Hard choices are part of our nonprofit life.
Be honest: if you’ve spent any time working with a nonprofit with a budget short of 3 million, you’ve seen the tendency to put out today’s fires with the water you need for tomorrow. We all assume that we can magically make it work.
In a way it’s admirable. We’ve got missions to live up to. There are people who need help today. But we get too comfortable with financial triage: “If I pay these bills today, and we get that gift next week…”
Besides, there’s that adrenaline rush that comes with living for the moment. Enough caffeine, enough hours, maybe an intern or volunteer… we can do it, right?
The choice is planning or catching up
It’s hard to persuade the powers that be – the ED, the board, and maybe some senior staff members – that choices have to be made. It’s hard to explain that long-term success dictates doing less now, or that sustainability means limiting today’s tasks and focusing on next years’.
(That’s why so many organizations recruit a consultant to speak the hard truth with authority. You know it’s true! It seems to be a universal nonprofit trait – the person outside carries more authority than the insider. And even then, it’s not easy.)
Tactics versus strategy
Tactics are immediate. They’re tangible. They’re this month, today, NOW. They let you feel you’re doing something.
Strategy is the big picture. It’s harder to grasp. And it’s a promise, a plan. It’s THEN. It feels like thinking, not doing.
Here’s the problem with selling strategy: it demands focus. Strategy demands clarity. And clarity – about your mission, about your activities – can be very threatening. “But I love that program! We can make it work!”
Hard choices are better made with clear eyes
Clarity often means saying “no”. But we’re the “yes” people; we hate to say no.
Yet strategy is what gets your mission closer to being filled. It points your efforts in the right direction. The choices you make strengthen your whole organization. The focus you gain ensures you really do work smarter.
So, what do you do if you’re sold on strategy in a tactics-driven world? I wish I had a conclusive answer for you. I’m learning myself.
I guess we need a strategy for strategy.
Great post, Mary. I have seen some well meaning organizations do these very things, starting programs that have little, if nothing, to do with there missions. I have seen some organizations jump into a new program simply because they think they can get government or foundational support, but once again, it has nothing to do with their mission. Plan and evaluate the need for the new program and make sure it does align with your mission before you jump into it feet first.
Yes. It’s hard to stop the busy-busy though to get people to think about the big picture and where the organization is going. Even when you know what you *should* be doing. Thanks, Richard!
A good reminder, Mary! My solution has been to push things back to the Board. I can’t do it all, and I;m not going to make myself crazy trying! If they really believe in something, they’ve got to roll up their sleeves and get involved. If they don’t, then it’s not that important to them, after all.
Deirdre
Good idea – especially when you have a good board. Then you have time to look at the big picture and make smarter choices.
But good thinking is what I’d expect from you!