Prepare Your Non-profit for a Crisis

Sometime in everyone’s career, regardless of how lucky or strategic you have been, something happens that you cannot control. It doesn’t usually happen at the most convenient time, either.
During such a “crisis” you have to stay on top of what is happening and deal with the situation maturely and with control.

A non-profit crisis can come in the form of a scandal (the accountant ran away with $50,000), through an “act of God (as in the Asian tsunami or Hurricane Katrina), or the executive director all of a sudden leaves under “cloudy circumstances.”

However and whenever a serious crisis occurs you should be prepared with a media strategy that minimizes your organization’s risk of going under. So, this week let’s look at ways you can successfully deal with a crisis in your non-profit.

Report from Mongolia – November 8

I spent every day of last week providing intensive training sessions for NGOs at the Open Society Forum (the huge philanthropy funded by George Soros). It was challenging, but it was also great fun. I was training NGOs working on the environment, human rights, open governance, budget reform and other issues. One of the highlights for me was the work with a coalition of 12 organizations that are trying to minimize the impact on mining in the Gobi Desert. I believe that this will become the single largest issue in this country.

The government has been negotiating for years with Canadian and Australian mining companies, and just a few months ago they signed an agreement to allow open pit mining in the Gobi Desert. This will be the largest copper mine in the world and will quadruple Mongolia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The mine should be open by 2014 and is expected to produce copper (and revenue) for approximately 80 years. This will be a huge amount of money for this most rural and isolated country.

Report from Mongolia – November 1, 2009

It has been quite a whirlwind trip-I spent last week in Guatemala where the temperature was in the high 70s, and then arrived in Mongolia three days ago where the temperature was minus 10 degrees. I’ve just facilitated a weekend retreat in a Ger village (Gers are portable felt homes, like yurts) outside of the capital city of Ulaanbaatar trying not to freeze. This is the first time in my life that I’ve hiked to the mountains to stay warm and out of the wind and cold. Oh well, everything is an adventure in life and it is the journey and not always the results that count.

The retreat was filled with amazing people who come from herder families that raise goats, sheep, horses, camels. They have lived their whole lives in Mongolia and it was fascinating talking with them about the issues and the extent of the poverty and social indicators. It was really educational and I began to read some material on this and found:

• 40% of the people live on less than $2.00 per day
• Over 37% are “officially” classified as living in poverty but a much larger percentage of people are simply not counted
• Over 50% of the population has severe addiction to alcohol (Vodka and beer)
• Literacy rates are among the highest in the world at over 95% but unemployment is extremely high.
• The gap between the small pockets of vast wealth and extreme poverty
• is thinning out the middle class

Trip to Guatemala: Reflections on Our Venture

On October 18th I traveled with P.J. D’Amico to spend an intense week in Guatemala working with organizations committed to women’s reproductive rights and independence for people with disabilities. These two nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are doing excellent work with the primarily indigenous, Mayan community in one of the three poorest countries in Latin America (the other two are Haiti and Bolivia).

Guatemala is a country of amazing beauty—everything is green and bright with bougainvilleas and other amazing flowers and fruits—no wonder it is known as the “land of perpetual spring.” The country has 22 volcanoes and even through the mist and clouds of the early morning, we could see the magnificent Fuego (Fire) Volcano that dominates the town of Antigua, where we stayed. Antigua is very quaint, with winding streets, cobblestones, courtyards and Catholic churches at every turn. The city is filled with Spanish language schools, artesian markets and wonderful restaurants. It is in no way typical of the rest of Guatemala. It is certainly not typical of the countryside or of Guatemala City, where we flew into.

10 Tips for Leading Small Groups

Most people think of a leader as someone who sets the strategic vision and direction of their organization, raises money, and interviews and hires new staff. But a significant amount of a leader’s time is also spent facilitating groups (e.g., committees, board, staff).

I have led a number of organizations over the years, and I’d have to say that the majority of my time has actually been spent facilitating small groups. It is in these small settings that people learn the active role of listening, presenting and arguing ideas, defending values and accomplishing tasks. Understanding leadership in small groups is an indispensable skill in effectively managing and leading an organization.

Let’s look at some ways you can become a better leader and facilitator of small groups.

1. Make sure everyone agrees on the agenda. Try to involve the group in the development of the agenda, and ask them if they have additional ideas for the meeting.
2. Create an atmosphere of involvement and engagement. Make sure you encourage people to ask questions and actively participate in the discussion.
3. Summarize points and decisions before moving onto the next agenda item. Make sure people are clear about what was decided by their discussions.
4. Rotate leadership. Give everyone in the group a chance to lead the group. In a small group, everyone is a leader with a different role. Try to rotate the chairperson of the group on a weekly or monthly basis so that each person gets an opportunity to develop their leadership skills.
5. Conflict is not necessarily bad. Conflict is inevitable with any group so don’t discourage it. Make sure there is a climate that allows disagreement and conflict to surface in a constructive manner.
6. Determine who will be making the decisions. Some groups will not act until there is consensus; others will make decisions by majority vote; others are just looking for discussion and then have the CEO/executive director or chairperson make the decisions. Regardless of which decision-making style you use, make sure the group is clear about how decisions will be made and who has the power and authority to make decisions.
7. Put timelines on the agenda to make sure you get through everything. This is also a good way to move through the topics at a decent pace.
8. Be clear what items really need action. Some items are just for discussion while other items on the agenda require a decision to be made. Clarify when you are introducing the topic whether it needs action or is just for discussion.
9. Create win-win situations. This is especially true with new groups or with people who don’t have much group work experience. Try to have the early items on the agenda less controversial so that the decisions reached demonstrate success. This will help build confidence that everyone in the group has the ability to work well together.
10. Evaluate the meeting. Ask the members: How did the meeting go? What was positive? What was negative? What would you change?