Begin Transcript:
Hello! This is Ken Jones, CVO of Above Goal
The topic for this mini briefing is Authentic & Fearless Nonprofit Executive Leadership and important topic in our sector.
On your screen are 10 traits that I think make a great leader.
First, they understand the tiny and the big. I like to say that a leader must have a tacit understanding of the little and the big things. Im not like most, but I don’t believe in blind delegation, I believe in delegation of course. But you have to delegate. But you must try to understand, to the detail that you can, the division lines that you've delegated to so you can manage those divisions. This is hard because many organizational leaders have not had the opportunity to work in IT, fundraising, brand, delivery of the mission. But it's important that a leader takes the time to get to know their organization.
Second, listens, hears, and processes. Easy. Were you listening? Did you hear it? Are you processing?..and bonus points for telling us when that process is over.
Third, celebrates success. Most folks want to feel that they have done a good job. It’s important that the leader set the tone for how the organization capstones important milestones. I would add in here celebrate the failures too. If the organization, your team, has done their level best and they failed, it's time for a collaborative autopsy and that's a great team building endeavor.
Four, takes accountability. You say as a leader, “I was wrong on this one and as the leader of the organization I can take accountability for my misstep and learn from it.” When you have leaders that speak like that you never want to stop working for them.
Five, leads with vision, courage, and empathy. I have nothing to add there.
Six, clear. I know where you stand because you are rooted and you are willing to be moved AND you have provided a clear template on how others can move you.
Seven, lead Teacher, Lead Student. I love this one. Because leaders have the opportunity to model behaviors and the most important behavior they can model is being a student and in doing so they can foster a culture of inquiry and learning in the workplace.
Eight, integrity. Leadership sets the tone for how much integrity is valued in the workplace. If leadership doesn’t see it as a value, the team will act accordingly. I think that's all I can say on this one.
Nine, reflective. It’s nice to work for thinkers and deliberators. Again this is a behavior that leadership must model.
Ten, fighter. Fighting for staff, constituents. I think grit is important. This sector isn’t about making widgets its about changing lives for the better, so it's always pleasing to me personally when that passion shines through.
As an exercise, privately think through an area where you can personally improve as a leader.
This is Ken Jones, CVO of Above Goal
Have a great day
(480) 630-8870
End Transcript
Above Goal has identified 9 common pain points that are experienced in day-to-day executive and revenue leadership. We'd like to know if these 9 pain points are a challenge for you so we can develop tools to help you raise more money for your organization. Would you consider taking a brief 3-minute virtual fundraising/development assessment so we can learn about the day-to-day experience managing fundraising at your organization and sub-sector? As a thank you, we have prepared a private fundraising resources blog that you can access at the end of the brief assessment.
About Above Goal:
Above Goal provides technology, media, fundraising strategy, and advisory services to power the “cause” sector. Our flagship product, Above Goal, is the only commercial fundraising software designed specifically for capital campaigns.