Latest / Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits / From Chaos to Clarity: 4 Common Self-Leadership Mistakes and How To Avoid Them
Transcript
- Matt Stockman: Welcome to the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. This podcast is here to help you build your nonprofit from the ground up on a strong foundation. So that means every episode we give you the tools and the frameworks and the personalized guidance that you need. In order to be able to create lasting impact, my name is Matt Stockman. I'm your host, thrilled You're here at Nonprofit Launch Plan. We believe that every nonprofit has gotta be operating at peak performance in six key areas in order to be successful. Those areas are leadership, fundraising, marketing. Programs and services, operations and finances. So on every episode of the podcast, we talk about a topic that is core to one of those six areas, and today's episode falls into the leadership bucket and comes as a direct result of a number of recent coaching conversations that I've been having. The mental toll that leading a nonprofit can take on a leader. Is no joke. And if you're in the middle of it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you're launching a nonprofit or you're taking over a nonprofit that maybe has been without a leader for a while, the mental stress, the stamina, and the belief in yourself that you've gotta have just to survive, let alone thrive. It is intense. So we are gonna talk about self-leadership today, and specifically about four key mistakes that nonprofit leaders tend to make in self-leadership. All of which, by the way, are very easy to fall into, but if not prevented, or at the very least corrected, these four mistakes can put you sort of at a serious disadvantage and deficit both personally. And for your organization. Now, some of these mistakes I've made myself, probably all these mistakes I've made myself, and I've also been walking through the aftermath of some of these with some coaching clients right here, right now as well. So that's what we're gonna talk about on today's episode of the podcast, and we'll jump into that in just a moment. But before, you know, one of the biggest struggles for any nonprofit, especially in the early days, is around fundraising. Fundraising is awkward and uncomfortable mainly when you sort of get thrown into the deep end of the fundraising pool and you have no idea how to swim in it. The whole idea of asking other people for money, especially for somebody who's really called to whatever the mission of your organization is. It can be really scary. That's why I've built the five step fearless fundraising framework to take the fear out of asking other people to partner with you financially and to get you some more yeses early on. The Fearless Fundraising framework is an easy to use workbook and five short videos that go along with it, that walk you through all five steps of the framework. That's problem, solution. Ask urgency, and action. They'll walk you through all five steps of the framework and then ultimately build your confidence in knowing how to invite other people to partner with your nonprofit financially. It's free. I want you to have it as my gift. You can find it on my website, nonprofit launch plan.com. Absolutely free nonprofit launch plan.com. Today we're talking about one of the most critical aspects of growing a successful nonprofit organization, and that is self-leadership. I've been having a lot of coaching conversations recently with leaders of nonprofits and noticed a few sort of recurring mistakes that are super easy to fall into that are coming up the in as themes in our coaching conversations. And so I thought that's what this podcast episode really needs to address. Now, obviously, some of these mistakes, they're not intentional failures. No one sets out at the beginning of the day and says, you know what I'm gonna do, lead myself. Poorly. But nonetheless, these traps are super easy for nonprofit leaders to fall into. It's left unaddressed. It all leads to burnout and frustration with your team or your volunteers, and stalled out growth. So let's dive in. We've got four really common mistakes that all of us are susceptible to making as a nonprofit leader, and more importantly, we're gonna talk through some of the practical ways that you can either avoid them or get. Out of them, if these sound familiar and are starting to resonate with what your life is feeling like these days. So to get started, and mistake number one that a lot of leaders make when it comes to self-leadership is always changing priorities. I remember I was talking with one nonprofit leader that I was working with a while back, and every time we'd get on a session together, I'd ask at some point early in the conversation, I'd say, okay, so catch me up. What's going on with that project? And she'd say, oh, that, yeah, well we've switched gears because it felt like it wasn't going to be as effective or it was too hard or whatever. And then every subsequent call she'd changed the focus of what her team was working on, which, for the team, for herself, and quite frankly, even for me, quite exhausting. And it, I get it. Uh, it's really easy to get excited about a new idea or a new way of doing things, especially early on when there's sort of just this general excitement of. Oh my gosh. We're really doing this. We're starting to make an impact That all naturally lends itself to you as a leader. Saying yes to things that are not necessarily in line with your mission or the timing on that Yes. Isn't right. And if you're bringing a new top priority to your team every single week, you're actually creating chaos, not forward motion at all. And also, if you have multiple top priorities, and I'm using air quotes around multiple top priorities. Then really you actually have no priorities. I heard the other day that the origin of the word priority goes back to the 15 hundreds and was always meant to be singular, like priority, single priority. And it wasn't until only fairly recently that we created a plural version of it, which is where we get the phrase, now we've got five top priorities, or these seven items are our nonprofit's top priorities. If you have seven top priorities, then like I said, you have zero priorities. Your team and your volunteers, as passionate as they are about the mission, they will quickly lose heart and energy if they feel like their hard work is constantly being devalued by changing priorities in the next shiny object that catches your attention. So how do you prevent it? Well, here's a couple of things. Number one, establish quarterly goals, and depending on what leadership framework you ascribe to these could be called goals or sprints. Or rocks. If you're an EOS person, instead of operating on a weekly whim though, here's what I want you to do. Sit down and at the beginning of each quarter, identify three to five. Core strategic projects for yourself. These should be the big picture goals that will have the greatest impact on your nonprofit's mission over the next 90 days. As an example, a priority might be launch phase one of our new community mentorship program or. Create and execute the plan to add 10 new monthly donors to our giving team in the next 90 days. Now, these goals are are personal to you. Even though if you have a staff and volunteers, you actually may be utilizing them to accomplish the goals, but this clarity and mission that the organization really needs, that starts with you. Now, let's remember to keep those 90 day goals smart, and a smart goal is. Think of S-M-A-R-T-S specific. Notice the goal is let's get 10 new monthly partners in the next 90 days. M measurable, how do you know if you made the goal? Well, in this case, did you get 10 partners? Did you get 12? Then you overachieve the goal and if you, you've got 70, then make the goal. It's measurable. A is achievable. The goal is 10. Not 510 for a new nonprofit. Just getting started is doable for you in the next 90 days. R is for relevant. Is this goal what your organization really needs right now, or is this busy work or something that could wait? I remember working with a nonprofit leader who was just starting out. The organization was brand new and this individual was fixated for whatever reason, on spending all this time and effort on shopping for an enterprise level CRM platform like the swankiest version of Salesforce. Even though he had only like nine people who were on his giving team at the time. So at that moment, that wasn't a relevant goal. And then T specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and then T timely. You've given yourself 90 days to get it accomplished, so make sure those goals are smart. Next, create a parking lot for new ideas. When a new idea comes up, don't just immediately pivot and go, oh yeah, let's chase that for that. Instead, rather, acknowledge the idea. Thank the person for the contribution if it came from somebody else, but then place it on sort of a parking lot list. This can be a whiteboard somewhere in your office or whatever. It's a designated place for good ideas that just aren't the priority right now. This shows that you value the input. But you also protect the focus of yourself and the team. You can then keep reviewing the list during the next quarterly planning session, if there's something on there that now is the right time to pull the trigger on that to see if any of these ideas should become a future priority. The other, one of my favorite things is what I call the 24 hour rule. When you have a new idea, whether it comes from a staff member or it's just something that pops into your head, hold onto it for at least 24 hours before you do anything with it. This gives you time to think critically about it. Find out whether or not it aligns with your current quarterly goals. Is it a game changer or just a fleeting thought? It's a simple rule that can save you and your team. A lot of unnecessary meetings and sudden shifts and direction, just going, you know what? I'm gonna pause for 24 hours. I'm gonna think about this again in 24 hours, and if I still feel the same about it. Well, maybe I need to dig deeper into it. So many times, 24 hours later, that idea that I thought was so brilliant in the moment is so dumb. 24 hours later. And then finally tie everything back to the why. As a leader, it's your job to constantly remind your team and your volunteers why their work matters. When you're talking about goals that you're focusing on, make sure to connect them directly to the mission. For example, this campaign to raise funds for new school supplies. Isn't just about hitting a number of people. It's about making sure that every kid in our program has all the tools they need to succeed. That's the why. This helps maintain a sense of purpose even when the work is really, really tough going. So that's mistake number one is just always changing priorities and some ways to make sure that doesn't happen. Mistake number two, a lot of nonprofit leaders make when it comes to self-leadership is micromanaging everything. In my career in nonprofit work and as a coach, I've met just one person. That has actually confessed that they can be a micromanager. Most of us don't see ourselves that way, but it's a lot more common than you think, and I get it. It's actually an admirable quality to be a good steward of your nonprofits resources, especially in the early stages when you've got limited funding and a small team and every volunteer and every effort and every dollar. It all matters so much. It's natural to feel like you've sort of got to be in control of every detail, so we don't waste the moment. And you might think, if I don't do it myself, it's not gonna get done right, and we can't really afford any mistakes right now. However, that whole idea just chokes your team's potential, your team's creativity. It crushes their confidence and leads to burnout for both you and for them. I'm talking with the coaching client right now who is in a nonprofit situation who works for a micromanager leader, and I, the last time I got on the phone with her just a couple of days ago, I could just hear the life had basically drained out of her and she was just miserable from having this leader constantly looking over her shoulder. So if you wanna make sure that you're not even sniffing around in that area and even getting close to even occasionally micromanaging your team, here's some good mindset shifts to put into place that can actually safeguard against that. First, make sure you're focusing on the why, not the how. Like instead of giving a step-by-step instruction, just tell what the purpose of the task is. Instead of saying, Hey, I want you to write an email drafted with this exact subject line and send it to the mailing list, you could say, here's my goal. I want to get more people to RSVP, to the volunteer appreciation event. Can you put together an email that clearly communicates that and gets people on board? This approach actually is more empowering to your team. Uh, because they get to own the outcome and they use their own creativity and skills to get there. Second, think about this. Delegate outcomes, not tasks. A great way to shift from micromanaging is to start delegating the end result. Not the action. So instead of saying, Hey, I need for you to post this blog on our social media account, you can just say, Hey, would you take ownership of getting this blog post out to as many people as possible in order to maximize its reach? This invites your team, your volunteers, to start thinking more strategically about how they're going to use the platforms, which ones to use, which visuals, so on and so forth. The best times to post you are giving them. A meaningful project, not a to-do list item. Something else to think about. And this is the hardest one except good enough. You gotta learn to let go of the idea that everything has to be done your way or at your level of perfection, because so much of that is actually not your way, it's just your preference and your team members. Have different preferences, but can get to the same goal a different way. They're gonna make decisions that you might not have made, and that is a hundred percent okay. Giving them the authority to make those choices and sometimes fall and fail is the only way they're gonna grow and build the skills that you actually need them to have. So trusting your team is an essential component of building a healthy and sustainable organization. You know that, but sometimes we just need to be reminded of that and finally implement a review in a feedback loop. You don't have to completely hand over control of everything. You can set up some simple process to be able to review things and give a final check on something when it's needed. For example, a team member could finish up a task, then present the finished product to you for quick check. It's a teaching moment for you to give some positive feedback and if needed, make a few tweaks or suggestions. This gives you a sense of oversight, but it still allows them to feel autonomous. All right, so that's number two. Number three mistake that a lot of nonprofit leaders make when it comes to self-leadership is avoiding tough conversations and poor communication. Conflict is an unavoidable part of any team, and as the leader, your job is actually not to avoid it, but to manage it. Avoiding difficult conversations, whether it's constructive feedback or a performance issue, you need to deal with. And generally just allowing small problems to grow into big ones. That avoidance combined with kind of a general lack of clear and consistent communication, uh, makes an environment where rumors thrive and morale dives. So here's what you can do. Just put together a regular communication rhythm in a small nonprofit. People gotta know what's happening. And a regular communication rhythm, uh, can be really simple. It does provide just a sense of security and direction. A 15 minute team huddle once a week to set the tone or maybe a weekly email from you with some updates or a dedicated slack channel or something like that. For announcements, the key is consistency. Not complexity, just do it regularly. Make it as simple as possible. But that regular communication rhythm is important. Regular one-on-one check-ins are important as well. Don't wait for stuff to come up before you talk to people. Schedule a brief, regular check-in with a team member, and I want you to develop this habit, a simple 10 minute chat with your people, and you start by asking these four words. What's on your mind? These check-ins build trust and make it easier to have a tough conversation when one is needed. But I promise you, when you at, when you walk into somebody's office, you sit down with them and you just go, Hey, man, been thinking about you. What's on your mind? The things they will tell you are insightful and revealing and really important to the overall culture of your nonprofit. Next direct kind feedback when you do have to have a difficult conversation. Clarity is kindness. Be direct, but be kind. Don't beat around the bush. Don't use vague language. Focus on the behavior, not the person. It's what you've done. It's not who you are. Open up a conversation and invite them to find a solution with you. For example, instead of saying, Hey, I, you're always late with your reports, what if it was. I've noticed that the last two reports came in after the deadline. Help me understand what's making it tough to get 'em in on time. Much different focus, but still clear and still kind. Lastly, create a safe space for questions. A sign of a really great leader is a team that feels safe to ask the tough questions, so you really need to make it clear to your team that there's no dumb questions. You welcome curiosity. You want to know what they're thinking, you want to know what questions they have. So when a team member or volunteer asks you something that you've already explained, see it as perhaps you didn't explain clearly to begin with. And this is an opportunity to clarify and make sure that they and everybody else or on the same page. So that's number three. Last mistake. Number four. A lot of, uh, nonprofit leaders make when it comes to self-leadership is always being on. As a leader and somebody who's really passionate about the work that you're doing, it's super easy to blur the lines between work and life. You love what you do, so you take calls on Saturday afternoon, you answer emails at 11 o'clock at night and on and on. And this isn't just a personal choice because that sort of behavior sets a precedent for your whole team. If you are always on in the subtext of being on implicitly telling your team and your volunteers that they should be on as well, which is gonna lead to an exhausted team and fast track to burnout for everybody. So set, firm and clear boundaries. You've gotta model the behavior that you wanna see. So that means office hours for yourself. You communicate those to your team. You let them know when they can expect to hear from you. I'll be checking emails from nine to five, and I respond to any urgent request during that time, emergency, or after hours. Please call me. Otherwise, I'll get back to you the next business day. This gives your team the expectation that that's what they should do and gives you the space that you need to rest and recharge. You gotta model healthy habits too. Just don't talk about boundaries. You gotta live them out. Take vacation days without checking in. When you're out of the office, you're out of the office setting, out of office, auto replying or email. Put your phone on do not disturb on the weekend. When your team sees your prioritizing your own wellbeing, they feel the permission to do the same, which is crucial in building a long-term sustainable team. Plan a Sabbath day intentionally schedule a full day off regularly. A true day where you don't check email, answer calls, or even think about work. If you are exhausted, you can't be effective. So take a deliberate break. Give yourself the mental space that you need to think clearly and creatively. Remember, you can't pour from an empty cup and you'll find that your time off makes your time on a lot more productive. And last, delegate rest and recovery. Do not be afraid to give your team members a nudge towards self-care. If you notice a team member's looking tired or overwhelmed, you can suggest, have noticed you've been working late a lot. Please take some time for yourself this weekend. I wanna make sure you are taking care of your energy. This shows that you care about them as people, not just employees, and it really reaps benefits for you as well when it comes to their productivity overall. All right. So those are the four mistakes that a lot of nonprofit leaders that I've been working with have been making when it comes to self-leadership. Again, number one is always changing priorities. Number two, micromanaging everything. Number three is avoiding difficult conversations, and number four is always being on. And before we wrap up, let me end with this. To be a successful leader for your nonprofit. You've gotta be a successful leader of yourself first. Each one of these mistakes, it's all rooted in a lack of intentional self-leadership. But the good news is, is that these are not permanent. They are habits that you can change and relatively easy. Actually, even if you're in a situation where your nonprofit is pretty much just you, it can be tempting in that moment to say, you know, I don't really need to focus on any of this because I'm not really leading anyone. And I would say, this is actually the best time to focus on developing these habits. Because my guess is that in the future you've got the dream to have a staff and to build a team that is growing. Because your nonprofit is growing, so making these self-leadership rhythms and routines, habits in your life now makes you ready to grow and build a healthy team that loves the mission and loves your leadership. As we wrap up this week's episode, the vision for nonprofit launch plan is to empower 10,000 nonprofits worldwide that will each commit to impacting at least 10,000 people so that together we improve the lives of a hundred million people globally. I call this the a hundred million Impact Initiative, and if. You like to be a part of that? Do you want to join in? Do you want your nonprofit to be a part of this 100 million impact initiative? No doubt if you're listening to the podcast, you've got a dream for a nonprofit. You're part of a nonprofit that's growing, you're hoping that it will grow, and you're hoping to find some ideas that move you in that direction. But ultimately, what is driving you? I think is a desire to see other people's lives changed, and my dream and desire is to come alongside you and help you with the tools and the insights and the expertise that is born out of some experience and a lot of bloody noses from mistakes that I've made, figuratively speaking, that will help you reach at least 10,000 people with the impact that your nonprofit is meant to make. So my question, if that's your dream for your nonprofit. Will you join with me in the a hundred million Impact Initiative? I just want to be able to count your nonprofit as part of the community that we're building, the community of impact makers and world changers. So if you are in, send me a quick email that says I'm in to matt@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Matt, MAT t@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. You'll instantly be a part of the community and nonprofits that we're growing. It's free. This is not a business opportunity. If you just get value from the podcast, then I would love for you to join the a hundred million Impact Initiative. It's just about us uniting together to start tracking the impact on the world that we're making together and to help each other do it more effectively. So again, my email is Matt at nonprofit launch plan dot. Com. That's all for today's episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. Do not forget about the freebie on my website, the Fearless Fundraising Framework. It's free. It's the workbook and the five videos that go along with it that take the fear out of fundraising. That's for you@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. And again, thank you so much for tuning in. Do not forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on the next episode and all the future episodes. And if in some way or another you found this helpful, please share it with another nonprofit leader who you think might benefit. And until next time, keep making a difference. Thanks so much for listening. Welcome to the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. This podcast is here to help you build your nonprofit from the ground up on a strong foundation. So that means every episode we give you the tools and the frameworks and the personalized guidance that you need. In order to be able to create lasting impact, my name is Matt Stockman. I'm your host, thrilled You're here at Nonprofit Launch Plan. We believe that every nonprofit has gotta be operating at peak performance in six key areas in order to be successful. Those areas are leadership, fundraising, marketing. Programs and services, operations and finances. So on every episode of the podcast, we talk about a topic that is core to one of those six areas, and today's episode falls into the leadership bucket and comes as a direct result of a number of recent coaching conversations that I've been having. The mental toll that leading a nonprofit can take on a leader. Is no joke. And if you're in the middle of it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you're launching a nonprofit or you're taking over a nonprofit that maybe has been without a leader for a while, the mental stress, the stamina, and the belief in yourself that you've gotta have just to survive, let alone thrive. It is intense. So we are gonna talk about self-leadership today, and specifically about four key mistakes that nonprofit leaders tend to make in self-leadership. All of which, by the way, are very easy to fall into, but if not prevented, or at the very least corrected, these four mistakes can put you sort of at a serious disadvantage and deficit both personally. And for your organization. Now, some of these mistakes I've made myself, probably all these mistakes I've made myself, and I've also been walking through the aftermath of some of these with some coaching clients right here, right now as well. So that's what we're gonna talk about on today's episode of the podcast, and we'll jump into that in just a moment. But before, you know, one of the biggest struggles for any nonprofit, especially in the early days, is around fundraising. Fundraising is awkward and uncomfortable mainly when you sort of get thrown into the deep end of the fundraising pool and you have no idea how to swim in it. The whole idea of asking other people for money, especially for somebody who's really called to whatever the mission of your organization is. It can be really scary. That's why I've built the five step fearless fundraising framework to take the fear out of asking other people to partner with you financially and to get you some more yeses early on. The Fearless Fundraising framework is an easy to use workbook and five short videos that go along with it, that walk you through all five steps of the framework. That's problem, solution. Ask urgency, and action. They'll walk you through all five steps of the framework and then ultimately build your confidence in knowing how to invite other people to partner with your nonprofit financially. It's free. I want you to have it as my gift. You can find it on my website, nonprofit launch plan.com. Absolutely free nonprofit launch plan.com. Today we're talking about one of the most critical aspects of growing a successful nonprofit organization, and that is self-leadership. I've been having a lot of coaching conversations recently with leaders of nonprofits and noticed a few sort of recurring mistakes that are super easy to fall into that are coming up the in as themes in our coaching conversations. And so I thought that's what this podcast episode really needs to address. Now, obviously, some of these mistakes, they're not intentional failures. No one sets out at the beginning of the day and says, you know what I'm gonna do, lead myself. Poorly. But nonetheless, these traps are super easy for nonprofit leaders to fall into. It's left unaddressed. It all leads to burnout and frustration with your team or your volunteers, and stalled out growth. So let's dive in. We've got four really common mistakes that all of us are susceptible to making as a nonprofit leader, and more importantly, we're gonna talk through some of the practical ways that you can either avoid them or get. Out of them, if these sound familiar and are starting to resonate with what your life is feeling like these days. So to get started, and mistake number one that a lot of leaders make when it comes to self-leadership is always changing priorities. I remember I was talking with one nonprofit leader that I was working with a while back, and every time we'd get on a session together, I'd ask at some point early in the conversation, I'd say, okay, so catch me up. What's going on with that project? And she'd say, oh, that, yeah, well we've switched gears because it felt like it wasn't going to be as effective or it was too hard or whatever. And then every subsequent call she'd changed the focus of what her team was working on, which, for the team, for herself, and quite frankly, even for me, quite exhausting. And it, I get it. Uh, it's really easy to get excited about a new idea or a new way of doing things, especially early on when there's sort of just this general excitement of. Oh my gosh. We're really doing this. We're starting to make an impact That all naturally lends itself to you as a leader. Saying yes to things that are not necessarily in line with your mission or the timing on that Yes. Isn't right. And if you're bringing a new top priority to your team every single week, you're actually creating chaos, not forward motion at all. And also, if you have multiple top priorities, and I'm using air quotes around multiple top priorities. Then really you actually have no priorities. I heard the other day that the origin of the word priority goes back to the 15 hundreds and was always meant to be singular, like priority, single priority. And it wasn't until only fairly recently that we created a plural version of it, which is where we get the phrase, now we've got five top priorities, or these seven items are our nonprofit's top priorities. If you have seven top priorities, then like I said, you have zero priorities. Your team and your volunteers, as passionate as they are about the mission, they will quickly lose heart and energy if they feel like their hard work is constantly being devalued by changing priorities in the next shiny object that catches your attention. So how do you prevent it? Well, here's a couple of things. Number one, establish quarterly goals, and depending on what leadership framework you ascribe to these could be called goals or sprints. Or rocks. If you're an EOS person, instead of operating on a weekly whim though, here's what I want you to do. Sit down and at the beginning of each quarter, identify three to five. Core strategic projects for yourself. These should be the big picture goals that will have the greatest impact on your nonprofit's mission over the next 90 days. As an example, a priority might be launch phase one of our new community mentorship program or. Create and execute the plan to add 10 new monthly donors to our giving team in the next 90 days. Now, these goals are are personal to you. Even though if you have a staff and volunteers, you actually may be utilizing them to accomplish the goals, but this clarity and mission that the organization really needs, that starts with you. Now, let's remember to keep those 90 day goals smart, and a smart goal is. Think of S-M-A-R-T-S specific. Notice the goal is let's get 10 new monthly partners in the next 90 days. M measurable, how do you know if you made the goal? Well, in this case, did you get 10 partners? Did you get 12? Then you overachieve the goal and if you, you've got 70, then make the goal. It's measurable. A is achievable. The goal is 10. Not 510 for a new nonprofit. Just getting started is doable for you in the next 90 days. R is for relevant. Is this goal what your organization really needs right now, or is this busy work or something that could wait? I remember working with a nonprofit leader who was just starting out. The organization was brand new and this individual was fixated for whatever reason, on spending all this time and effort on shopping for an enterprise level CRM platform like the swankiest version of Salesforce. Even though he had only like nine people who were on his giving team at the time. So at that moment, that wasn't a relevant goal. And then T specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and then T timely. You've given yourself 90 days to get it accomplished, so make sure those goals are smart. Next, create a parking lot for new ideas. When a new idea comes up, don't just immediately pivot and go, oh yeah, let's chase that for that. Instead, rather, acknowledge the idea. Thank the person for the contribution if it came from somebody else, but then place it on sort of a parking lot list. This can be a whiteboard somewhere in your office or whatever. It's a designated place for good ideas that just aren't the priority right now. This shows that you value the input. But you also protect the focus of yourself and the team. You can then keep reviewing the list during the next quarterly planning session, if there's something on there that now is the right time to pull the trigger on that to see if any of these ideas should become a future priority. The other, one of my favorite things is what I call the 24 hour rule. When you have a new idea, whether it comes from a staff member or it's just something that pops into your head, hold onto it for at least 24 hours before you do anything with it. This gives you time to think critically about it. Find out whether or not it aligns with your current quarterly goals. Is it a game changer or just a fleeting thought? It's a simple rule that can save you and your team. A lot of unnecessary meetings and sudden shifts and direction, just going, you know what? I'm gonna pause for 24 hours. I'm gonna think about this again in 24 hours, and if I still feel the same about it. Well, maybe I need to dig deeper into it. So many times, 24 hours later, that idea that I thought was so brilliant in the moment is so dumb. 24 hours later. And then finally tie everything back to the why. As a leader, it's your job to constantly remind your team and your volunteers why their work matters. When you're talking about goals that you're focusing on, make sure to connect them directly to the mission. For example, this campaign to raise funds for new school supplies. Isn't just about hitting a number of people. It's about making sure that every kid in our program has all the tools they need to succeed. That's the why. This helps maintain a sense of purpose even when the work is really, really tough going. So that's mistake number one is just always changing priorities and some ways to make sure that doesn't happen. Mistake number two, a lot of nonprofit leaders make when it comes to self-leadership is micromanaging everything. In my career in nonprofit work and as a coach, I've met just one person. That has actually confessed that they can be a micromanager. Most of us don't see ourselves that way, but it's a lot more common than you think, and I get it. It's actually an admirable quality to be a good steward of your nonprofits resources, especially in the early stages when you've got limited funding and a small team and every volunteer and every effort and every dollar. It all matters so much. It's natural to feel like you've sort of got to be in control of every detail, so we don't waste the moment. And you might think, if I don't do it myself, it's not gonna get done right, and we can't really afford any mistakes right now. However, that whole idea just chokes your team's potential, your team's creativity. It crushes their confidence and leads to burnout for both you and for them. I'm talking with the coaching client right now who is in a nonprofit situation who works for a micromanager leader, and I, the last time I got on the phone with her just a couple of days ago, I could just hear the life had basically drained out of her and she was just miserable from having this leader constantly looking over her shoulder. So if you wanna make sure that you're not even sniffing around in that area and even getting close to even occasionally micromanaging your team, here's some good mindset shifts to put into place that can actually safeguard against that. First, make sure you're focusing on the why, not the how. Like instead of giving a step-by-step instruction, just tell what the purpose of the task is. Instead of saying, Hey, I want you to write an email drafted with this exact subject line and send it to the mailing list, you could say, here's my goal. I want to get more people to RSVP, to the volunteer appreciation event. Can you put together an email that clearly communicates that and gets people on board? This approach actually is more empowering to your team. Uh, because they get to own the outcome and they use their own creativity and skills to get there. Second, think about this. Delegate outcomes, not tasks. A great way to shift from micromanaging is to start delegating the end result. Not the action. So instead of saying, Hey, I need for you to post this blog on our social media account, you can just say, Hey, would you take ownership of getting this blog post out to as many people as possible in order to maximize its reach? This invites your team, your volunteers, to start thinking more strategically about how they're going to use the platforms, which ones to use, which visuals, so on and so forth. The best times to post you are giving them. A meaningful project, not a to-do list item. Something else to think about. And this is the hardest one except good enough. You gotta learn to let go of the idea that everything has to be done your way or at your level of perfection, because so much of that is actually not your way, it's just your preference and your team members. Have different preferences, but can get to the same goal a different way. They're gonna make decisions that you might not have made, and that is a hundred percent okay. Giving them the authority to make those choices and sometimes fall and fail is the only way they're gonna grow and build the skills that you actually need them to have. So trusting your team is an essential component of building a healthy and sustainable organization. You know that, but sometimes we just need to be reminded of that and finally implement a review in a feedback loop. You don't have to completely hand over control of everything. You can set up some simple process to be able to review things and give a final check on something when it's needed. For example, a team member could finish up a task, then present the finished product to you for quick check. It's a teaching moment for you to give some positive feedback and if needed, make a few tweaks or suggestions. This gives you a sense of oversight, but it still allows them to feel autonomous. All right, so that's number two. Number three mistake that a lot of nonprofit leaders make when it comes to self-leadership is avoiding tough conversations and poor communication. Conflict is an unavoidable part of any team, and as the leader, your job is actually not to avoid it, but to manage it. Avoiding difficult conversations, whether it's constructive feedback or a performance issue, you need to deal with. And generally just allowing small problems to grow into big ones. That avoidance combined with kind of a general lack of clear and consistent communication, uh, makes an environment where rumors thrive and morale dives. So here's what you can do. Just put together a regular communication rhythm in a small nonprofit. People gotta know what's happening. And a regular communication rhythm, uh, can be really simple. It does provide just a sense of security and direction. A 15 minute team huddle once a week to set the tone or maybe a weekly email from you with some updates or a dedicated slack channel or something like that. For announcements, the key is consistency. Not complexity, just do it regularly. Make it as simple as possible. But that regular communication rhythm is important. Regular one-on-one check-ins are important as well. Don't wait for stuff to come up before you talk to people. Schedule a brief, regular check-in with a team member, and I want you to develop this habit, a simple 10 minute chat with your people, and you start by asking these four words. What's on your mind? These check-ins build trust and make it easier to have a tough conversation when one is needed. But I promise you, when you at, when you walk into somebody's office, you sit down with them and you just go, Hey, man, been thinking about you. What's on your mind? The things they will tell you are insightful and revealing and really important to the overall culture of your nonprofit. Next direct kind feedback when you do have to have a difficult conversation. Clarity is kindness. Be direct, but be kind. Don't beat around the bush. Don't use vague language. Focus on the behavior, not the person. It's what you've done. It's not who you are. Open up a conversation and invite them to find a solution with you. For example, instead of saying, Hey, I, you're always late with your reports, what if it was. I've noticed that the last two reports came in after the deadline. Help me understand what's making it tough to get 'em in on time. Much different focus, but still clear and still kind. Lastly, create a safe space for questions. A sign of a really great leader is a team that feels safe to ask the tough questions, so you really need to make it clear to your team that there's no dumb questions. You welcome curiosity. You want to know what they're thinking, you want to know what questions they have. So when a team member or volunteer asks you something that you've already explained, see it as perhaps you didn't explain clearly to begin with. And this is an opportunity to clarify and make sure that they and everybody else or on the same page. So that's number three. Last mistake. Number four. A lot of, uh, nonprofit leaders make when it comes to self-leadership is always being on. As a leader and somebody who's really passionate about the work that you're doing, it's super easy to blur the lines between work and life. You love what you do, so you take calls on Saturday afternoon, you answer emails at 11 o'clock at night and on and on. And this isn't just a personal choice because that sort of behavior sets a precedent for your whole team. If you are always on in the subtext of being on implicitly telling your team and your volunteers that they should be on as well, which is gonna lead to an exhausted team and fast track to burnout for everybody. So set, firm and clear boundaries. You've gotta model the behavior that you wanna see. So that means office hours for yourself. You communicate those to your team. You let them know when they can expect to hear from you. I'll be checking emails from nine to five, and I respond to any urgent request during that time, emergency, or after hours. Please call me. Otherwise, I'll get back to you the next business day. This gives your team the expectation that that's what they should do and gives you the space that you need to rest and recharge. You gotta model healthy habits too. Just don't talk about boundaries. You gotta live them out. Take vacation days without checking in. When you're out of the office, you're out of the office setting, out of office, auto replying or email. Put your phone on do not disturb on the weekend. When your team sees your prioritizing your own wellbeing, they feel the permission to do the same, which is crucial in building a long-term sustainable team. Plan a Sabbath day intentionally schedule a full day off regularly. A true day where you don't check email, answer calls, or even think about work. If you are exhausted, you can't be effective. So take a deliberate break. Give yourself the mental space that you need to think clearly and creatively. Remember, you can't pour from an empty cup and you'll find that your time off makes your time on a lot more productive. And last, delegate rest and recovery. Do not be afraid to give your team members a nudge towards self-care. If you notice a team member's looking tired or overwhelmed, you can suggest, have noticed you've been working late a lot. Please take some time for yourself this weekend. I wanna make sure you are taking care of your energy. This shows that you care about them as people, not just employees, and it really reaps benefits for you as well when it comes to their productivity overall. All right. So those are the four mistakes that a lot of nonprofit leaders that I've been working with have been making when it comes to self-leadership. Again, number one is always changing priorities. Number two, micromanaging everything. Number three is avoiding difficult conversations, and number four is always being on. And before we wrap up, let me end with this. To be a successful leader for your nonprofit. You've gotta be a successful leader of yourself first. Each one of these mistakes, it's all rooted in a lack of intentional self-leadership. But the good news is, is that these are not permanent. They are habits that you can change and relatively easy. Actually, even if you're in a situation where your nonprofit is pretty much just you, it can be tempting in that moment to say, you know, I don't really need to focus on any of this because I'm not really leading anyone. And I would say, this is actually the best time to focus on developing these habits. Because my guess is that in the future you've got the dream to have a staff and to build a team that is growing. Because your nonprofit is growing, so making these self-leadership rhythms and routines, habits in your life now makes you ready to grow and build a healthy team that loves the mission and loves your leadership. As we wrap up this week's episode, the vision for nonprofit launch plan is to empower 10,000 nonprofits worldwide that will each commit to impacting at least 10,000 people so that together we improve the lives of a hundred million people globally. I call this the a hundred million Impact Initiative, and if. You like to be a part of that? Do you want to join in? Do you want your nonprofit to be a part of this 100 million impact initiative? No doubt if you're listening to the podcast, you've got a dream for a nonprofit. You're part of a nonprofit that's growing, you're hoping that it will grow, and you're hoping to find some ideas that move you in that direction. But ultimately, what is driving you? I think is a desire to see other people's lives changed, and my dream and desire is to come alongside you and help you with the tools and the insights and the expertise that is born out of some experience and a lot of bloody noses from mistakes that I've made, figuratively speaking, that will help you reach at least 10,000 people with the impact that your nonprofit is meant to make. So my question, if that's your dream for your nonprofit. Will you join with me in the a hundred million Impact Initiative? I just want to be able to count your nonprofit as part of the community that we're building, the community of impact makers and world changers. So if you are in, send me a quick email that says I'm in to matt@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Matt, MAT t@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. You'll instantly be a part of the community and nonprofits that we're growing. It's free. This is not a business opportunity. If you just get value from the podcast, then I would love for you to join the a hundred million Impact Initiative. It's just about us uniting together to start tracking the impact on the world that we're making together and to help each other do it more effectively. So again, my email is Matt at nonprofit launch plan dot. Com. That's all for today's episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. Do not forget about the freebie on my website, the Fearless Fundraising Framework. It's free. It's the workbook and the five videos that go along with it that take the fear out of fundraising. That's for you@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. And again, thank you so much for tuning in. Do not forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on the next episode and all the future episodes. And if in some way or another you found this helpful, please share it with another nonprofit leader who you think might benefit. And until next time, keep making a difference. Thanks so much for listening.