At a recent workshop with hospital supervisors a question was posed along the lines of why is conflict management so difficult? And by inference, often so unsuccessful.
I put forward a perspective that as managers we focus primarily on the term 'management' - in other words having a solution. The risk here is that we move to the solution phase to quickly, before we have spent time actually determining the facts of the conflict.
Conflicts are emotionally driven events. People relate their experiences as interpretation of what took place. They don't always intend to mislead; though they do intend to present their perspective in a manner that reflects their desired outcome. They also use emotions to bully their manager towards making a quick decision. Conflicts rarely arise from an instantaneous set of circumstances; they often build up over a prolonged period of time. This can add to the complexity of the situation. The more complex the situation the more difficult it can be to resolve.
Take a step back. Ask questions. Facilitate conversations. It is unlikely you will have the answer yourself, instead you need to enable the outcome to emerge through skillful questioning and conversation. Instead of setting yourself up to be the fall person, be seen as the one that facilitates an outcome. In this way you shift the responsibility for the outcome back to those directly engaged in the conflict.
Yes this takes time. You have plenty of time. Believe me an unresolves, or poorly resolved conflict will take far more of you time and energy that all the time you spend establishing the truth before moving towards a decision. Suspend judgment and seek to establish the facts - when the evidence is on the table it is much, much easier for all parties to move towards a self selected resolution.
Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
Taking You From Frontline Manager to CEO
Skype john_coxon
Twitter john_coxon
Facebook john.coxon1
http://nfp-management.blogspot.com
http://healthsector.blogspot.com
Monday, November 2, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Virtuous Intent and Ingrained Beliefs
I recently spent some time with the Chairperson of a small non profit organisation. This organisation has been experiencing problems between the committee of management and a paid employee. At our meeting I suggested to the Chairperson that nothing was changing because everyone kept doing the same ol things, that if she wanted a different outcome then she needed to do something different to achieve it.
The Chairperson nodded and agreed with everything I suggested yet it was clear to both of us that nothing was likely to change. Why not? My belief is that the Chairperson is conflicted between her desire to be consultative and conciliatory and the need to be decisive and provide leadership. The next day I watched a television doco showing how religous belief in India was preventing those people reliant upon the Ganges river from taking steps to minimise pollution or even avoid harming themselves through bathing or drinking from the Ganges.
These two experiences caused me to reflect upon how our ingrained beliefs can become barriers to our own wellbeing or success. How often have you observed someone in a management position defy reason and maintain practices that have passed their use by date? Our fear of change can also be a barrier. Change is hard work, it requires new practices which in turn mean we must challenge our own beliefs and assumptions, we must accept the possibility that we are no longer right. This is not something any of us find easy to do. It is much easier to maintain the status quo.
The issue here is not that we cannot change. The real issue is the impact our reluctance to change has upon other people - the very people we want to help. The more reluctant someone is to change the more energy and time they must invest in maintaining the status quo or avoiding change. This is so wasteful. While this is taking place more positive and productive outcomes are being missed. People who once respected you cease to do so. People who once supported you start finding reasons to support others. People who once wanted to work with you now prefer to work elsewhere.
The irony is that change is inevitable. You become blinded from reality by the sheer investment you have to make to maintain the status quo. You not only fail to see the opportunities; you also fail to see the forces marshalling against you. The inevitablity is created by you as you provide those forces with a reason to seek your replacement.
The challenge is to avoid remaining stuck in the past. While you have one eye on the present the other eye should be on the future. You should be constantly asking yourself what more can I do for our stakeholders, or what can I do better?
Are you stuck in the past? Are you still doing the same thing as you always have? How relevant is what you do and how you do it to current stakeholder needs? Are you failing to achieve a desired outcome? If so, then now is the time to do something different before someone else forces you to change against your will.
Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
Taking You From Frontline Manager to CEO
Skype john_coxon
Twitter john_coxon
Facebook john.coxon1
http://nfp-management.blogspot.com
http://healthsector.blogspot.com
The Chairperson nodded and agreed with everything I suggested yet it was clear to both of us that nothing was likely to change. Why not? My belief is that the Chairperson is conflicted between her desire to be consultative and conciliatory and the need to be decisive and provide leadership. The next day I watched a television doco showing how religous belief in India was preventing those people reliant upon the Ganges river from taking steps to minimise pollution or even avoid harming themselves through bathing or drinking from the Ganges.
These two experiences caused me to reflect upon how our ingrained beliefs can become barriers to our own wellbeing or success. How often have you observed someone in a management position defy reason and maintain practices that have passed their use by date? Our fear of change can also be a barrier. Change is hard work, it requires new practices which in turn mean we must challenge our own beliefs and assumptions, we must accept the possibility that we are no longer right. This is not something any of us find easy to do. It is much easier to maintain the status quo.
The issue here is not that we cannot change. The real issue is the impact our reluctance to change has upon other people - the very people we want to help. The more reluctant someone is to change the more energy and time they must invest in maintaining the status quo or avoiding change. This is so wasteful. While this is taking place more positive and productive outcomes are being missed. People who once respected you cease to do so. People who once supported you start finding reasons to support others. People who once wanted to work with you now prefer to work elsewhere.
The irony is that change is inevitable. You become blinded from reality by the sheer investment you have to make to maintain the status quo. You not only fail to see the opportunities; you also fail to see the forces marshalling against you. The inevitablity is created by you as you provide those forces with a reason to seek your replacement.
The challenge is to avoid remaining stuck in the past. While you have one eye on the present the other eye should be on the future. You should be constantly asking yourself what more can I do for our stakeholders, or what can I do better?
Are you stuck in the past? Are you still doing the same thing as you always have? How relevant is what you do and how you do it to current stakeholder needs? Are you failing to achieve a desired outcome? If so, then now is the time to do something different before someone else forces you to change against your will.
Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
Taking You From Frontline Manager to CEO
Skype john_coxon
Twitter john_coxon
Facebook john.coxon1
http://nfp-management.blogspot.com
http://healthsector.blogspot.com
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Some Managers Never Learn
In the news today, a manager of an IT/Telephony company in Australia pretending to be a 'Gordon Gecko' with harassment emails to an employee saying 'lunches are for wimps'. The case is now headed for the Federal employment court. Should the employment court find the situation to be as reported in the news then I hope they jump on this manager from the greatest height of the law. Had that employee sent a similar email he could have been lawfully dismissed and the dismissal upheld by the employment court. What's more I hope the media continue to highlight these poor management practices so that good people will not waste their time and talent propping up inadequate managers.
The manager of this company just doesn't get it. He may have a successful business; but not for long if he continues to lose good people. It is possible there is more to this story. It is possible the employee involved is a liability. Even if that were the case, a manager does not have a right to mistreat someone in the workplace - even those managers that manage their own business.The sooner people stop working for managers without a clue the sooner these managers are forced out and replaced by people able to treat others with dignity and respect.
No organisation, whether it be a top 500 corporation, a private company, a not for profit or a government organisation is successful due to the efforts of only its managers. They are successful due to the combined efforts of effective managers and good people working together in a collaborative (not compliant) manner. A truly effective organisation would continue to function without its management team!
This is not suggest that managers are useless, though some have shown themselves to be of little usefulness. Effective managers are very important. They are an asset. They are the ones that understand their own strengths and weaknesses, that understand they cannot possibly know all the answers, that foster collaboration and cooperation not only within their team but between teams, functions and organisations. They are the ones that provide clear, unambiguous and non-conflicting direction as to expected outcomes and provide constructive feedback supported by data and evidence. They are they ones that coach and nurture potential of their people and guide them through their mistakes and back towards productivity. These managers do this with dignity and with respect. In turn they are treated with dignity and respect. The result is high productivity.
Of course if you manage a business and your focus is on short term financial gain then you can afford to employ short term management strategies. From my perspective, the sooner these managers make their fortunes and retire to a Queensland beach house the better - for the rest of the world, we have to live together and work together in a more sustainable manner and that requires vastly different management strategies and skills. As a management consultant I know which of the two managers I want to work with. As for those people employed by our friend on the news tonight - I know what advice I would give them.
Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
Taking You From Frontline Manager to CEO
Skype john_coxon
Twitter john_coxon
Facebook john.coxon1
The manager of this company just doesn't get it. He may have a successful business; but not for long if he continues to lose good people. It is possible there is more to this story. It is possible the employee involved is a liability. Even if that were the case, a manager does not have a right to mistreat someone in the workplace - even those managers that manage their own business.The sooner people stop working for managers without a clue the sooner these managers are forced out and replaced by people able to treat others with dignity and respect.
No organisation, whether it be a top 500 corporation, a private company, a not for profit or a government organisation is successful due to the efforts of only its managers. They are successful due to the combined efforts of effective managers and good people working together in a collaborative (not compliant) manner. A truly effective organisation would continue to function without its management team!
This is not suggest that managers are useless, though some have shown themselves to be of little usefulness. Effective managers are very important. They are an asset. They are the ones that understand their own strengths and weaknesses, that understand they cannot possibly know all the answers, that foster collaboration and cooperation not only within their team but between teams, functions and organisations. They are the ones that provide clear, unambiguous and non-conflicting direction as to expected outcomes and provide constructive feedback supported by data and evidence. They are they ones that coach and nurture potential of their people and guide them through their mistakes and back towards productivity. These managers do this with dignity and with respect. In turn they are treated with dignity and respect. The result is high productivity.
Of course if you manage a business and your focus is on short term financial gain then you can afford to employ short term management strategies. From my perspective, the sooner these managers make their fortunes and retire to a Queensland beach house the better - for the rest of the world, we have to live together and work together in a more sustainable manner and that requires vastly different management strategies and skills. As a management consultant I know which of the two managers I want to work with. As for those people employed by our friend on the news tonight - I know what advice I would give them.
Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
Taking You From Frontline Manager to CEO
Skype john_coxon
Twitter john_coxon
Facebook john.coxon1
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
You Are Missing Out
Not for profit organisations are failing to take advantage of one of the most important sources of information and feedback available today. Increasing numbers of employees are engaged, overtly and covertly, in social media. They are blogging, Twittering and exchanging ideas and info on the likes of Facebook. These spaces contain an extraordinary amount of information.
To date the focus of many CEO's has been on how to prevent or limit the use of this technology, with some of the less enlightened ones seeking to use the information available to penalise employees. A more enlightened perspective would be to learn how to benefit from the technology. Those that do so will have a distinct advantage over those that do not.
Instead of trying to stop the flood by putting our fingers into the proverbial dyke, consider enabling your employees to use social media as a workplace tool; to communicate with each other, to share ideas and information, to communicate with stakeholders. They are doing it now, just not in a way that is of a benefit to your organisation.
By all means put some boundaries in place. Some online behaviour is unacceptable and can be harmful to the reputation of an organisation. Instead of trying (and failing) to impose a blanket ban instead be clear in your expectations and consequences. Be sensible. The greater the barriers you impose the less info you will have available and the less you will benefit. Encourage employees to share ideas and info on programs, benefits, customer needs, community needs, what other orgs are doing, what they see and what they hear, research, concepts, models, frameworks, other perspectives.
Why not encourage your employees to be active in the social media space, ask them to declare where they live online, and then gather together a couple of volunteers and charge them with the task of scanning social media. Identify some key themes and key words that are off interest. Be positive and pro active. Make it a collaborative activity between management and employees and volunteers and stakeholders. With experience I predict you will be amazed at the info, the linkages, the warnings, the new ideas that will emerge - not to mention an entirely new level of communication taking place in your organisation.
Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
John Coxon & Associates
Taking You from Frontline Manager to CEO
Email john@johncoxon.com.au
Skype: john_coxon
Blog: http://healthsector.blogspot.com
Blog: http://nfp-management.blogspot.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/johncoxon
Follow john_coxon on Twitter
Join John Coxon on Facebook
To date the focus of many CEO's has been on how to prevent or limit the use of this technology, with some of the less enlightened ones seeking to use the information available to penalise employees. A more enlightened perspective would be to learn how to benefit from the technology. Those that do so will have a distinct advantage over those that do not.
Instead of trying to stop the flood by putting our fingers into the proverbial dyke, consider enabling your employees to use social media as a workplace tool; to communicate with each other, to share ideas and information, to communicate with stakeholders. They are doing it now, just not in a way that is of a benefit to your organisation.
By all means put some boundaries in place. Some online behaviour is unacceptable and can be harmful to the reputation of an organisation. Instead of trying (and failing) to impose a blanket ban instead be clear in your expectations and consequences. Be sensible. The greater the barriers you impose the less info you will have available and the less you will benefit. Encourage employees to share ideas and info on programs, benefits, customer needs, community needs, what other orgs are doing, what they see and what they hear, research, concepts, models, frameworks, other perspectives.
Why not encourage your employees to be active in the social media space, ask them to declare where they live online, and then gather together a couple of volunteers and charge them with the task of scanning social media. Identify some key themes and key words that are off interest. Be positive and pro active. Make it a collaborative activity between management and employees and volunteers and stakeholders. With experience I predict you will be amazed at the info, the linkages, the warnings, the new ideas that will emerge - not to mention an entirely new level of communication taking place in your organisation.
Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
John Coxon & Associates
Taking You from Frontline Manager to CEO
Email john@johncoxon.com.au
Skype: john_coxon
Blog: http://healthsector.blogspot.com
Blog: http://nfp-management.blogspot.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/johncoxon
Follow john_coxon on Twitter
Join John Coxon on Facebook
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Habits of Mind
Huh, its 5.46am. I should be asleep however I am not, I am awake, the brain is active, I've enjoyed my first cuppa and have been reviewing material from Costa's Habits of Mind in preparation for working with a client. As I read through this material I was reminded of how easy it is to become stuck in how we go about doing things.
As a management coach I spend a good part of each day in discussion with individuals, asking a lot of questions and I believe I'm reasonably good at it - at least feedback indicates I am - yet as I reviewed the Habits of Mind material I realised how we create our own habits. Some of them are good, some not so. I realised also how we have a tendency to complicate situations.
Take asking questions for example. Costa talks about Questioning with Intention. To engage with plurals, What are some of your goals? rather thanWhat goal have you set? To explore tentatively using words such as might, could and may. To invite further exploration with questions that include an invitation to envisage, evaluate and to probe.
As I think through this process I am reminded that our 'toolkit of questions' doesn't need to be extensive. A handful of well designed questions, asked when relevant, will be more productive than a list. I recall that when I first engaged in coaching, some 7-8 years ago, I would go into a meeting with a bullet point list of questions to ask. I soon learned that coaching conversations are a journey, without a preset destination. They are not an interview. I learned how to replace my fear that I would forget to ask something with the ability to ask just one or two relevant questions and then to focus upon listening to the response. Further questions would derive from how well I listened to what the other person was saying.
We create our own habits. The challenge we face is to recognise this and to put aside time to reflect, to review our practices and to ask ourselves how we could achieve the same outcome without making the process complicated? I didn't conciousely set out to review my habits as I read through this material. I was seeking to adapt it for the adult audience of my client. I discovered that though Habits of Mind material is aimed at the school market, it is relevant to all, young and old.
All this suggests the key to a good life may well be to never stop learning, to constantly be trying to connect the dots and rediscover new ways of looking at old problems. Now that is getting a little to philosophical and probably reflects the time of the day and lack of caffine.
To those reading this blog, I hope your day has started as well as mine has.
As a management coach I spend a good part of each day in discussion with individuals, asking a lot of questions and I believe I'm reasonably good at it - at least feedback indicates I am - yet as I reviewed the Habits of Mind material I realised how we create our own habits. Some of them are good, some not so. I realised also how we have a tendency to complicate situations.
Take asking questions for example. Costa talks about Questioning with Intention. To engage with plurals, What are some of your goals? rather thanWhat goal have you set? To explore tentatively using words such as might, could and may. To invite further exploration with questions that include an invitation to envisage, evaluate and to probe.
As I think through this process I am reminded that our 'toolkit of questions' doesn't need to be extensive. A handful of well designed questions, asked when relevant, will be more productive than a list. I recall that when I first engaged in coaching, some 7-8 years ago, I would go into a meeting with a bullet point list of questions to ask. I soon learned that coaching conversations are a journey, without a preset destination. They are not an interview. I learned how to replace my fear that I would forget to ask something with the ability to ask just one or two relevant questions and then to focus upon listening to the response. Further questions would derive from how well I listened to what the other person was saying.
We create our own habits. The challenge we face is to recognise this and to put aside time to reflect, to review our practices and to ask ourselves how we could achieve the same outcome without making the process complicated? I didn't conciousely set out to review my habits as I read through this material. I was seeking to adapt it for the adult audience of my client. I discovered that though Habits of Mind material is aimed at the school market, it is relevant to all, young and old.
All this suggests the key to a good life may well be to never stop learning, to constantly be trying to connect the dots and rediscover new ways of looking at old problems. Now that is getting a little to philosophical and probably reflects the time of the day and lack of caffine.
To those reading this blog, I hope your day has started as well as mine has.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Why Would You Want To Be A Manager?
In an bemusing manner this is a question I am sure every existing manager has asked, usually following some particularly frustrating experience.
As far as I am concerned there is only one reason why anyone would want to become involved in management. That is because they actually enjoy working with people, they actually want to help other people to develop and to perform to the fullest potential. Now, I don't actually believe that is why the majority of do become involved in management. My experience is that the majority of manager get there by default; they become managers because they were the last person standing, they were the best performer, they wish to massage their ego, they like giving orders or wearing a cap that says 'The Boss'. Very few actually sit down and make a concious career decision to become a manager because they want to help others people achieve their full potential.
Imagine the difference it would make it that were the reason. To begin with your entire perspective about management would change. Instead of seeing management as a potential conflict situation, a negative, a them versus us situation, you would view management as a positive, a great place to be, as you would be going there to help others. It would cease to be a job and would become a calling. Your passion for helping others would drive you out of bed each day. Imagine being able to view each issue or problem as an opportunity to develop and improve rather than a potential source of conflict. For a start every consultant advising on conflict resolution would be out of work and you would never have to attend another workshop on conflict management!
Imagine the difference there would be in our conversations. No more snide comments about generational gaps, glass ceilings, male versus female, Islam versus Christianity, conservatives versus democrats etc etc. None of these would be our focus, our focus would be on developing the potential of the people around you so that they are able to do the things you need done.
Try this tomorrow when you return to work. Over the next few days go to each person you are responsible for and ask them two questions. The first question is, I would like to hear about your work, can you please tell me how you are doing with your work, program, project? Second question, is there something I can do to help you achieve the desired outcome?
Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
John Coxon & Associates
Taking You from Frontline Manager to CEO
Email john@johncoxon.com.au
Skype: john_coxon
Blog: http://healthsector.blogspot.com
Blog: http://nfp-management.blogspot.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/johncoxon
Follow john_coxon on Twitter
Join John Coxon on Facebook
As far as I am concerned there is only one reason why anyone would want to become involved in management. That is because they actually enjoy working with people, they actually want to help other people to develop and to perform to the fullest potential. Now, I don't actually believe that is why the majority of do become involved in management. My experience is that the majority of manager get there by default; they become managers because they were the last person standing, they were the best performer, they wish to massage their ego, they like giving orders or wearing a cap that says 'The Boss'. Very few actually sit down and make a concious career decision to become a manager because they want to help others people achieve their full potential.
Imagine the difference it would make it that were the reason. To begin with your entire perspective about management would change. Instead of seeing management as a potential conflict situation, a negative, a them versus us situation, you would view management as a positive, a great place to be, as you would be going there to help others. It would cease to be a job and would become a calling. Your passion for helping others would drive you out of bed each day. Imagine being able to view each issue or problem as an opportunity to develop and improve rather than a potential source of conflict. For a start every consultant advising on conflict resolution would be out of work and you would never have to attend another workshop on conflict management!
Imagine the difference there would be in our conversations. No more snide comments about generational gaps, glass ceilings, male versus female, Islam versus Christianity, conservatives versus democrats etc etc. None of these would be our focus, our focus would be on developing the potential of the people around you so that they are able to do the things you need done.
Try this tomorrow when you return to work. Over the next few days go to each person you are responsible for and ask them two questions. The first question is, I would like to hear about your work, can you please tell me how you are doing with your work, program, project? Second question, is there something I can do to help you achieve the desired outcome?
Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
John Coxon & Associates
Taking You from Frontline Manager to CEO
Email john@johncoxon.com.au
Skype: john_coxon
Blog: http://healthsector.blogspot.com
Blog: http://nfp-management.blogspot.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/johncoxon
Follow john_coxon on Twitter
Join John Coxon on Facebook
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Innovative leadership
It may be tempting for funded non profit organisations to feel a tad complacent. Afterall, many will be in the middle of current funding rounds and service agreements. Their funding is in place. The economic downturn will likely have very little impact upon current operations. You might want to think again.
I would warn against complacency. Economic downturns impact in many different ways. Those non profits with business enterprise units may be subject to a drop in revenue as consumers feel the pinch - even those with second hand stores are not immune to consumers tightening the purse strings. Those entirely reliant upon Government funding have little options open to them should future Governments decide to maintain current levels of funding or worse still, cut back on funding.
In good times organisations can carry a little excess weight, they can indulge in activities that carry a cost without having to worry much about accounting for that cost. In times of economic downturn, it is imperative to identify and trim unneccesary costs - those that are not directly associated with service delivery aligned to the mission of the organisation - this requires innovative management.
When things begin to go wrong, continuing to do the same as has been done in the past is not an option - when the structure breaks down it is time to do something different.
It begins with effective governance - let me reword that - effective leadership. Boards need to be extra diligent. They must not assume anything. They must question everything. They must know what is happening now and what the impact of the emerging environment may be. Boards of governance need to be proactive in troubled times. Now is a good time to look at board composition. Does your board have the experience and skills to be effective when change is needed?
The key is sustainability. Governments worldwide are giving away their nation's savings in the name of 'economic stimulation'. Admirable as this policy may be in the short term, we will have to pay for it in the future. Those organisations dependent upon future government funding need to consider the risk of reduced funding. Philanthropic trusts, amongst others, have taken hits from investments in the markets. It will take many years to recover from this. In the meantime the level of philanthropy may drop. What impact might this have on your agency?
Interest rates are falling at present. That simply means they must rise again in the future. Will they rise quickly or slowly? How would you answer that if you were manager of a bank? Will consumers continue to give to charitable causes in 12 months or 18 months or will the level of giving actually reduce? If you don't know, try talking to some of the old hands around during the last economic downturn - see what they can recall.
And in case you are thinking, no worries we will get through this okay, have a look down the track a little. In Australia and NZ, 25% of the population is moving into retirement at present and will continue to do so for the next 20 years. There will be a global labour shortage for the next 20-30 years. Historically the not for profit sector is underfunded for paying salaries and wages - how will you compete for staff in the future? Where will the money come from to enable you to compete? You can talk about job satisfaction after someone starts work with you - getting them to work for you requires access to money.
These thoughts were part of a discussion I had with a not for profit manager yesterday during a coaching session. Are you a not for profit manager? Have you been thinking about these issues? If not, why not? In tough times you need to be thinking differently than you have in the past. Your organisation needs to be doing things differently than it has in the past. This requires innovative leadership.
Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
John Coxon & Associates
Taking You from Frontline Manager to CEO
www.johncoxon.com.au
Email john@johncoxon.com.au
Skype: john_coxon
Blog: http://healthsector.blogspot.com
Blog: http://nfp-management.blogspot.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/johncoxon
Follow john_coxon on Twitter
Join John Coxon on Facebook
I would warn against complacency. Economic downturns impact in many different ways. Those non profits with business enterprise units may be subject to a drop in revenue as consumers feel the pinch - even those with second hand stores are not immune to consumers tightening the purse strings. Those entirely reliant upon Government funding have little options open to them should future Governments decide to maintain current levels of funding or worse still, cut back on funding.
In good times organisations can carry a little excess weight, they can indulge in activities that carry a cost without having to worry much about accounting for that cost. In times of economic downturn, it is imperative to identify and trim unneccesary costs - those that are not directly associated with service delivery aligned to the mission of the organisation - this requires innovative management.
When things begin to go wrong, continuing to do the same as has been done in the past is not an option - when the structure breaks down it is time to do something different.
It begins with effective governance - let me reword that - effective leadership. Boards need to be extra diligent. They must not assume anything. They must question everything. They must know what is happening now and what the impact of the emerging environment may be. Boards of governance need to be proactive in troubled times. Now is a good time to look at board composition. Does your board have the experience and skills to be effective when change is needed?
The key is sustainability. Governments worldwide are giving away their nation's savings in the name of 'economic stimulation'. Admirable as this policy may be in the short term, we will have to pay for it in the future. Those organisations dependent upon future government funding need to consider the risk of reduced funding. Philanthropic trusts, amongst others, have taken hits from investments in the markets. It will take many years to recover from this. In the meantime the level of philanthropy may drop. What impact might this have on your agency?
Interest rates are falling at present. That simply means they must rise again in the future. Will they rise quickly or slowly? How would you answer that if you were manager of a bank? Will consumers continue to give to charitable causes in 12 months or 18 months or will the level of giving actually reduce? If you don't know, try talking to some of the old hands around during the last economic downturn - see what they can recall.
And in case you are thinking, no worries we will get through this okay, have a look down the track a little. In Australia and NZ, 25% of the population is moving into retirement at present and will continue to do so for the next 20 years. There will be a global labour shortage for the next 20-30 years. Historically the not for profit sector is underfunded for paying salaries and wages - how will you compete for staff in the future? Where will the money come from to enable you to compete? You can talk about job satisfaction after someone starts work with you - getting them to work for you requires access to money.
These thoughts were part of a discussion I had with a not for profit manager yesterday during a coaching session. Are you a not for profit manager? Have you been thinking about these issues? If not, why not? In tough times you need to be thinking differently than you have in the past. Your organisation needs to be doing things differently than it has in the past. This requires innovative leadership.
Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
John Coxon & Associates
Taking You from Frontline Manager to CEO
www.johncoxon.com.au
Email john@johncoxon.com.au
Skype: john_coxon
Blog: http://healthsector.blogspot.com
Blog: http://nfp-management.blogspot.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/johncoxon
Follow john_coxon on Twitter
Join John Coxon on Facebook
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