This is the second article in a new leadership series by consultants at La Piana Consulting, a consulting firm specializing in solutions to the strategic issues faced by nonprofit organizations and their funders. We welcome your comments on this series at The Next Big Thing and CauseLeader.
Many of us are entering 2009 with equal parts optimism and reserve (if not outright anxiety). Excitement about the inauguration of President Obama and the prospect of meaningful social change is tempered by an economic crisis at home, lingering wars abroad, and the hastening impact of climate change across the globe.
This mix of hope and apprehension is nothing new to nonprofits. The philanthropic sector has always occupied the uncertain space between harsh current realities and the hope for something better. Not only do many nonprofits see the effects of profound economic need and social injustice in their mission-driven work, but are themselves all too accustomed to operating on razor-thin margins. At the same time, the greatest strength of the sector has always been the core belief of individuals and organizations that they can make positive change.
In setting their goals for the New Year, many nonprofit leaders will be tempted to focus on simply doing whatever they can to keep the doors open. This impulse is perfectly valid, as organizational survival may well be at stake for some. In uncertain times, a concentration on executing current responsibilities to clients, donors, and other stakeholders is appropriate. But focusing solely on the necessities overlooks the power of goal setting to inspire.
Is just keeping the doors open really enough to bring your very best creativity and passion to the work at hand? If your answer is no, then it probably isn’t enough for your staff, either. And in times like these, the only truly reliable resource we have is one another. We came to this sector with the will to make a difference, and this is the unique asset – the competitive advantage – that will see successful nonprofits through the challenges of the coming year.
Smart goal setting and tracking of progress is essential for leveraging this advantage. In order to keep this activity a motivating force, instead of another drain on already overextended resources, here are a few tips:
1. Be selective. Focus on a few goals that really speak to you and that you will commit to giving your attention to throughout the year. Choose them with purpose – the things you take the effort to track should be the things you really care about getting done. Also rest assured that some activities can run more or less on autopilot, so focus instead on those that need the extra bit of intentionality to gain momentum.
2. Make it personal. Engage your staff in articulating goals that you can all rally behind. Let them bring their experience to bear in helping to not only identify the right goals, but also to implement creative ways of measuring and tracking them. You will generate greater investment in seeing goals met if you involve staff in setting them. Ensure that each person knows s/he has a role in achieving these goals.
3. Play nice with others. The work of one organization often touches that of another, whether through shared clients, community or cause. Think about other nonprofits with which you may already be or have thought about collaborating, and consider whether they track data that could be meaningful in evaluating your own impact – and vice versa. (Note: There are limits to what kinds of information can be shared; legal and ethical restrictions must be observed.)
4. Get out of your own way. Take care not to set yourself up for failure by setting goals that are undermined by your organizational culture or current ways of working. Understand that systemic changes may be needed in order to successfully implement seemingly independent improvements or innovations. Aim for greater alignment between who you are and what you do. Ensure that process, procedures and reward systems support the achievement of your goals.
5. Make results visible and celebrate success. Use simple tools like charts, dashboards, internal email blasts and/or staff celebrations to stay motivated and give yourself credit for progress toward your goals. This will keep them alive throughout the organization.
Not everything that counts can be counted – and not everything that can be counted counts
Attributed to Albert Einstein, this adage captures the difficulty many nonprofits have with articulating measurable outcomes. For many, the biggest sticking point is not goal setting, but coming up with objective measures for those goals: “How can we possibly quantify what it is that we do?”
First ask, what does success look like? Think about how the situation will be different once you have achieved success. If you cannot articulate a desired future state – or know where you are going – how will you know it when you get there?
Next, consider how you want the results of your work to be made visible. You might use direct data to describe the change, or it may not be so simple. You may be able to use a proxy, or indirect indicator, related to an impact you want to make. Or you might need to be more creative in tracking patterns of change in behaviors, gathering stories or otherwise capturing a “snapshot” of your work that you can compare with the past to observe change over time.
Don’t be afraid to think small. We would all like to see major change as a result of our hard work, and it can be easy to overlook or dismiss small indicators of success. Incremental change is change, nonetheless. Pay attention to signs of success you might normally take for granted. They may end up being part of a larger pattern of change you can really get excited about!
Next month, we enter the Chinese Year of the Ox. Two attributes of the ox – slow and steady – suggest a timely focus on pragmatic yet determined progress toward our goals. It makes good common sense to emulate some of the ox’s conservatism and persistence in the year ahead. But as we plow forward, we must lift our heads up out of the yoke once in awhile to look at where we are and where we are going.
By Melissa Mendes Campos, an associate with La Piana Consulting, whose work focuses on leveraging qualitative and quantitative data to meet a variety of client needs. Contact her at campos@lapiana.org.
