So many books and courses about leadership are based on the great leaders of the world. My approach is not for the great leaders of the world but for people like you and me. I’m not a great leader. As a kid, sure, I did think I might be president or at least senator, but I never got there. Instead, I am writing about leadership as it relates to you as a fundraiser or any other staff member or volunteer in a nonprofit organization or community group – someone who wants to make a difference and simply needs encouragement to find out how to produce some needed changes and make improvements. In your organization, I believe you can have the ability to lead from where you are right now.
The story of the Titanic, my experience as a youth leader, and working with nonprofits have led me to conclusions about the broad leadership potential in organizations. When most people think about leaders, they assume this means leaders at the top. However, nonprofits are more open to all types of leaders than other sectors in society. I have seen leadership exercised from every position in a nonprofit.
Years ago, the Toyota innovation that authorized “every employee on the assembly line to immediately halt production when they noticed a problem or defect” proved to be highly successful. This innovative idea empowered every person on the assembly line to step up, take a leadership role, and make a difference. In your organization, you also have the opportunity to take a leadership role and make a difference. The required action is stepping up.
Behind the ambition to step up is the passion we all feel as human beings to care. We see this in the way people rush to help others in a disaster or emergency. Few of us would walk away from a small child alone crying in a playground or an elderly woman trying to cross a busy street. We want to step up to help or support whenever we can. Nonprofit organizations are open to participation with everyone’s voice in discussions and with team decisions on initiatives, regardless of where they originate.
Both leadership and management rely on participation, and they succeed when individuals from all levels of the organization are engaged. I’ve seen this work especially when employees are enabled to identify, develop, and implement improvements in what they do. At Foster Parents Plan, for example, we used a version of total quality management that empowered teams throughout the organization to identify potential improvements in their work areas. The underlying concept was that the person you pass your work to is your customer, and the customer is always right. The teams were led by staff members from all levels in the organization, and everyone was responsible for suggesting and discussing changes. The result was a significant improvement in performance through a more efficient workflow with resulting cost savings. It was a management challenge, but the solution came about due to the leadership of many people at various levels in the organization, the people who actually do the work.
In the typical triangle-shaped organization chart, the board of directors is at the peak of the triangle, the executive director is next in the organizational hierarchy, and the managers and then the rest of the staff are in the lower levels (the base of the triangle). However, a nonprofit organization has two distinct stakeholder groups that are critical for its success – donors who provide the funds to the organization and program participants or beneficiaries of the program services. With this perspective, let’s invert the triangle. Now, the top level features all the managers and staff members who are in contact with the organization’s most important external stakeholders (donors and program beneficiaries). Sure, the board sets policy and helps in fundraising, and the executive director leads with vision and direction, but the rest of the staff actually makes an organization responsive, effective, and appealing to the two stakeholder groups. Keep these points in mind as you begin “leading from now.”
I often ask, “Who sees problems first in the organization?” The answer is easy: The staff including fundraisers who are closest to and in regular contact with the key external stakeholders (donors, beneficiaries, officials, partners) are the first to see where changes are needed. Usually, these staff members are seen as responsible for implementing agreed-upon plans, but in a well-functioning organization, they are also responsible for research, monitoring, evaluation, and improvements. These frontline staff members are an ongoing “focus group” and generally know first and best what should be done to respond to concerns raised by donors, beneficiaries, or others. In contact and on alert, they are the “first to know” from what I call “daily research in work” before surveys or studies even know what questions to ask.
As a frontline person “first to know about donors,” a fundraiser is responsible for introducing and managing the changes your organization should be making day by day and week by week to become more attractive to donors.
Leading Others When You See the Need – Across All Lines
The commonsense approach to “leading from now” includes getting along well with other people inside your organization. Learn how to engage them. Talk with them and listen to them. Find out how to tap into their motivations. Talk about the good things they have achieved, and work with them as colleagues (not as opponents or subordinates). In this way, you can lead others when they are in different departments or teams.
For the organization’s fundraiser, the value for society is raising more money for needed programs and services. This is a vision that almost everyone in the organization can get behind. You show how you care deeply for the organization’s work and for your colleagues. They will respect your passion and authenticity when you urge them to excellence so your organization can be the best it can be and attract more funding. They will appreciate it when you “walk the talk” and hold yourself accountable for excellence.
I often talk about fundraising as a “courtship” with donors, and leadership is also like a “courtship” with colleagues and associates. When building any relationship, success is based on knowing what the other person wants (in this case, funds for their budget), sharing what you want (their help to make it an attractive organization), and working together to get what is needed in place (an organization that appeals to donors). These are important common sense steps.
Balancing Strong Leadership and Supporting Leadership
Throughout my career, I have learned a lot from business strategies and models. The concept of “leading from now” refers to the ability to attain the right balance of strong leadership and supporting leadership. Strong leadership is persistent and stays the course for what is needed; people clearly know what you expect of them. Supporting leadership is being interested to learn where other people stand and finding ways to move forward together. Strong leadership and supporting leadership are complementary and, especially when you are not the boss, you need to be both strong and supportive in dealing with colleagues.
Here are nine tips to help you “lead from now” when you are not the boss and how to do this without creating conflict with others in your organization:
Build your requests to others on your agreed vision, mission, values, strategies, and goals.
Be clear that, for you to succeed in fundraising, you need a responsive organization.
Show repeatedly that you are doing this for the good of the organization, not for yourself.
Ground your opinions in solid research, professional knowledge, and telling quotes.
Be respectful with others and show you are doing this to increase funds for their work.
Share how the changes and concepts you advocate support the organization’s leaders.
Present the issues as speaking for current and potential donors and what they expect.
Involve staff from other departments to make plans for the changes you need.
Check your plan with top leaders to secure their backing as a step to fundraising success.
By embracing these strategies and stepping up to lead from now, you can help your organization thrive and make a significant impact.
Conclusion
The key conclusion in the concept of “leading from now” is: NOW is the time, HERE is the place, and YOU are the person. Opportunity is everywhere. It’s up to you to take advantage of it. Who is responsible? The only answers that work are like those we saw in the Titanic in Chapter 3. Who is responsible? “Me!” “I am responsible!” “Ultimately I must take responsibility for what I see.” “I will step up even when no one wants me to.” “I am responsible for making us attractive to donors.” “I must do everything internally so we can succeed externally.” “I am committed to our success!” “The world needs me to do this!” “I am responsible to help in fundraising however I can.”
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