Joan Garry - Joan Garry's Guide to Nonprofit Leadership

Not authentic.

What does authenticity look like?

Working a room? Come on. I like to say that everyone is really interesting for at least 3–5 minutes. So, engage authentically, learn something, and maybe teach something.

Authenticity looks like admitting failure. Everyone makes mistakes, but a person who lives in the world authentically shares her mistakes, or values the role mistakes can make in becoming a more effective and productive organization.

Learn to Tell a Good Story: I drive staff and board clients mad talking about this. A great leader is a great storyteller. In the next chapter, I talk about this at great length, but it is absolutely critical and a key component of my coaching work with clients around commencement addresses and gala remarks. What kind of story? The kind of story that makes folks say “Tell me more.” or “Let me get out my checkbook.” or “Now THAT is a story I should write about!” or “Will you come talk to my congressperson?”

Have Fun; Be Funny:One of the reasons I started my blog ( https://blog.joangarry.com) was that nearly every nonprofit resource was so damned serious. I get it. Saving the world is serious business. But that kind of intensity is unsustainable. You have to have a release valve. I find that behaving like an eight‐year‐old is often a very good strategy.

FIGURE 1.3 Aasun's other board.

So, we were in the middle of a board meeting and a quite serious discussion about the need for greater investment in technology. Our IT Director, Aasun Eble, who was indeed quite able, was giving a serious and dry presentation. Seemingly out of nowhere, the following slide appeared.

Aasun decided we should all meet his three poodles. The room became weak with laughter, but that is not the end of the story.

From that day forward, you did not give a board presentation at a GLAAD board meeting without a picture of your pets appearing somewhere on a slide. This gimmick brought my senior staff to life for our board in a way that resonated for them. It was no longer the Director of IT or the CFO. It was Kerry, the dad to two adorable kittens, Marilyn and Monroe. And it was unexpected and funny. It brought us together in a different sort of way.

Be Bold: I believe that with authenticity and conviction comes a sense of fearlessness. Now I'm not suggesting that you suggest a bold new strategy or initiative in your first week (that would be stupid, not bold). I'm suggesting that your board, your staff, and your constituents or clients deserve a leader who will make the tough calls, come up with a new idea, and try it. I'm not talking about arrogance here, nor am I talking about a leader who behaves like a lone cowboy. But remember: didn't you step into a leadership role to change the status quo?

Be Joyful: Related to but different from humor. This should not be that hard to feel or to project.

I have a beef with Executive Directors who don't see their work as a privilege. To get paid to do something that matters? To make a living making some part of the world a better place? I'm not naive; the work can be hard, painful, and sometimes feel like too steep a climb. But make no mistake. It's a joy and a privilege. The most effective nonprofit leaders see it this way, and their attitudes are palpable.

Did you just read the list and remember wistfully that Dino's Pizzeria is looking for drivers?

Don't give up on me so easily.

Remember:

Nobody has all these attributes from the start.

These attributes can be developed, and you can present them in your own way.

These attributes do not replace skills; I am just arguing that attributes are often ignored as you consider your own leadership bag of tricks. Working on cultivating these attributes can have as much if not more of a payoff than a class on how to read a balance sheet or a certificate in nonprofit fundraising.

I saved the most important lesson for last. Understanding how power works as a nonprofit leader is critical. Realizing that developing your core attributes in addition to skills can take your leadership game from good to great.

But never forget where the real power comes from.

It comes from the two to three sentences that you and your board slaved over and nearly wordsmithed to a pulp: Your mission. What is it you do, and what is it in the service of ?

Your mission statement is your North Star. The big thing that matters most. Your role as a leader is to keep the organization focused on your mission, even when you are deciding about the centerpieces for the gala.

Great nonprofit leaders have certain skills. Work on honing core attributes and develop not only a real understanding of the nature of nonprofit power but an appreciation for it as well — all in the service of your mission — your North Star.

Nonprofit leadership is neither simple nor easy. It's not easy being green. Like I said, you are in the mountain moving business — it couldn't possibly be easy. But with your mission as your beacon, it is worth every single minute.

Some organizations are easier to explain to folks than others. An organization that helps clients directly would seem to be the easiest to explain; advocacy and lobbying often feel more complex and abstract. School officials can struggle to identify messages that clearly differentiate their school from other choices parents have for their kids.

But get this: even the easy ones don't always get it right.

Cities and towns all across the US have organizations that deliver meals to folks who can't, for one reason or another, get out of the house. Meals on Wheels is the most common name you hear. These organizations offer support to those who are homebound and innumerable opportunities for people to be at their very best — to be plain old good neighbors. And this is what I love about nonprofits.

When I get calls to help organizations raise money, the most common request is this: “Can you teach my board members to ask for money?” I politely tell these folks that I don't do that as part of my work.

Instead, I tell them that I teach board members how to tell stories. They are baffled until I tell them that a check is the organic end result of a great story told by an organization's ambassador.

A check is the organic end result of a great story told by an organization's ambassador.

When I work with organizations, I begin by describing a cocktail party — no cocktails and the only guest is me. It's a cocktail party for your organization, and the premise is that I know precious little. Like oh‐so‐many people who attend such events, I show up because of the view of Central Park from the terrace of the fabulous apartment or the open bar or both.

I say to each person, one by one: “Tell me about your organization.”

The only direction they are given? Be succinct. Make me care. Make it stick.

Here's how it played out with the staff of a meal delivery organization.

“We deliver hundreds of meals each week.”

Good. Data is good, because size does matter. But data alone does not stick with me. And this is the single most common statement food delivery nonprofits make, certain that the impressive number of meals served is the key success metric that will inspire me to write a check.