You're a Non-profit Program Development professional. How do you stay ahead of the curve?

1 Scan the environment

One of the key tasks of program development is to scan the external and internal environment for changes, risks, and opportunities that may affect your programs. This means staying informed about the social, economic, political, and technological factors that shape your context, as well as the needs, preferences, and feedback of your beneficiaries, partners, funders, and stakeholders. You can use various tools and methods to conduct environmental scans, such as SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, surveys, interviews, focus groups, or online platforms. By scanning the environment regularly, you can identify emerging issues, gaps, and trends that may require you to adapt, improve, or innovate your programs.

2 Learn from others

Another way to stay ahead of the curve is to learn from other non-profit organizations that are doing similar or complementary work in your field or sector. You can benefit from their experiences, best practices, lessons learned, and insights by engaging in peer learning, networking, collaboration, or benchmarking activities. You can also access online resources, such as blogs, podcasts, webinars, reports, or newsletters, that showcase successful or promising programs and initiatives from other non-profits. By learning from others, you can get inspired, motivated, and informed about what works and what doesn't in program development.

3 Invest in yourself

As a non-profit program development professional, you also need to invest in your own personal and professional development. This means updating your knowledge, skills, and competencies to match the changing demands and expectations of your role and sector. You can do this by taking courses, workshops, seminars, or certifications that are relevant to your field or interest, such as project management, monitoring and evaluation, fundraising, communication, or leadership. You can also seek mentorship, coaching, or feedback from experts, peers, or supervisors who can guide you, challenge you, and support you in your career. By investing in yourself, you can enhance your performance, confidence, and satisfaction in program development.

4 Experiment and innovate

Finally, to stay ahead of the curve, you need to be willing to experiment and innovate in your program development. This means trying new ideas, approaches, methods, or tools that can improve the quality, efficiency, effectiveness, or sustainability of your programs. You can do this by applying design thinking, agile, or lean principles to your program development process, by using data and evidence to inform your decisions, by involving your beneficiaries and stakeholders in co-creating solutions, or by testing and piloting your prototypes before scaling them up. By experimenting and innovating, you can create programs that are responsive, adaptive, and impactful in the long run.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?