What Should the Executive Director Focus Their Time On?

As Executive Directors of a nonprofit there is so much to do.?

There are always a host of things?crying for our?time and attention. We become good at putting out fires, but is that really?the best use of our time? Or is it being?out in the community going from one meeting to another? Or should my focus?be on doing research and proposal writing? That's important. After all, grants only last so long and we always need more funding. But what about our programs and services we are providing? How are they going and are we doing what we say we do...and are we doing a good job at what we do? How often should I check in, oversee, visit, and make decisions regarding our programs? Then there's the new projects and initiatives we want to start and that will take time to discuss?and develop. And of course, we must take care of our staff, build good relationships, know what's going on in their lives. And, am I also responsible for providing them with professional development training??

?I could go on...but you get the picture.

?Then there's the guilt of feeling like I'm not doing enough. Or not knowing what to do. There were plenty of times when I wasn't sure what to do on a daily, hour-by-hour basis. I mean, as the ED, shouldn't I be busy doing "something" minute by minute??

?So...what to do...?

?Below are two things suggested by Author and renowned business leader, Donald L. Laurie.

?In his book, The Real Work of Leaders, Laurie says,?

"Are your priorities linked to your work as a leader, as you have described it...Often, they have spent little or no time in the past?month on what they say matters most, not because they didn't want to. People do not overbook themselves on purpose, but crises often rule their?calendars."

?According to Laurie the real work of leaders is to identify, define, mobilize, and enable other people (staff, managers, supervisors, etc.) to solve the problems. Mobilizing to solve problems is also referred to as "Adaptive?leadership."

?The leader's role is also to provide the resources needed to solve the problems. The opposite of this of course is to ignore and do nothing about the problem, which just leads to more problems down the road.?

?Laurie describes two types of problems for Executives to understand:?

a) Operational = the system you have in place to reach your goals are no longer relevant to achieving?your organizational?goals. For example, maybe your intake process for new participants is no longer giving you enough or the correct information.

?b) Strategic problems = the rules of the game have changed and now your strategic?plan is obsolete. For example, everybody who took pictures back in the day knew to buy rolls of Kodak film (or some other brand). But Kodak did not pay attention to the upcoming digital technology and when it hit the market, Kodak did not adjust and soon was out of business.?

?There are of course many other things that need our attention as I mentioned above. But at least if you’re focused and adapting on operational adjustments and strategic issues that arise, you know you’re using your time wisely.

Do Only Three Things

Author and Business Consultant, Trey Taylor, says that the role of Executive involves himself/herself in only three things:

1. Organizational Culture
2. Who gets hired on the team
3. Organizational Numbers (finances)

Over my twenty year tenure as an Executive Director of a national nonprofit intermediary whose purpose was to Find, Fund, Form, and Feature nonprofits in marginalized communities meeting the needs of individuals and families, I am in agreement with both of these men and the wisdom they share.

You cannot afford to ignore problems. And neither should you be micro managing to try and fix the problems. This is why who you hire is crucial to the success and long-term viability of your organization, especially in the handling of your finances. But what "trumps" everything is your organizational culture. If you neglect to build a healthy culture of. integrity and freedom, the rest will still matter, but won't be without more headaches and high turnover that only serves to disrupt culture...and thus your time is hijacked by the "tyranny of the urgent."

Until next time...