Leading by Design

If you're planning to attend the American Association of Museums conference in Philadelphia and you're interested in the topic of leadership transition, you might consider coming to the session, "Transitions:  An Ongoing Process of Leadership Renewal", scheduled for Sunday, May 3rd, at 2 pm.  I'm joining Patricia Williams, Interim Director of the Sewall-Belmont House, in what will be, I think, a fascinating discussion about one institution's approach to leadership transition. Hope to see you there. In the meantime, if you're looking for leadership transition resources, I unabashedly plug the website of the Museum Association of New York -- www.manyonline.org .  You'll also find the audio and PowerPoints from our two recent webinars on the subject.

There's a propensity for like-minded folks to cluster together in group situations. When so many boards are comprised of people who know one another outside the board room (or may be related to one another) clustering  is common....and can be a common problem.  As we strive for greater diversity of board members, those who aren't from the same social or familial circles may find it especially difficult to break into the circle that is the board. The executive director, nominating committee and board president need to be mindful of clustering or cliques, and consciously work to minimize their effect.  The first rule of thumb is that everyone is diversely, but equally, skilled in the board room -- a tenet that needs to be voiced and modeled at every turn.  It is to the long-term advantage of the organization to institutionalize this democratic vision. There are several practical ways to minimize clusters: mix up the seating at meetings.  Humans, being who they are, tend to sit wi...

Today's post title is a riff on that oft-heard recession phrase, "too big to fail". A recent meeting about saving an historic property, followed closely by a visit with a very small cultural organization, got me to thinking about the basic benchmarks for organizational success. We're learning more all the time about what it takes to create and grow a successful nonprofit. High on my list are: meeting a real (not perceived) need -- this isn't an ego or power trip having a plan to realize it right from the get-go -- many cultural nonprofits get too much of a free pass on this one from incorporating agencies visionary and unflagging leadership -- preferably from more than one person attracting people to the organization who have access to substantial resources, be it time, money, or people with time and money building a critical mass of supporters (a good, growable base right from the start) -- there are some umbrella organizations that require just that of satell...

My last post focused on merger as an organizational growth option, not a last-ditch attempt to survive.  Sadly, it's often not considered an option until too late.  But it, along with its cousins collaboration and partnership, ought to be in every nonprofit leader's lexicon.  How does it make it into the ongoing conversation?  Here are a couple of thoughts: Every year, as an organization is evaluating or updating its strategic plan, part of the conversation should focus on where the organization is in terms of its "life cycle" and what its options are for continued health.  I think this kind of discussion goes hand-in-hand with planning, but it could be a stand-alone conversation, as well.  It may be a conversation that begins at the staff level, but at some point it must migrate to the board level.  Institutionalizing such a conversation is one way to enable people to become comfortable with the fluctuating-- and sometimes inscrutable -- dynamic that is the nonprofi...

Just like the daffodils in my garden this spring, a few stories about nonprofit mergers can be found offering bright respites from the reams of gloomy headlines about cultural nonprofits in trouble.   The Boston Globe's April 15th story about the successful merger of two social welfare organizations made the point that the notion of merger seems to be a relatively new concept in the nonprofit world.  From my vantage point, merger is generally not an option to be found in the toolkit of most cultural nonprofit leaders.  As the Globe article rightly points out, mergers tend to be seen as a sign of failure; nonprofit leaders worry that mergers mean loss of autonomy or identity.  Indeed, one Globe reader summed up the distaste many have for merger, " Social service agencies can more typically be combined without anything essential being lost; arts institutions exist to fulfill a certain artistic vision, and combining two similar size groups usually means one vision endures and th...

If you scroll way down, you'll see a new poll question on the right.  It's a spin-off of yesterday's post and it asks you to describe your board recruitment process. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

This post is prompted by an email sent to me by my colleague Linda Norris, the inquiring mind behind The Uncataloged Museum .  The email included a link to a Craig's List listing from a nonprofit in search of board members.  The listing states, in part: Board Members will commit to meeting once every 2 months. They will be involved in decision making and guiding the direction of the organization. They will assist in fund raising events by establishing committees to plan particular events and initiatives.  Please respond by email with a little bit about yourself, where you live, and what interests you about [name of organization].  To learn more, visit [organization's website address]. Location: Hudson Valley, NY Compensation: Volunteer Work This is a part-time job. This is at a non-profit organization. Actually, that's pretty much the entire listing. It got me to thinking that despite the listing's brevity, it speaks volumes about the culture of this organization. Indee...