Stay in touch.

How painfully ironic that phrase feels these days. After all, during a crisis, you want – no, you need to feel close to others. But how? You can’t get together in person, and while super useful, Zoom isn’t really the same thing, is it?

As a nonprofit leader, you have to keep managing and leading from a distance.

In fact, you are living and breathing a “change management” endeavor right now as you find yourself changing so much of how you work. You probably didn’t expect to be focusing on that during Q2 when you made your plans going into 2020, did you?

Many of you are on overdrive because of an exponential increase in the need for your services. And then consider you are leading and managing folks who are chronically anxious, some of whom have or will experience tragedy during this time.

How do you communicate in that context? Yikes.

What do people want to hear? Need to hear? What do you need to tell them?

How do you make sure important information sticks? And I know everyone waxes eloquent about Zoom, but is that the only venue?

I help thousands of nonprofit leaders every day to navigate the world of managing and leading. And while I believe I offer them some pretty good advice, I don’t think my clients know how much I learn from them.

So today, courtesy of the leaders I admire and mentor, all of whom are doing a great job leading from a distance, I offer you six pieces of advice on how to best stay in touch.

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Every single Executive Director reading this right now just yelled at their computer.

“One thing??? You’re kidding me! Joan, my list goes on for days!!!”

I’m not being insensitive or unkind – I swear. I know how much you are carrying. I have a front row seat to the struggles of nonprofit leaders. Work directly with folks who run small community organizations with budgets of less than $50,000 as well as some of the largest nonprofits out there. Please keep reading.

I am hearing about so many things you need.

• Money
• Volunteers
• Grief counseling
• Engaged board members
• Someone to nag your teenagers to do their homework
• Just five minutes where you could focus on one – JUST ONE thing.
• Did I say money?

For the last month and more, I’ve been writing and podcasting and interviewing on big publications so that your board, your donors, and everyone else can begin to understand what your world is like right now.

Because most folks don’t actually know. They are not getting that while you all are struggling, the need for your work has never been greater.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see a number like 22,000,000 unemployed (and counting!) and connect the dots. Any organization dealing with housing and homelessness is going to be bombarded in unprecedented ways.

But you see, people are not connecting dots. And there’s something they can do they may not have even thought about. It’s not a difficult task at all. And it’s something that every single Executive Director could really use right now.

If you have an Executive Director in your life, please read this post closely and take action today. Here’s the action I have in mind….

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Originally posted at the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Imagine this. Your gala is three weeks away, and even accounting for last-minute registrations, you are well below target. You review the list of table captains. The poorest performers? Five of your board members. Three of them aren’t even hosting a table.

You fight the urge to rant and, instead, create a short video highlighting everything the board needs to know to get the word out and increase attendance. You share it with the full board. Separately you ask the board chair to hit ‘reply all’ with an encouraging message to other trustees to recruit attendees.

Four hours later, no responses. The problem: You have a bad board. You’re not alone.

A few years back, Stanford University joined forces with BoardSource and GuideStar to survey nonprofits’ board members about their boards. The picture is startling and probably reflects some serious underreporting by participants:

Almost half (48 percent) do not believe that their fellow board members are very engaged in their work, based on the time they dedicate to their organization and their reliability in fulfilling their obligations.

What’s most surprising is the degree to which executive directors and staff leaders are in denial about the root of board problems. You might blame your board chair for not holding members accountable. You might blame the nominations committee for recruiting members who don’t care. You’re right to be angry, but you’re wrong about why.

The real problem? It’s you. Across the sector, executive directors and key leaders are not holding up their end of the bargain. It is your job — and the job of every staff member at your organization — to be in the business of stoking your board’s passion, the “pilot light.”

Anyone responsible for board recruitment should identify new members who, first and foremost, are in love with the organization. Skills can be learned, but passion has to be in the DNA. Recruitment efforts must give first priority to candidates whose “pilot light” for your cause is bright. When a board member has that kind of passion, you can feel it.

You won’t hit 100 percent all the time, but most of your board members should arrive with their lights shining. Staff leaders tend to think these bright lights just magically stay bright. They don’t.

“Dim bulb” boards govern poorly; they care less. Board members check their phones at meetings while staff members are sharing successes. They focus on cutting expenses when revenue projections are off. They are responsible for more nonprofit leaders returning calls to recruiters than they will ever know.
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