Mission: Impact podcast & blog
Build a better world without becoming a martyr to your nonprofit cause
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In this podcast episode, Carol Hamilton and Mary Hiland discuss the challenges and strategies of nonprofit executive directors working with their boards. They explore the importance of leaving a legacy and sharing knowledge, and how it inspired Carol to start her podcast, Mission Impact. Mary's book, "Love Your Board," is also discussed, focusing on the primary sources of trouble for executive directors when working with their boards. The conversation delves into the dimensions of capacity, connection, and culture within a board. They highlight the significance of building trust in board relationships and challenging assumptions in board recruitment. Additionally, they emphasize the need for emotional connection and individual check-ins with board members. (00:08:52) Dimensions of Board Challenges
(00:15:11) Building Trust in Board Relationships (00:21:39) Challenging Assumptions in Board Recruitment (00:27:55) Board Member Engagement Guest bio: Mary Hiland Ph.D. is a nonprofit governance expert and leadership development consultant dedicated to helping nonprofit leaders lead effectively. Mary has over forty years’ experience in the nonprofit sector – both as an executive and as a board member. She has been consulting and coaching nonprofit leaders for 20 years. Mary is a speaker, published author, researcher, and a business professor at her local community college. She is author of the #1 international best-seller: Love Your Board! The Executive Directors’ Guide to Discovering the Sources of Nonprofit Board Troubles and What to Do About Them (2021) And Mary is a contributing author to four other nonprofit leadership books. Mary is the founder and host of the podcast: Inspired Nonprofit Leadership Episode Links: Hiland Consulting: https://www.hilandconsulting.org/ Inspired Nonprofit Leadership: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inspired-nonprofit-leadership/id1446218521 Talk with Mary: talkwithmary.com Alliance for Nonprofit Management: https://allianceonlinecommunity.org/ Click "Read More" for Transcript In episode 80 of Mission: Impact, Carol Hamilton goes solo to celebrate several of the nonprofits that support and enrich her life. Nonprofit organizations play a crucial role in enriching our lives and communities in various ways. Carol discusses:
Important Links:
The Arc of Montgomery County: https://thearcmontgomerycounty.org/ By Their Side: https://www.bytheirside.org/ The Sibling Leadership Network: https://siblingleadership.org/ The Anacostia Watershed Society: https://www.anacostiaws.org/ The Anacostia Riverkeeper: https://www.anacostiariverkeeper.org/ Washington Area Bicyclist Association: https://waba.org/ Click "Read More" for Transcript In episode 75 of Mission: Impact, Carol Hamilton and Danielle Marshall discuss
Guest Bio: Danielle is an inclusive leader focused on strengthening collaboration among teams, leaders, and stakeholders to foster problem-solving, create solutions, and improve culture. She finds her inspiration in leading systemic change work that promotes equity and inclusion. Danielle founded Culture Principles in response to a persistent need to operationalize Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion metrics, centering REDI goals and creating accountability systems. She supports clients through her Mapping Equity Framework focused on Unearthing Knowledge, Elevating Strategy, and Transforming Sustainability. She centers her work around organizational assessment, racial equity learning intensives, and the development of racial equity action plans. Understanding that each organization arrives at this work from different perspectives, she utilizes assessment in building a customized strategy for each unique partner. Previously Danielle served as a non-profit leader for 20+ years and today works on strategy development that enables nonprofits to achieve equitable mission-driven results. Danielle holds a Master's degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Louisiana Tech University and draws on her background as an I/O psychologist in applying a racial equity lens to organizational policies, practices, and programs. She is a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP)/ Executive Coach (ACC). During her playtime, you can find Danielle traveling, knitting, and kayaking in all 50 states. Important Links and Resources:
Click "Read More" for Transcript: In episode 65 of Mission: Impact, Carol and her guest, Lisa G. Hazirjian discuss: ● Some common mistakes and misconceptions nonprofits have about policy advocacy ● Simple steps to take to get to know policy makers better and build relationships ● How to build a ladder of engagement for your supporters and volunteers Guest Bio: Lisa Hazirjian, PhD, founded Win Together Consulting to help progressive change makers develop strategy, build power, engage supporters, and leverage strengths to achieve their goals. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy Studies, Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies, and Ph.D. in U.S. History from Duke University, and is working toward a Nonprofit Leadership Certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School. You can reach Lisa at lisa@wintogetherconsulting.com. Important Links and Resources: ● Win Together Consulting https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisahazirjian/ Click "Read More" for Transcript: I love to read. One of my favorite parts of any book is the Acknowledgments section. I haven’t written a book yet - and I may never do that - but I would like to acknowledge all the people this year who were generous enough to have me on their podcast to talk about my favorite subject - nonprofit strategic planning. Every time I get to talk to someone about strategic planning, why I do it and why it is important for nonpropfit organizations, I learn something new about the practice and process. I am not necessarily a “think out loud” external processor and yet through these conversations I deepened my understanding by having to explain things to others that sometimes seem obvious to me. One thing that I certainly have learned over the course of my career is that what is obvious to me - or anyone - is NOT necessarily obvious to others or even how they think about a thing. And that in itself is one of the reasons I love facilitating strategic planning processes. Folks have to talk through with each other what might be obvious to them and implicit in how they work – but needs to get explicit if the whole group is going to get behind the idea and move a strategic initiative forward. Because of that learning and deepening I am so grateful for each opportunity I had to explore the topic this year. Connecting to my valuesDuring my Own Your Expertise interview with Emily Crookston, PhD., I realized that my faith tradition’s 1st and 7th principles - the inherent worth and dignity of every human being and the interconnectedness of all things really undergird my work with nonprofit organizations. I don’t think I had made that connection before we talked. Reevaluating your strategic planIn my conversation with Carolyn Mozell, the host of Use Your Powers for Good podcast, we talk about how to stay accountable to the strategic plan and why it is so important for your nonprofit organization to agree on a process for reevaluating and reviewing your plan on a regular basis - whether that is quarterly, every six months - or at minimum every year. Making the nonprofit strategic planning process worth your timeTalking with Stu Swineford, host of the Relish this podcast, we explored what goes into making a nonprofit strategic planning process worth it. As Stu put it, it’s a valuable exercise that aligns your team, creates thrust for your nonprofit organization, and builds an actionable plan to keep you on track for the short- and longer-term. I really appreciate the idea of a plan helping generate momentum that propels the organization forward. Moving beyond the fears of strategic planningWith Julia Campbell, the host of the Nonprofit Nation podcast, we talked about what people fear about strategic planning and how that gets in the way of making it effective. Letting go of past bad experiences with nonprofit strategic planningBetina Pflug, the host of the Wisdom for Nonprofits podcast, and I talked about the frequent bad past experiences people have had with nonprofit strategic planning and how to make the process fun and useful. And why I do NOT have group’s start with a review of their mission and vision. VUCA doesn't mean planning is uselessDavid Pisarek, host of Nonprofit Digital Success, and I explored why you don’t need to throw out the idea of nonprofit strategic planning even though we do live in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Chaotic and Ambiguous) world. Nonprofits are essentially a network of people working together towards a common goal. The conversations the group has over the course of a strategic planning process helps everyone get clear about what is really important to focus on in the next 3-5 years and some first steps on how to move towards those goals. Without having those conversations periodically, a lot of “static” builds up in the system and folks may actually be working at cross-purposes instead of in a more powerful, aligned way. It's your nonprofit organization's plan, not mineHugh Ballou, host of the Nonprofit Exchange, and I talked about the myths about nonprofit strategic planning. One we honed in on was why it is important for the group, not the consultant, to write their own plan. Thanks!So thanks again to Emily, Carolyn, Stu, Julia, Betina, David, Hugh. And thanks for the service each of them provide the sector by creating their shows and helping those in the sector learn and deepen their practice. |
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April 2024
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Grace Social Sector Consulting, LLC, owns the copyright in and to all content in, including transcripts and audio of the Mission: Impact podcast and all content on this website, with all rights reserved, including right of publicity.
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