Sacred Cows: Battling Ourselves

Here’s a piece of advice on how to navigate this very touchy situation. Don’t put only the experts in charge of this type of decision. In other words, create a committee that brings experts and nonexperts into the discussion, and ask the group to create a recommendation. Sometimes having a “dog in the hunt” can affect decision making, so manage to that very common human dynamic.

Staffing structures
Let me be clear on this topic: I hate it when organizations have to lay people off, and I hate when people lose their jobs. I don’t know anyone who'd disagree. However, that’s no reason to avoid tough decisions. Yet, sometimes nonprofits wait until they are in dire straits before dealing with changes that need to occur for the betterment of the organization.

While management shouldn’t spend significant time assessing the structure of the organization every year, it is something that has to be done on a regular basis. Furthermore, some of the toughest changes that must occur often need the assistance of a third party that is not involved in the organization to point them out. Sometimes a new skill set is needed in the organization, sometimes a skill set is no longer needed and sometimes larger change is needed — even across leadership. But by all means, don’t stay the course when a change in structure or staffing would mean the organization’s beneficiaries are served better or the mission is impacted in a greater way.

All of this is easy for me to say because currently none of these situations are in my lap. But I’ve been there. Organizations have to be careful they don’t slip into the easiest, most conflict-averse way of doing business across all the basic areas. In fact, in the end, the lack of decisions or lack of appropriate change will catch up with you — through your fundraising and mission metrics.