From Firefighting to Future-Building: The Ultimate Guide to Nonprofit Strategy
Anybody feel stuck in a tactical whirlwind right now? I like to call it a dumpster fire. No matter what you're experiencing, it's time to pull up.
Pulling up = Shifting from being a reactive firefighter to a strategic architect who prioritizes long-term mission alignment over daily fires.
By mastering this shift, you move beyond merely managing an organization to intentionally engineering the large-scale change the world actually needs.
And maybe sleep better at night. In this month's newsletter, I'm talking all things strategy. Strategy can be taught! Join me.
A strategic plan outlines direction, intention, and next steps in building toward goals. It’s one tool for keeping everyone focused on strategy. Here are tips for a strong planning process.
Building strategic skills as a nonprofit leader is about shifting your perspective from the micro to the macro. Here are some practices to try.
Strategic Dashboards: Give them a one-page visual that shows trends in Impact, Cash Reserves, and Reputation. If you give them a 20-page spreadsheet, they will look for typos. If you give them a dashboard, they will look for solutions.
To build strategic skills in a leadership team, you have to move them from being Department Heads to Organizational Owners. Here’s how to make the shift.
This handout provides a step-by-step roadmap for using Gemini to transform a visionary mission into a rigorous, logic-backed Theory of Change based on industry-leading frameworks.
I offer organization and leadership consulting services focused on leadership effectiveness, team performance, governance alignment, and organizational impact. Prices start at $250.
““We are socialized to see what is wrong, missing, off, to tear down the ideas of others and uplift our own. To a certain degree, our entire future may depend on learning to listen, listen without assumptions or defenses.””
I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. One of my favorite ways to reflect on strategy is hiking a nearby trail. This is Big Lost Cove Cliffs.
