In this three-part series, we explore the building blocks of culture and provoke thinking around leadership’s role in cultivating an engaging workplace. Culture is a critical yet difficult-to-define element of every organization. While leaders may strive to create or foster a particular culture, culture is something that develops and evolves organically as people interact and circumstances change. It can be promoted and modeled, but not controlled. It is also interpretive, and as such is most intimately reflected in how people…
In a recent LinkedIn post, Detroit’s “Gig Economy” was showcased highlighting several freelancers and their experiences. Freelancing is a growing component of our national (and local) economy, fueled in great part by technology and globalization. This creates powerful opportunity, and nowhere is the value proposition for “gigging” more compelling for business than in the nonprofit arena. Several dynamics converge to yield a strong case for considering outsourced talent as a uniquely effective mission-booster. As with any proposition, there are pros…
On the surface, a simple “Yes” or “No” question – are you getting what you need from your data? It’s a question every organization’s leadership should be asking themselves. And asking the question brings to light the fact that there are several layers that make the question anything but simple… First qualifier – what data are we talking about? In the nonprofit arena, discussions around data are often limited to three general areas of operations – program, philanthropy and finance.…
It’s commonly understood that the best way to address a problem is to prevent it from happening in the first place. This notion was described in a provocative metaphor by Gary Grobman in “An Introduction to the Nonprofit Sector.” http://shop.whitehatcommunications.com/products/An-Introduction-to-the-Nonprofit-Sector.html He describes the scenario of children falling into a river and the various ways of addressing this problem with the ideal solution, of course, being prevention of their falling in in the first place. That’s how we think about consulting.…