Your vision? Clear
Your strategy? Could be better, but overall, there are good bones.
So why aren’t you able to execute?
For so many small nonprofits, you’d expect a small team to be able to move quickly and solve problems together quickly to get things done.
Instead, for Executive Directors of many of the small nonprofits I work with, it feels like everything is pushing a boulder uphill while dragging your staff along.
Some teams thrive, while others haven’t made any progress in years.
It feels like solving one team’s problem after another, or all of them at the same time.
It leads to the question – why can’t everybody just do their jobs?
What does uneven execution look like?
Oftentimes, it’s just accepted as part of nonprofit work.
The price of working with humans.
How close does this feel to your reality?
- You feel like you’re constantly reinventing the wheel
- Your progress is slow, or even backwards
- Turnover is so high that you keep getting pulled into the details because no one else can ever own things
- Even in small teams, factions form between different beliefs around how the work should be done
- People don’t know what their true job is
- It takes way too long for new folks you hire to become fully productive
Why does it feel like everything’s an uphill battle?
Too many times, leaders out of frustration implement incomplete solutions:
They give everyone training on a system, hoping employees won’t be able to use the excuse of “now knowing the system well enough”.
They hold a “team-building” retreat where everyone “learns” how to work better together. Or they start Restorative Justice circles to heal broken relationships.
Put down your pitchforks, I’m not saying those things aren’t useful.
In fact, there are plenty of situations where I’ve recommended those exact solutions. But never in isolation.
In fact, I’ve turned down work that’s asked for those things by themselves because I know they won’t work long term.
Why? Because it doesn’t address the root cause:
Your organization is running solely on people, not systems.
You’ve prioritized a team where getting things done depends on strong personalities (What we often call “motivation” or “dedication to the cause” or “ambitious” in job descriptions).
And it works great, until it doesn’t.
Because if that person leaves, their knowledge, their workarounds, their informal processes – it all leaves with them.
And you’re right back where you started.
That’s not a people problem, it’s a systems problem. And no retreat, training, or morale initiative will fix it at the root.
How to create better systems
It’s less complicated than it actually sounds, but it does require being more deliberate than most leaders are comfortable with
1. You need to get better at SOP’s and systematizing processes
It’s not enough to give a goal” and say someone should be able to figure it out. There should be standard operating procedures and processes for any repeated task. It should be clearly labeled with standards for excellent performance, good performance, and poor performance. Make it clear for your teams on what needs to be done and by when. Then hold them accountable to it.
2. Be brutal about documenting
Even if it is the first time something’s being done, make sure the person doing it documents HOW they’re doing it. There are plenty of tools out there to make the process easier. Do it for every task that’s repeated. It’ll take more time, but not as much time as constantly hiring and training new people.
3. If necessary, specify who is responsible for each step of a process
This is especially true if you have tasks that require multiple people to complete it or to move forward. Be ultra clear about this so everyone knows their role. Draw a diagram if you need to.
4. Be disciplined about constantly reviewing
Review strategic plan progress at least quarterly. Review operational projects and systems at least monthly. “People will respect what you inspect”. If you want your team to care about something, you have to constantly bring it up and hold people accountable if it’s not done.
5. Make sure the processes are clear to access and clear for a person to actually use them
Build the training around the processes. Make sure they’re written in a way that anyone (even without any knowledge of your work) could pick up for the first time and do reasonably well if they followed the directions. The clearer they are, the faster it takes to train people to follow them, reducing the onboarding time.
6. Create an accountability process
So many times, leaders wonder how to hold people accountable. This is the half the battle right here. The clearer the processes and expectations, the easier it is to point to something when they’re not doing it right. That moves the conversation from subjective “you said, they said” and makes it undeniable fact.
How to get started
Don’t look at all this and start getting overwhelmed.
Just pick one process that keeps getting lost in the shuffle and prioritize it over the next month. Have someone start documenting how they do it, write it down and then standardize it for everyone else.
Clean it up, make it accessible.
Go back and review it.
Next week or next month, choose another one.
Got more bandwidth or more buy-in?
Do two at once.
Just get started. Don’t get overwhelmed by analysis paralysis – just start fixing things one step at a time.
The goal isn’t a perfect system, it’s a slightly less chaotic organization than last month.
What’s one process you’d love to get out of someone’s head and into writing? Let me know!
PS –
If you’re a human-services nonprofit that’s under 100 people ready to stop using prayers and hopes as your leadership development strategy, I specifically help whole leadership teams develop the skills to lead effectively and delegate. Interested? Let’s talk about it, find some time here: https://leadership-potential2.neetocal.com/hive
