Leadership Coaching to Improve Planning Practices in Small Nonprofits

Leadership Coaching to Improve Planning Practices in Small Nonprofits contains four more review points.

These will help you as you examine your organization and position it for continued success. 

Don't rush. Take time to be thorough as you work through the many helpful insights for new improvement, and confirmations of what your organization has already done. 

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21. All Plans Come Under Review and Are Updated Regularly

This is Practice 21 of 80

Review your plan regularly and annually keep extending the plan out another year. Make changes that are deemed appropriate and promptly modify the plan as needed.

Change dates and update any projections involved. Keep it current in order to serve you well.

• How consistently do you review and update your plan?

• How extensive is the process?

• Who needs to be involved? More stakeholders? Less?

• When changes are made to any plan, what other areas does it affect that may need updating?

• Have you done that? How will you do that? 

Why This Practice is Important to Me as a Leadership Coach

If you annually extend your plan out one more year, you will be prompted to keep current in your response to what is going on.

The number varies. Some small nonprofits review and operate on a longer timeline. But extending by one year does not inhibit your doing a three or five year strategic planning initiative. 

What's the point? Thinking through what you are doing and planning for improvements, or maintaining the good success that's already there. My job as your Coach is to help you think through these things. 

Most often my work is with the Executive Director or perhaps he/she and one other person. Then they take those initial insights and ideas to the board or committee that is to refine them further. I serve as a thought partner. 

The Key Concept, Attitude or Action That Drives This Practice

UPDATING

Always be thinking about doing a review and update so you have the best and most current planning possible.

An Expansive Thought

An updated ten-year plan is better than the remaining three years of a seven year old ten-year plan.

An Action Point

If you don't have one, rough out a 10-year plan (or some other length of time appropriate to your organization) covering goals, people and physical elements.

In keeping with our topic, this is exactly where leadership coaching to improve planning practices in small nonprofits really works well.

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22. There is an Emphasis on Organizational Improvement

This is Practice 22 of 80

Organizational improvement can always take place. Perhaps you have reached optimum physical size. Or given your staffing situation you are not able to expand services. That happens.

Now work on quality and service improvement. You can always do 1% better on something. Find that something and do it.

Every organization is made up of many systems, which looked at independently, can always be improved.

• How might you have been resting on past successes without considering what might be important moving forward? 

• To what degree is improvement a built-in attitude within your organization?

• What’s next? What isn’t next? How do you know?

Why This Practice is Important to Me as a Leadership Coach

Improving what we do and how we do it doesn't keep us resting on past successes. 

My work as a Coach has always been with men and women, leaders and executives who had a desire to move forward. 

They wish to make the organization all that it can be. Not to build an edifice, but to deliver something of great value to people. And they want to harness all that they can to make that happen. I love being involved in that through coaching that helps them unlock thinking and insights that lead to solutions, decisions and actions. 

The Key Concept, Attitude or Action That Drives This Practice

IMPROVEMENT

An attitude to improve provides enthusiasm for everyone in the organization.

An Expansive Thought

A one percent improvement each month for the next 10 months would make a 10% improvement in any area you choose. Small adds up.

An Action Point

Pick one system and make it 1% better this week or this month.

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23. Senior Leaders Demonstrate a Practical, Visionary Leadership Approach

This is practice 23 of 80

We need practical visionaries. Find people like this for your organization. Visionary leadership with a can-do attitude moves people forward.

These people can see the blue-sky potential of something and they can provide or motivate the translation of that into a step-by-step plan to get you there.

Get some blue-sky thinkers who are practical. You then will have the powerful but wise combination of “think it up” and “make it happen.”

• Who currently fills this role in your organization?

• What three barriers to mission success in your organization need practical solutions. 

• How can you engage your thinkers/initiators on these three challenges?

• What will they need by way of support and resources to engage this problem? 

Why This Practice is Important to Me as a Leadership Coach

Put practicality and foresight together and you have a powerful formula to accomplish things.

I detect so much untapped potential in many of my clients. It's my job to unleash that and set it free! Leaders have so much to offer and I love drawing it out of them. 

I enjoy seeing my clients achieve more than they would have thought possible prior to our working together.  

The Key Concept, Attitude or Action That Drives This Practice

PRACTICALITY

A practical, ‘let's find a way to do this’ approach doesn't give up until improvement happens.

An Expansive Thought

Innovative ways of reaching and serving people are the results of 'think it up' and 'make it happen' leadership.

An Action Point

Identify those people on your team that are 'blue-sky' thinkers and those that are 'let's make this thing work' people. Get them working together.

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24. Financial Reserves Are in Place to Handle Short-Term Emergencies

This is Practice 24 of 80

Financial reserves like other available resources provide a cushion. Plan for setbacks and special needs to occur. They will.

List various things that could come up and plan for dealing with them.

Do you need a financial reserve to draw from, a reserve of people to call upon or a reserve of action plans to deal with any conceivable emergency?

Reserves reduce stress and keep the organization professional.

• How adequate are your organization's financial reserves to draw from in an emergency?

• How adequate is your reserve of people to draw from in an emergency?

• How could you actually go about developing such reserves?

• What other reserves would it be good for you to have to draw from?

• What lack in the past, held you back? What was done about it? If it is still there, what practical steps can be taken to address it? 

Why This Practice is Important to Me as a Leadership Coach

Putting aside funds for emergencies, setbacks and special needs may protect the organization from avoidable problems.

This is a real practical conversation that sometimes comes up with clients. It's not uncommon for some smaller nonprofits to be running pretty lean on finances. The Executive Director is trying to do their best with what they've got. I help them leverage ideas and solutions that are workable. 

The Key Concept, Attitude or Action That Drives This Practice

RESERVES

Reserves allow you to handle the unexpected with less interruption.

An Expansive Thought

Having reserves means you have something to draw from - money, people, ideas - that are there when you need them.

An Action Point

In what areas do you have clear reserves to draw from and in what areas are there none? Develop a strategy to put reserves in place.

This is the end of Leadership Coaching to Improve Planning Practices in Small Nonprofits.

To review the first four related practices, click here. 

How Will You Take Action on Leadership Coaching to Improve Planning Practices in Small Nonprofits?

Leadership Coaching to Improve Planning Practices in Small Nonprofits gave you four more points of review for your organization. How would you rate your performance? What needs your attention? The attention of the board? 

What will you do next? Action that flows from this review will contribute to your organization improving. And that means the service you deliver will stand to flourish even more.