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Burn baby burn

J. Michael Cavitt — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:48:16 +0000

Nancy Lublin was right on the mark in a Fast Company article when she observed:

The biz model [for nonprofits] destines us for burnout. We take people with big hearts and crush their souls; you sign on to help cure cancer and then leave because you’re just shilling rubber bracelets. You want universal literacy, but the only way to move toward it is a big chicken dinner at a fancy hotel.

She is speaking about the problem created by how nonprofit volunteers and staff are managed and how nonprofit volunteers and staff should approach their work.

This problem affects both volunteers and staff. It is indicates poor placement, supervision and management.

I think the nonprofits with few or no staff are especially vulnerable to this problem. It starts with poor volunteer screening and placement system. It continues with poor or no supervision. And is aggravated by poor planning and coordination by the board and leadership.

BUT all of these issues have relatively simple ways they can be solved.

When you screen for connection to mission, for governance vs results and for personal interests, the volunteer can be placed in the position that will maximize results and minimize burnout.

When committee chairs are placed effectively and given training in supervision, the volunteer will see results and have a sense of fulfilling the mission to which they are connected.

When the Board is focused on governance and creates a management team, the volunteer will function in an effective and rewarding environment.

None of these steps are expensive. They do require an experienced person to help create the operating system.

We do can help do that.

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photo credit: DieselDemon

Volunteers: Care of

J. Michael Cavitt — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:30:11 +0000

Many nonprofits treat volunteers like fingers for a leaking dike. They stick them into whatever role seems to have the most need at the moment. This is a mistake.

Poor decisions about volunteer assignment, I believe, increases burnout and, more importantly, underperformance.

A board member or committee member, who underperforms, accepts a responsibility but doesn’t complete it or completes it late. The lateness and neglect undermine the effectiveness of the board, the committee and ultimately the organization.

Underperformance is more damaging than someone leaving because they are burnout. I know that a person who leaves won’t be doing anything. I don’t know a person is underperforming because he/she is in the wrong position will not carryout a responsibility until after the deadline.

All nonprofits should have an effective volunteer coordinator. This should be one of the first positions created after the initial board has been created.

I believe, strongly, that anyone helping a volunteer find their place in an organization should:
a. understand from where the volunteer’s passion for the organization and its mission comes;
b. identify, as much as possible, what are the volunteer’s unique abilities and interests; and,
c. offer to the volunteer as many options as possible from which to choose to increase the probability they will feel fulfilled and energized by their volunteer work.

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photo credit: maplegirlie

Nonprofit Burnout

J. Michael Cavitt — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:31:30 +0000

I am always on the lookout for someone who is writing about things that I think are important to volunteer leaders of nonprofits.

Nancy Lublin has once again hit a nail on the head with her new column in Fast Company March 2010.

Read it and learn.

In addition to her suggestions to organizations: 1. Don’t be crazy. 2 Ground people, don’t grind them. 3. Give them a break.

I go back to my big three: 1. Get you committee chairs off the Board. 2. Have a management team. 3. Screen and assign volunteers based on their interests and abilities.

A hiatus?

J. Michael Cavitt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:05:35 +0000

When is it a hiatus and when is it goofing off? I have been thinking about this ever since I realized I haven’t posted anything new in my blog since September.

At first I thought I was taking a hiatus because I was working on a couple of projects that used a lot of my time; however, looking back I think maybe I have been goofing off.

Of course, technology is the answer. As a result, I have added a new tool to my toolbox: MacSpeech. The idea is that I enjoy speaking more than writing. So, I’ll be speaking the first draft of my posts in the future and hopefully, have the last of a hiatus or goofing off, whichever it was.

So far, the learning curve for MacSpeech is a little flat. With this dictation, it is getting better.

Let’s get back to hiatus versus goofing off. Procrastination is very sneaky. I can be convinced that I’m just taking a little time off, so that I can be more effective in the future; while what is really happening is, I’m goofing off.

This is a problem that we as volunteers, volunteer leaders, and members of nonprofits need to address continually. If it is a hiatus, a break to refresh oneself, those are needed periodically. However, if it is goofing off, it raises a number of questions. Am I in the right organization, an organization to which my heart is connected? Am I in the right position? Am I over committed?

These are a few of the evaluation questions that need to be on the top of our minds continually so we and our organizations are getting best results.

Now on to sharing ideas to help nonprofits get their best results.
photo credit: Elsie esq.

Group Dynamics and the Board

J. Michael Cavitt — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:51:21 +0000

photo credit: S amo

Group dynamics will make or break your Board.

An important part of functional group dynamics is understanding where you are and where the other Board members are on key issues. Without this understanding there can be no compromise or collaboration; no unity on issues.

You and your fellow Board members need to understand each other on at least these key areas:

1. What kind of role does the Board play in its group process?
2. Who in the organization drives our board activity?
3. How do we define our community base?
4. What size is our community base?
5. Where should the leadership for our organization come from?
6. How do we feel about power and authority?
7. How responsible are we to our community?
8. Does our organization and the Board focus more on relationships or tasks?
9. How much structure do we as Board members like?
10. How important is history and tradition vs contemporary models and trends?

[The above points are taken in part or in whole from Ten Dimensions that Shape Your Board by Vanderwall and Benavides.]

You and your Board has the opportunity to work together more effectively when you use an assessment tool to help you communicate about these issues. Then you can use it as a basis for an ongoing discussion in the integration of new Board members.

Contact me. I would be happy to discuss this at more length with you.

Board change and group dynamics

J. Michael Cavitt — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:52:05 +0000

Every time someone new comes on your board, the group dynamics of the board changes. The group has to reform. It has to start over to some degree.

Bruce Tuckman developed and published in 1965 a 4-stage model of group development. He labelled the stages:

1. Forming: The group comes together and gets to initially know one other and form as a group.

2. Storming: A chaotic vying for leadership and trialling of group processes.

3. Norming: Eventually agreement is reached on how the group operate.

4. Performing: The group practices its craft and becomes effective in meeting its objectives.

Later he added:

5. Adjourning: The process of “unforming” the group, that is, letting go of the group structure and moving on.

When a group has a tool for forming with new members, the process is smoothed, especially the storming stage.

I think Ten Dimensions that Shape Your Board is a strong tool you can use each time a new member comes on the board to include them and to help the board reform.

Photo credit:

Stick People Meet. 14″x18″. Acrylic on canvas board. November 2006., originally uploaded by stuzehner.

Membership: Footprints in the sand

J. Michael Cavitt — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:44:31 +0000

Membership ebbs and flows in all organizations. When you don’t know why, you can’t effectively recruit new members. You have to understand from the member’s point of view WIIFM or “What’s In It For Me?” You need to know why your prospects do or don’t pick your organization over other opportunities.

When you understand WIIFM you can effectively recruit and retain members. As you grow your membership you will have more volunteers, better programs and easier fundraising. All this leads to better outcomes and is key to the survival of your oranization.

How do you figure out which WIIFM are important to your members and prospective members?

Ask yourself:

What does my organization offer that isn’t available anywhere else or that we do better than other organizations?

Ask members and prospective members:

What do you need that we could provide?

These are the unique benefits you can offer for being a member of your organization.

Here’s an example of a classic doomed-to-fail organization that doesn’t understand this.

“We are the National Association of Left-handed Chess Players. We formed to allow left-handed chess players to associate with other left-handed chess players and play chess. But…our membership is struggling a bit. We know there are left handed chess players because we talk to them at chess tournaments. You can spot them right away–they are the ones moving their chess pieces with their left hand. But we don’t seem to be able to convince them to join us.”

This organization has made a classic mistake. They decided what people would want in their organization–socializing and playing chess on the basis of handedness. Then, when they couldn’t recruit new members, they were stuck. They had already decided what they were without asking potential members what they would look for in an organization dedicated to left handed chess players.

Remember, you must ask both your current members and your potential members. Your current members have already found WIIFM, so to retain them you have to make sure they keeping getting it. And to grow the organization, you have to know what potential members want.

Your next challenge: how to tell everyone what you found out! This is marketing your organization and a topic for another day.
Photo Credit: Footprints in the sand, by Bethany L King on Flickr