myself, but as I look at other leaders sometimes I think leaders feel like they have to solve everything.
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I'm the leader, so I need to figure it out.
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Part of leadership is solving problems, but those solutions can come from other people in the organization.
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Other people have insights, they see things differently and so being able to collaborate together, work together and not feel like you've got to hold on to that yourself is really important.
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And my leadership thing and the time that I've led organizations, and time is always such an issue of I don't have time.
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I don't have time for this, I don't have time for that.
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Yesterday I sat down and I wrote out thank you letters from a donor trip that I took.
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It's been two weeks, tim.
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I need to like look in the mirror and chastise myself that it's been.
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It should not have taken me two weeks to get those thank you cards out, but I did get them out.
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And I didn't get them out because I'm busy, there's things that are happening, and but then I think of well, what about the president?
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Know, the president of the United States?
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I bet, I bet he's pretty busy, you know, uh, or the, the CEO of uh name name a fortune for Elon Musk.
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I bet Elon's pretty busy too, and I doubt that Elon is making every single decision on, you know, spacex and and, uh, you know Tesla and and all of those companies he has has people that he's relying on to make those decisions for those, for those areas, and and I, uh, you know you.
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You mentioned board members and donors and volunteers.
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Oh, my gosh, you want to create a deeper relationship with a donor, ask them for help or feedback in an area that they're an expert at.
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That is like gold when it comes to donor cultivation, and I think entrepreneurs are really good at that People that have have grown businesses from nothing to large.
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They have a plethora of skills and and those are great people to go to and say hey, here's a specific problem I'm dealing with.
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Can you, can you, give me some input on that?
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You'd be surprised what feedback you get.
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Maybe you say, hey, it's just me in the office and our bookkeeper, you know, or whatever, but you should have board members, you should have volunteers, and so even saying, hey, let's have a lunch, let's invite a couple of people to lunch, let's sit around the table and say, here's an issue that we're wrestling with, what are your thoughts, what are your ideas, and just create those opportunities to receive feedback.
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A third action that you might take is to seek outside support, outside the organization.
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You know internal resources and knowledge may not be sufficient to overcome the roadblock that you're facing and sometimes boy this is so true, nathan sometimes we are just too close to the problem.
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We're so close we just can't see beyond it.
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And you should just not hesitate to seek external support.
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It could be from experts, it could be from mentors, someone that's walked with you, or other organizations that have faced similar challenges.
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It could be consultants, it could be maybe going to a seminar around the topic, reading a book, listening to a podcast Thanks for being here today, guys or leaders from other organizations.
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But just don't be afraid to seek support outside of your circle.
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We found it really helpful, haven't we, nathan, in a lot of our situations.
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Yeah, and you know what is interesting.
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It's something that I've been I don't know if struggling is the right word, but been trying to evaluate is conferences and pre-COVID.
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I mean, I was not a.
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I didn't go to a ton of them, not that I didn't want to.
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I did want to.
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It was cost.
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You know conferences are so expensive, but especially if you got to travel, if they're a little closer, they're not as bad, but you know hotel rooms, and if you've got to get on an airplane, I mean that's all budget money.
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That's expensive.
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That said, though, I think I am back to a point now where I have not been to a fundraising conference or any type of conference, probably since 2017.
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And that's a long time, so I'm kind of reevaluating.
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What does that look like for me?
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What does that look like for my team?
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And one of the things I'm looking at, actually, tim, is some learning opportunities that aren't even in the nonprofit space.
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They're not nonprofit learning opportunities to go to, and so, as you're talking about seeking outside support, it doesn't have to be a nonprofit.
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I'm using my air quotes there If you can't see me, it's.
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You know, hr, uh, finance, uh, it's hard to get fundraising support if you're not in a in a nonprofit situation.
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But uh, you know, there are some things out there that program management, project management.
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There are things out there that would be in the for-profit world that might be helpful.
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So don't dismiss that just because it's not a non-profit setting.
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For conferences.
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Oftentimes it's what happens outside the sessions.
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I mean, you meet people, you start having conversation, you're having a drink, having coffee, doing something, and some of the things that come out of that are just just amazing.
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You, you get different perspectives and so looking for that outside help, you know.
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Another example is maybe as a nonprofit, you're really struggling getting grants.
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You keep getting turned down.
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You're trying to fund grants and that's become a roadblock.
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You know, one of the things you could do is to seek assistance from a writing, a consultant who writes grants, or attend a workshop to improve your skills.
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So there are opportunities to get that outside support to help you push that roadblock out of the way.
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A fourth action is actually taking action.
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As you begin to understand the issues, you're starting to get this input from other people, you're having time to think it through, you're making notes, you're writing things, you're studying, and as you begin to kind of coalesce these ideas and understand the situation.
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The next thing is to develop a plan and take an action.
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And here's where some of us get in trouble.
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Don't get caught up in researching the issue to death.
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At some point you need to say this is the action we need to take to get us pushed through this issue.
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And remember that action, that plan, should have very clear objectives.
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What are we trying to do, what are the steps we need to take?
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Who's going to take those steps?
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Who are the people that are going to be responsible to make it happen, and how are we going to assess whether this is helping us get through the roadblock?
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An example is, if the roadblock is a lack of community engagement around your organization, then putting a plan together.
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Develop a plan that includes outreach activities.
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Who's going to do those?
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Partnerships with local organizations, a social media campaign to increase visibility, engagement Some very clear actions that you can take to push that roadblock out of the way.
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But take action, make a move Once you've had the time to get the input you need, then start moving in the direction to push that roadblock out of the way.
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Tim, I'm going to go out on a dangerous tack here.
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I'm going to talk about my wife, and so I don't know if she'll hear this or not, but she probably will.
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My wife and I are very different, almost opposites, when it comes to things like this.
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When I take action and I make a decision to take action, my decision process is very quick and I will take action very early in the process.
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I don't need a lot of data, a lot of data points, to make a decision.
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My wife, on the other hand, to make a decision.
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My wife, on the other hand, needs a lot of data points and a lot of comfort and a lot of certainty to make a decision.
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We are at the opposite ends of the spectrum and, as in most things, the real answer is somewhere in between.
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I probably take action too fast and my wife doesn't take action fast enough.
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But I think when it comes to organizations and executive directors, the fear of making a mistake will tend to push you too far in the waiting spectrum, and when you take action, you do not have to be perfect.
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You do not have to.
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It doesn't even make a difference if you make a wrong action.
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I mean, you don't want it to be 180 degrees wrong.
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I mean, you don't want it to be so wrong that there's massive consequences for the decision you made.
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We're not saying that.
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But if you make a decision and you go down a way and then you realize, okay, I just found out something, that I would have done something different, I need to change direction, and I'm changing direction by 10 degrees or 15 degrees, that's okay.
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You don't have to know it all to start moving.
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You can make course corrections along the way, and that's part of what leadership is and that's part of what being an executive director.
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So don't wait until you know the answer to every single little thing before you act.
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Your organization will come to a screeching halt if that's the decision process that you're making.
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Well, Nathan, you just put the golf ball on the tee.
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For our last point, which is really good Monitor and recalculate or make adjustments.
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There we go.
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It's important to remember.
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As Nathan has said, implementing a plan is not the final step.
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As leaders, we need to continuously monitor the progress, evaluate the effectiveness of the actions that we're taking and be willing to make adjustments as needed.
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So we're always keeping an eye on where we're headed and if we get off track, we recalculate and get back or we make adjustments as needed.
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So you're not doing a one and done.
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You're actually making a decision and then tracking it through and be willing to adjust as you go forward, and sometimes that's hard for leaders.
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Sometimes we want to make the decision and okay, I've solved that problem.
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Rarely happens that way.
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Our expectations and time frames should be realistic in judging whether the plan is working.
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Some issues require a longer ramp up time than others.
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So if I hire a development person today and I'm expecting, like a week from now, we'll have all the money we need to continue to do our work, that's not realistic.
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You know time to build relationships and it's true of so many things, so make sure that we have a realistic timeframe on judging and monitoring and assessing as well.
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We all face roadblocks, right, and so having some steps to take to help us push through that's really important and, as we said at the beginning, roadblocks don't have to shut down our organization's progress.
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We need to take the time to assess the situation, work with others both inside and outside the organization, to determine a course of action, and then implement the plan and continue to monitor and adjust.
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And, before you know it, and continue to monitor and adjust, and before you know it, you'll be back on the road to effectively carrying out your mission.
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Thank you for listening today.
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If you are benefiting from what is being shared on this podcast, we would like to ask you to share a review on the platform that you're listening to it on.
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Let us know how the podcast is benefiting you.
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If you would like to get in touch with us, our contact information can be found in the show notes.
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That's all for today.
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Until next time.
