Latest / Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits / How to Make the Tough Calls Your Nonprofit Needs: Breaking Free from Decision Paralysis
Transcript
- You know, leadership expert Max Dupree said we cannot become what we want by remaining where we are. As a nonprofit leader, you're faced with very difficult growth decisions, every day, decisions that need to and are meant to result in change. Decisions that are affected by things like available people and financial resources that you have, the time and effort, that one option versus another might take the possible return on that investment, but hopefully. All of it is guided by a drive and a passion to do the most good that you can. But I talk to nonprofit leaders every day who really struggle with making the tough calls sometimes to everybody outside the organization looking in. These decisions look pretty cut and dried, but for the leader, they'll spend weeks, months, and even years considering every other possible option other than the one they know is the right one. This decision paralysis can actually happen to all of us. And that's what we're talking about on this edition of the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. Welcome and thanks for being here. This podcast is here to help you build your nonprofit from the ground up. On a strong foundation. So every episode we give you frameworks and tools and the personalized guidance that you need in order to create lasting impact. My name is Matt Stockman. I am a nonprofit growth coach. Thrilled you're here at Nonprofit Launch Plan. We believe that every nonprofit has to be operating at peak performance and six key areas in order to be successful. Those six areas are leadership. Fundraising, marketing programs and services, operations and finances. So on every episode of the podcast, we'll talk about a topic that's core to at least one of these six areas. Now before we dive in, if you or someone you know is still in the dreaming phase of launching a nonprofit, I've got a special freebie for you. It's a PDF resource called From Dream to Action, your nonprofit pre-launch checklist. 10 Essential Steps for Moving from Nonprofit idea. To impact. It's 10 things to think about. As you start to crystallize your dream for a nonprofit, this tool will take you through 10 easy first steps to move your dream for a nonprofit toward a launch plan that gets your dream off the ground. This checklist will walk you through your why. Considering your first teammates, your board, honing in on your beneficiary, choosing your nonprofit's name, your IRS application and more, there's an easy to do action step for each of the 10 things to consider that will bring your dream for a nonprofit and a whole lot clearer focus when you've completed it. If you'd like the free PDF from Dream to Action, your nonprofit pre-launch checklist, 10 essential steps for moving from nonprofit Idea to Impact. Just email me. Yeah, matt@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. That's MAT t@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Or look for the pop out on my website@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Alright. Nobody likes to have to make difficult decisions, but it's a core part of leadership for nonprofits at every level, money is limited, people have limits. Your mission can be constantly tested. Donors can be finicky, especially when they're writing big checks. Some board members might be promoting. Personal agenda and all of that can be working in conflict with one another. I've said it often, nonprofits would be a lot easier to run if there weren't people involved. More often than not, something I call decision paralysis can creep in nonprofit executive directors or departmental leaders who just kind of get stuck allowing ideas. Or people or programs or attitudes even to stick around for longer than they need to, which ends up having a significant negative impact. On the people around them and the work they're doing. Both. I worked with a large nonprofit organization in which the leadership really struggled to make the difficult decisions when it came to personnel. They were just afraid to let anyone go, or even put simple accountability practices into place. I mean, no one likes to fire people or have those conversations, but when you're leading other people. It happens from time to time, and they were all so paralyzed when it came to holding these underachievers accountable that the joke around the office turned into anytime an underachiever or a problem team member went in for a performance conversation, they would come out with a raise and a promotion. When faced with difficult decisions, even when the obvious thing to do, the right thing to do is directly in front of you. We typically do one of three things. Instead of hitting that issue head on, and I'll outline them for you right here. Those three things are first, we typically take the path of least resistance. This is where we say to ourselves and others. It will take too much work to change this, or it will just take too many difficult conversations. So we get paralyzed and we don't do anything. That's one thing or. Oftentimes as a second thing, we'll either step over it or step around it. This is where we think to ourselves, well, nobody has really complained about this lately, so I'll just kind of continue to tolerate it. Patrick Lencioni said that every time you ignore a problem, you train yourself to stay comfortable, and for many of us, we like the comfortable. Which means we've gotten really good at stepping around stuff that needs to get dealt with. And the third thing that we'll often do, and this is the one that drives me the most nuts, is we'll turn the issue that really needs some tough love and maybe a difficult head-on decision. We turn it into a false win. We do this a lot with projects that your organization maybe has done for a long time. Or fundraising events that have outlived their usefulness and don't raise as much money as the amount of effort it takes anymore, or a crazy idea that a board member has somehow pressured you or somebody else on your team into doing. We end up saying, even though we don't use these words, we say it this way, even though we've lost a truckload of donor money, we've planted a lot of seeds or built a lot of awareness, air quotes around those things or whatever, when really. The tough call, but the right call is to say, Hey, we tried, but that didn't work, and we need to learn what we can and move on. Okay. When we deflect, instead of making the tough decisions, because we're suffering from decision paralysis, we are ignoring the reality that things could be better, which is a disservice to donor dollars. It diminishes your team's morale because they can sense it, and it keeps your nonprofit from growing and being healthy. Now, my guess is there's something or someone that has come to mind for you as we've been talking about decision paralysis. There's some big or small issue in your nonprofit, even if you're early on in the journey that you know deep down has needed attention or correction or just needed to go into the circular file for a long time and you've avoided it, or you've stepped around it, or you've turned it into a false win. Let me give you a couple of more examples that I've actually worked through with nonprofit leaders recently. You've got a rogue board member that is deep pockets, supports the nonprofit in a big way, but oftentimes will kind of step outside the boundaries of the role of a board member, and they get into making suggestions in areas of the organization that aren't really appropriate or one of your fundraising events. Really needs an overhaul or to just be retired, but you don't exactly know what to do to replace the income. Or you've got a team member that is loved by everyone but is just not performing at the same level as the rest of the crew. Or there's a volunteer who shows up consistently, but turns out to be a real negative Nelly and is a little toxic around the office. Or how about this? You've got an antiquated piece of software that you're using. And it's too big of a hassle, or it feels like it's too big of a hassle to go through the process of switching to something new, even though everyone around the office hates the one that you're using. Is any of this starting to sound familiar? Are you getting the idea of maybe a place where you might be suffering from decision paralysis? What sounds the most like something you've not been dealing with in your nonprofit? Well, the next question is how do you break out of decision paralysis? There's three easy steps to get moving towards breaking free from this. It's not rocket science. But they are necessary to get your head in the right frame of mind, to set yourself and your team free from decision paralysis. And the key is, is that once you start each one of these steps to try to do them in as quick of succession as possible. In other words, don't let a month go by between step one and two and another month between step two and three. Try to move them forward all at once. Here's the three steps to break yourself free from decision paralysis. Step number one is you gotta name it. Write down all of the tough decisions that you've been avoiding. Solicit some feedback from one or two trusted people on your team who will tell you the truth because there's a good possibility that there are some decisions that need to be made in your organization that you're not even aware of, but they are, and you need them to tell you about them. Get it all out in the open on paper where you can start to attack these challenges one at a time. So number one, name it. Number two. For each one of these state the uncomfortable truth. For each one of these issues, I need for you to be as honest as possible and write down what you believe to be the true measurable impact that your decision paralysis on this issue. Has hat on your team has hat on. Your donors, your programs, your beneficiaries, your strategy, your mission, and the impact that you're wanting to make. It's a real moment of honesty and vulnerability, but you gotta put the down on paper exactly how this decision paralysis is holding you back and don't hold back. Put it all out there because once you pour it out and you see it on paper, it's like, oh my goodness, I gotta make a decision. So that's step number two. Step number three then, is to create a plan for that decision. Pick one of the issues that you did in step one. To tackle first, and I would recommend the hardest one first. I mean, after all, hopefully this plan is helping you to feel empowered to take on all the difficult decisions you've been holding off on for too long. So let's grab the bull by the horns and let's just go for it. Outline the steps that you need to take to resolve this and hear me loud and clear when I say this next part so that this thing. Is never an issue again. You're looking to write out the steps to solve this one time for all forever. Amen. All the steps it's gonna take you, write it all out so that this will go away for good. Then as a follow-up, do step one. Right away schedule the one-on-one conversation that you have to have, call the board together. Getting that first step accomplished will make this issue quickly, seem a lot smaller than it felt like to begin with, and putting together a game plan to tackle this decision paralysis does something actually pretty incredible to your leadership. It really, really empowers you. You have more confidence about making your decisions and the weight of all of it seems a lot more manageable, and hopefully if you've worked on the hardest one first, every other issue that has paralyzed you should now feel a lot easier. Plus, you've got a framework that you can come back to. Anytime you're facing a new challenge, that prior would've made you run and hide. Remember this as tough as it can be a decision that is the right one for your nonprofit. Will always make everything better. Your team, your volunteers, your partners and your beneficiaries are all gonna realize it. That's it for this episode. Thanks so much for listening to the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. I hope you found something valuable in this and you can now start to take the steps you need to, to break free from this decision paralysis that can grip all of us. Now, before we wrap up this episode, if you're tired of the constant stress and worry over money. Where it's coming from, how you're gonna cover the cost of all the impact that you wanna make. It means that fundraising is a struggle and we get it. Can I just say You're not alone in the struggle and we are here to help. Take a quick minute to head over to my website and get the free Fearless Fundraising mini course. It's a workbook and it's five short videos that go along with them that will walk you step by step through a game plan to build your fundraising messaging. With clarity, I a hundred percent believe that most nonprofits struggle and sometimes even fail, not because of lack of funding, but because of lack of clarity. No matter the size of your nonprofit, whether it's one team member or a hundred team members, if a potential donor doesn't understand instantly what you do and how their gift can help. They won't give. And I encounter all different sized and shaped organizations every day that it's next to impossible to know for sure what they do and how they help people. And that's where the Fearless Fundraising Workbook will help you get that clarity you need and get you more donor dollars quicker so you can make more impact. Get the Fearless Fundraising workbook and the videos that go along with it free on my website. Right now, a nonprofit launch plan.com. Again, nonprofit launch plan.com. And don't forget about the other free resource that PDF from Dream to Action, your nonprofit pre-launch checklist. 10 essential steps for moving from nonprofit Idea to Impact. That's free for you on the website as well, or you can email me and just request a copy of that. My email is matt@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Again, matt@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Again, thank you so much for being here. That's all for today's episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. Thanks for watching and listening. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on the next episode. And if you found this helpful at all, please share it with another nonprofit leader who you feel like might benefit. And until next time, thank you so much for watching and listening and keep making a difference.