Finding Balance...For Nonprofit Managers
The days are getting shorter, and for some of us it means that our hours of productivity get shorter too. Even if you don’t live in Alaska, the months after the summer are often times when you feel like you’re struggling against the clock to get everything done. This can be a particular problem for nonprofit managers, who so often have so much on their plates.
Here are some points to remember, if you feel like you’re losing balance this fall:
Your nonprofit’s work is important, but so is your volunteers’ sanity
Your volunteers are awesome! Your mission is awesome! Pushing your volunteers too much—decidedly <em>un</em>awesome. If your nonprofit is having difficulty retaining volunteer staff, then perhaps you should reassess the demands that you are making on your charitable teammates.
How to find balance:
Ask early and often for input on the volunteers’ experience. Encourage them to tell you (anonymously if possible) if they feel that things are not going well, or if they would decline to serve your nonprofit in the future. Remember, your volunteers aren’t only providing hands to do your work—they’ve all got mouths too, and happy volunteers are great for spreading awareness and fostering community goodwill for your organization.
The deadline is looming, but you need to focus on accuracy, too
It may be counterintuitive, but as we’ve mentioned in previous blog posts sometimes nonprofit managers have to slow down in order to get things done in a timely way. Trying to rush through project deadlines can actually slow down your team’s overall progress toward your goals because all that speed can throw up unforeseen obstacles in the form of simple mistakes. In grant applications, for example, it’s very important to check and double-check the document you intend to submit against the requirements of the application. Time for proofreading your application is also essential.
How to find balance:
Make time management a priority when beginning new projects, and allow more “oops” time than you think you’ll need, right from the start. Hey, getting stuff done <em>before</em> the deadline is good, right?
This program is key, but so is sustainability
Working in a small, busy office produces highs and lows for everyone. When it’s busy, you have to call all hands on deck and make the impossible happen—for the good of your community. When you have a few moments spare, well, you don’t really have any to spare because there’s always more left to do.
This kind of atmosphere is motivational for staff, and often fun, but can lead to imbalanced situations in which staff members become alienated from your mission (focusing instead on output rather than outcome), volunteers can’t handle the pace, or your team falls short of long-term goals because you’ve been so focused on the short-term aspects of your outreach. Even if it is a buzzword, (we’ve used the hashtag ourselves), sustainability is really what will make yours a funded, functioning nonprofit.
How to find balance:
Nurture your strategic plan [link to our strategic planning page]. A good strategy for the future—along with plans A, B and C—will often act as a counterweight when you or your team is in danger of becoming off-balance.
Your organization is your work, not your life
Nonprofit work is your passion—we get it. You eat, breathe, and sleep your organization’s mission. No one is harder working than you are—and, that’s the problem. It can be just as harmful to your organization to have an over-zealous person on management as it would be to have someone who isn’t pulling her full weight. Burn-out is a real phenomenon, and, for the good of your mission, you shouldn’t let it happen to you.
How to find balance:
The linked blog post from Common Good Careers offers some sensible advice for balancing life and work at a nonprofit.
How do you find balance in your nonprofit? Leave us a comment below!