The ‘strategic horizon‘ most nonprofits use is between 3-5 years. That seems to be about as far into the future as we feel able to project – either in terms of what we might confidently predict about our operating environment, or the timespan over which we are willing to commit to achieving our goals. Such… Continue reading Balancing ‘long’ and ‘short’ strategic perspectives
Tag: risk management
Juggling Cats, Chainsaws, & Bowling Balls
Leadership roles often requires a capacity to deal with multiple challenges. Consequently, we need to be able to share our ‘attention budget’ between various roles, functions, priorities, and tasks. Leaders as Jugglers The juggling metaphor is sometimes used to suggest the dexterous handling of these multiple demands. Each metaphoric ‘ball’ is given its due, and… Continue reading Juggling Cats, Chainsaws, & Bowling Balls
Reactive, Responsive, & Proactive Leadership
A recent exploration of thinking styles (see The [mind] map is not the territory) included a reference to automatic thinking. It suggested that unconscious (usually emotional) reactions to triggering events or circumstances can benefit from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. But that was only a small part of the automatic thinking story. Reactiveness, Responsiveness, or Proactiveness Part… Continue reading Reactive, Responsive, & Proactive Leadership
Are you a ‘responsible person’?
‘In loco parentis’ In a previous life, I was a teacher. Fairly early in my career, a boy in my Year 8 class was reported to have left the room. “Sir!! Kim’s outside having a fit!” With no idea as to the severity of the seizure, I had to choose instantly between my responsibility to… Continue reading Are you a ‘responsible person’?
The Wisdom of Epimetheus: Igniting Sparks & Fighting Fires
Paradoxically, nonprofit leaders are charged with igniting sparks of creativity and innovation while at the same time being watchful for grass fires, or worse, burning platforms. ‘Stealing fire from heaven’ In Greek mythology, Prometheus was associated with innovation. His name meant ‘forethinker’, from which we can discern his role as an archetype of all futurists,… Continue reading The Wisdom of Epimetheus: Igniting Sparks & Fighting Fires
Combating Conflict: Negotiating Interests
The ‘view from the balcony’ was recently offered as a perspective that could assist with the resolution of conflicted positions during negotiations. Further reflections on this theme are offered here. Types of Conflict Illustrating the diversity of matters we may find ourselves conflicted about, the partial typology below offers just five conflict types for each… Continue reading Combating Conflict: Negotiating Interests
Elevating perspectives
The view from a high (or higher) vantage point has long been linked with strategic thinking and action. While often used in a military context, there is also a long tradition of symbolically linking elevated positions with elevated thinking about much broader concerns. A selection of symbolic references to various ‘elevated perspectives’ is offered in… Continue reading Elevating perspectives
Fairness & Justice at Work & Beyond
My recent post on Good Change: Bad Change included a chart on organisational justice (reproduced below for convenience) which suggested only some of the aspects of justice that we need to consider as nonprofit leaders. This post picks up on that theme and uses another collection of charts to broaden our consideration of the many… Continue reading Fairness & Justice at Work & Beyond
Agents, Proxies, & Servants – Agency Part 2
Agency Theory was highlighted in Part 1 of this two-part series, along with personal and organisational agency, but this offers only an economic perspective on how we use agency in governance and management. Across the fields of economics, psychology, sociology, law, and political science, five distinct agency theories can be identified – each with relevance… Continue reading Agents, Proxies, & Servants – Agency Part 2
Promoting Personal & Organisational Agency – Agency Part 1
In its simplest form, ‘agency‘ can be defined as the ability to take action. We refer to a person’s agency in terms of their capacity to influence the course of events that shape their lives. By extension, we describe organisational agency in terms of the collective capacity of its people and resources to effect changes… Continue reading Promoting Personal & Organisational Agency – Agency Part 1