Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Seminar Review

This past Wednesday following the Proinspire workshop for this month, many Fellows and alumni attended Good to Great and the Social Sectors: a discussion of what makes an organization Great. This seminar was led by a panel consisting of Schroeder Stribling, Executive Director of N Street Village, and James Mathews, President of Healthy Companies International, and focused on many concepts raised by Jim Collins in his monogram by the same name. The room was full of young and vibrant fellows and leaders from many different organizations, looking to soak up veteran knowledge and gain insight into the nonprofit world.

Stribling spoke first of her experience at N St, tasked with measuring success – a feat much more difficult and open-ended at many nonprofits vs. the private sector. Without a bottom line to quantify, her steps to measure success were as follows:
1. Figure out the problem statement – what is the key issue the organization is working towards?
2. Define the information you need to answer the question & understand the organization’s impact.
3. The data management & mechanics in place need to match the informational inputs you have access to.

Her key challenge, after following these steps, was the lack of benchmark for her particular organizational goal – something that most nonprofits can relate to. In the end, it’s a continued work in progress. Success at a nonprofit cannot be measured by simple metrics alone.

Stribling then spoke of her views on nonprofit leadership, stating that a key difference between the leadership needs at a nonprofit vs. the private sector is the need to make the organization “attractive” – without the allure of a meaty salary, nonprofit leaders are even more accountable for keeping the spirit of the mission alive in the everyday working environment. “Love” for the organization and its people is the key ingredient to getting things done, she says, and has focused her energy in her own work in this way.

Mathews took over and spoke about his work at Healthy Companies Int’l, admitting to us immediately that an organization is never “great” – it is always a journey, a dynamic process (think Circuit City, for example), and that the best way to fuel the ups is to get the right people on the bus. In the book by Jim Collins, he describes the sweet spot when you are able to get passion and skills to mesh into the perfect position, and this is especially important to nonprofits, where firing and turnover can be more costly than keeping on a mediocre performer. All fellows in the room were a part of this process, and undoubtedly felt a bit of accountability for their work at this point!

At the end after a bit of discussion and Q&A, both speakers gave all of us entering the non-profit sector a few tidbits of advice:
• Have your boss ask you one thing that the organization did right and one thing it didn’t do well – everyday. This will hold your boss, yourself, and the entire team accountable for the work you put out daily.
• Connect with the passion at your organization – get attached to something.
• Bring your own ideas to the plate every time – understand your opportunities and the impact you can have.
• When you bring up an opportunity/growth goal for the organization, always bring your own willingness to help address it.
• Ask your manager to define success for you on every project and your entire role.
• Take the job no one wants to do and do it better than anyone else.
• Listen deeply – all great leaders do so.
• Be as adaptable as possible (think about the quick changes the Tiger Woods Foundation had to make!)
• Wonder: What can I do to make my organization great?
• Stay attentive to the distinction between social & private sectors – the differentiation gap will be diminishing in the upcoming years

Thinking about these final pieces of advice and thought starters is a great way for us to stay connected to our missions, power through during the tough times, and succeed in every task we undertake during our fellowship with Proinspire and beyond.