5 best books of 2011.
Here are the five books that made the biggest impact in my role as a governance and organizational leader in 2011 :
- Henry Cloud, Necessary Endings: The employees, business and relationships that all of us have to give up in order to move forward
- Harrison Coerver, Race for Relevance: 5 radical changes for Associations
- Stephen M.R. Covey, The Speed of Trust: The one thing that changes everything
- David L. McKenna, Stewards of a Sacred Trust: CEO selection, transition, and development for boards of Christ-centered organizations.
- Walter Issacson, Steve Jobs
Related articles
- The book STEVE JOBS by Walter Isaacson (fairplay740.wordpress.com)
NonProfit Leaders — Get Rid of the Firewall
We often view the board as being distinct from the “rest” of the organization. The Board governs and the organization operates the programs. Many governance theorists support this approach. They suggested that there be a firewall between the board and the organization.
The firewall prevents meddling, chaos, and confusion. No meddling 
allowed. The board focuses on policy and the organization on implementation. The CEO should not be a member of the board nor should the board talk with staff.The firewall is there to prevent any viruses from contaminating the system.
This approach, however, is old school. Emerging best practices suggest that the firewall approach must be replaced with a more constructive approach. Board Source suggests that the relationship between the board and the organization should be seen more as a partnership. My 20 years experience as a CEO and doctoral research that examined this relationship supports the partnership idea. In fact, the term governance partnership was developed as an alternative to the firewall approach. If you have any doubt, check out Peter Drucker‘s 1990 article entitled Lessons for Successful Nonprofit Governance. He states that boards and executives must be involved in both functions and must coordinate their work accordingly. They must work together…as a team…as a partnership.
So, nonprofit governance and executive leaders — it’s time to get rid of the firewall! Lets talk about what it means to have a governance partnership!
Reframing Governance & Mission Success
It used to be that boards and governance were substantially the same: the two concepts overlapped. But with time and a radically changing environment, the domain of “governance” has moved beyond the domain of “the board.” — Dr. David O. Renz
The Nonprofit Quarterly recently published a revised version of Dr. David Renz’s seminal article Reframing Governance. Dr. Renz reminds us (again) the governance and the board of directors are not the same thing. While the board is essentially a structure, governance is a function that extends beyond the board and the organization…into the community.
Historically nonprofit organizations were formed to address specific community problems. And boards were put into place to ensure that those organizations actually addressed those problems as directed by their mission statement. The effectiveness of this single organization approach has increasingly been challenged due to the scale and complexity of the problems that communities now face. Many organizations do not have the resources or the size to effectively address these complex problems.
Dr. Renz points to the development of Inter-Organizational Alliances and Coalitions as a new tool to address these complex community problems. What one organization cannot address alone can often be addressed by multiple organizations working together. As these new alliances have evolved, Dr. Renz describes the need to create Extra-Organizational entities that can govern the multi-organizational work. The structure of these new entities can be as complex as the alliances themselves and requires new thinking about governance.
If organizations do not enter into these new alliances and continue to address these issues alone they risk on-going viability and relevance. Not only will their effectiveness at addressing community problems likely diminish, they may face decrease financial support which decreases organizational capacity. Some organizations may eventually starve and cease to exist.
As a board leader, your first responsibility is to ensure that the mission of your organization continues to meet the needs in your community. Your second responsibility is to ensure that an effective governance system is in place that will ensure the success of your mission.
As we look to the future, Dr. Renz reminds you and your board colleagues that you may need to reframe your governance system and look beyond your organization to ensure continued mission success in your community. While this reframing process will be uncomfortable and unfamilar, it is necessary.
As you go through this process of reframing you may feel like a fish out of water…but eventually your governance system capacity to ensure mission success will be enhanced.
Leadership, Succession & Necessary Endings
Whether we like it or not, endings are a part of life. They are woven into the fabric of life itself, both when it goes well, and also when it does not. Dr. Henry Cloud
One of the reasons why succession planning is avoided is the fact that someone important is going to leave or has left. While we all know that our employment will end at some point, we tend to put off that reality till another day. Every now and then, however, the topic comes up again.
It usually begins with the bus question. If the CEO gets hit by a bus on the way to work, God forbid, what will we do? What is our plan?Or the retirement question. Your not going to retire yet, are you? Sometime it is precipitated by a unexpected event. Those events could include serious illness, performance issues, philosophical disagreement, or a promotion. In any event, sudden events create anxiousness, crisis and concern…especially if a succession plan has never been addressed or put into place.
Whether you are a board or organizational leader you are probably thinking and wondering about succession in your 
organization. If you are, I want to recommend a new business book by Dr. Henry Cloud called Necessary Endings. The author helped me come to grips with the fact that all things come to an end. It is a very natural part of life. And some things must come to a necessary end before new growth can occur. That, it seems to me, is the essence of succession planning.
Succession planning is about promoting new growth so that when necessary endings occur, the organization is ready to move forward. When we stop avoiding the succession discussion and accept that endings are a necessary part of organizational life, we will be better positioned to lead the organization into the future.
And that is what we must do as leaders!
Leadership & Succession
Succession is an issue that as a CEO I have been thinking about for some time. I wonder who the new leaders are going to be? I wonder if we are properly developing our current leaders to be leaders of the future? I wonder, as does the board of directors, will my successor come from within the organization or from the community?
Succession is not easy to talk about….its very personal. It’s personal because it points our vulnerability and the fact that we are not indispensable. It acknowledges that people will leave, and we don’t want to talk about that. When we do, it becomes uncomfortable. Yet, on the other hand, there is agreement that we must talk about succession. We have a responsibility as leaders…board leaders and organizational leaders…that we must prepare today for what might happen tomorrow.
So why don’t we do a better job with Succession?
Governance and the Dueling Cellos
We can talk about governance partnership and how working together improves mission and performance. 
We can write about governance partnership and describe the how a relationship between leaders improves governance.
Now we can hear what governance partnership might sound like when two leaders are playing together to govern and lead, extend the mission and improve performance!
Click here to hear the intensity, feel the intricacies, and imagine the possibilities of what I think governance partnership can be!
Strategic Planning is Personal
I was asked recently by an Executive Director of another nonprofit organization what I thought was the key to strategic planning in nonprofit organizations?
He was visiting ChildServe to learn about how we have used strategic planning to systematically expand the impact of the mission between 1992 and 2010 from 125 children with special health care needs to more than 2,000.
I pondered a minute and thought about how I could answer his question.This is what I said;
“As the CEO, you have to make Strategic Planning personal…Make the strategic plan yours…commit to it…own it… live it. If you don’t own the strategic plan, it will just sit on the shelf”.
By making it personal you will avoid the biggest complaint about strategic plans…the plan just sits on the shelf…collecting dust.
As the board chair or chief executive, fill-in the missing piece. Own the plan and change the trajectory of of your nonprofit organization and make a difference in your community!
