Nonprofit CEOs need to spend a lot of time in promo mode. They need to be out there, promoting their cause and their organization. They need to spend a lot of time talking with donors, with potential donors, with volunteers, with workers, with people in the community, maybe with journalists – and in those contexts they need to be in promo mode. They need to talk about the importance of their cause, and how their organization is addressing it, and how it’s doing great things, and telling inspiring stories of changed lives, and all that. Go for it.
The problem is when they spend so much time in promo mode they never exit from it. There’s a time to be in promo mode, and there’s a time to be in assessment mode. In promo mode, talk about the things going well and the things you know. In assessment mode, talk both about what’s going well and what’s not going well; talk about the things you know as well as the things you don’t know, or wonder about, or fear.
I run into this as a consultant to nonprofits. Sometimes – not often, but sometimes – when I talk with nonprofit CEOs, they are stuck in promo mode. They give me the pitch about how great their organization is and how great its achievements are. But I’m an outside consultant. I’m not here to be your next donor, I’m here to help you look seriously at the reality of where you’re at, the good as well as the bad, the victories as well as the defeats. If you’re talking to an outside consultant, you should switch over from promo mode to assessment mode.
When else?
1. With your board. Yes, you are counting on them to support your organization, with their funds, their contacts, and more. There’s a place for some promo talk. But you are also counting on them to give you wisdom, direction, and ideas about how to do your work better. For that, they need to hear you speak in assessment mode and not just promo mode.
2. With your top leadership team. For the rank-and-file workers, you want them to be encouraged; you want to keep morale up; you want them to continue to believe in the cause and your organization’s good place in it. For them, the mix will be heavier with promo content and lighter with assessment content. But your top leadership, those who work with you for the most important decisions – they need all the facts. They need to hear about what’s bad as well as what’s good, and about what you don’t know as well as what you do know. If you spend too much of your time with them in promo mode, you’ll lose credibility, because they know better – for at least their own piece of the pie.
love, joy, peace … Michael
www.michaeljaffarian.com. I’m a freelance consultant to nonprofits, with an emphasis on research. I’m keen to learn about your organization, and you might be interested in learning more about what I do. Let’s have a conversation. Write to me, people! emichaeljaffarian@gmail.com.
Vol. 1 No. 48