Renee Rubin Ross

At a recent strategic planning session, I was working with a nonprofit to create organizational values. As my team introduced the activity, a board member spoke up and said, “We’d like to focus on strategies and goals. Why should we take the time to focus on organizational values?”

It feels challenging to plan at a time of so much uncertainty. We may all feel like burying our heads in the sand and waiting for someone to yell, “The pandemic is over!” But because of the shifts of the pandemic, many nonprofit organizations are creating strategic plans.

Collaborative technology can empower people across locations to share their individual ideas and build on others’ ideas.

My recent work has sharpened my appreciation for strategic planning.

Leadership needs to start with each of us. In these trying times, we have to pause and reflect.

The executive director of a multimillion-dollar organization reached out because she needed help with her board.

When leaders and teams feel seen and recognized with their pain and their strengths, organizations move forward.

None of us likes to put ourselves in situations in which we feel unsuccessful. For many of us, the response is to metaphorically turn the board over and scatter the pieces. I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently as I’ve been thinking about the lack of strategic planning in many organizations...

Daniel, a client with whom we had worked on governance projects and the executive director of a nonprofit organization, reached out to us with a request: several board members, Deanna and Kyle, complained that they felt “confused” about their participation on the organization’s board of directors...