When Planning Won't Work

We've all read and heard about the importance of planning as a tool to harness focus and energy. We plan in our work lives and we plan in our private lives. For some of us, the structure of a plan -- knowing the next steps and the next steps after that -- is comforting.

Shortly after 9/11, I had the opportunity to facilitate a number of discussions among arts organizations about the impact of that tragedy on their work. Almost all of them were experiencing greater numbers of visitors to performances, gallery shows and exhibitions. Many were overwhelmed with this new interest...this desire to replace fear with the transformative beauty of art and culture.

Those organizations that had rediscovered their footing said they did so because, just prior to 9/11, they had been engaged in planning. They had been weighing various scenarios of their growth and development. They developed responses that were helping them cope with audience demand and reconfigured funding.

Fast-forward to today: one of those arts organizations has come full circle. It is financially fragile, without staff, and barely hanging on. A very small group of board members (and one in particular) hopes to breathe live back into what had once been a lively, but never really secure, haven for artists. "We need to regain our equilibrium before I burn out," says the burned out board leader, "We need a plan." Sounds good, except for one telling thing: it seems as though this person may be the only board member ready/willing to invest in planning. So far, two planning meetings have been cancelled, and it's unclear if a plan will ever be created.

Something important is at work here. First, planning for the future -- even the short-term -- is very difficult (if not impossible) if an organization is preoccupied with survival. Planning for a better future just doesn't make sense when you don't think the organization has much of one. It's really important to first put out or tamp down the fires that threaten to engulf an organization. Only when that is accomplished can folks take a deep breath and start to see past the present.

So, this organization has some decisions to make right away, but planning isn't one of them.

Photo: confusion by Nanayof2

Comments

Three Most Important Nonprofit Executive Director Soft Skills

If you were asked to narrow down the list of executive director qualifications to the three most important, which ones would you identify? Would the list consist of soft skills, hard skills, or some combination? Would your list be based on the great ED you are or one you've worked for, or would it be your wish list for the ED you haven't been fortunate yet to work for? This was an assignment in my recent online class in leadership and administration for the American Association for State and Local History . I asked the class to review three-five advertisements for museum directors and analyze what these listings intimated about the organization’s past experience, current focus and goals, and future aspirations. Then, I asked the class to identify what they consider to be the three most important qualifications they would look for in a director. (Okay, so there's more than three if you dissect my three big groups.) Soft skills outnumbered hard skills, although

Back in the Saddle

MY LAST POST WAS NOVEMBER 2012, A LIGHT YEAR AWAY it seems, that marked the beginning of a long push toward completing a manuscript on history museum leadership with my co-author, Joan Baldwin. We finally submitted 350+ pages to our editor at Rowman & Littlefield this week. If all goes well, we expect the book to be available in early 2014. It's taken us two years to get to this point, so six more months or so of revision and production don't seem too long to wait until we can hold the final product in our hands (and you can, too!). The project put a lot of things on hold, including this blog. I'm glad to be back writing about intentional leadership -- leading by design -- for nonprofit boards and staffs. Certainly, my thoughts are now informed by the forthcoming book, in which Joan and I posit that nonprofits need to focus resources on leadership, not just management. Most cultural nonprofits are at a crossroad, as is the sector in general, where nothing is qu

What Would Make You Turn Down an Invitation to Join a Board?

THERE'S SO MUCH WRITTEN ABOUT RECRUITING BOARD TALENT, I thought I'd spend a little time thinking about it from the prospect's point of view. Clearly, there are boards where the line is long to get on them. But what would make you turn down an invitation? Here's a short list to get the conversation started: 1. You've had no prior exposure to the organization. Your immediate reaction is "did you pull my name out of a hat?" (Is that lady in the picture the head of the Nominating Committee?) Seems as though there must be a hidden agenda at work (like you're rich and once you become a board member you'll pour all your resources into the organization) or the organization is simply looking for any warm body to fill a seat. 2. The organization doesn't have a good reputation. There's something to be said for street cred. An organization that's floundering may be strengthened by your participation or you may find yourself sucked into

Leading by Design

Search This Blog