1. Leadership and Management of Nonprofit Organizations: Part I
Thomas P. Holland, Ph.D.
Institute for Nonprofit Organizations
University of Georgia

2. Basic Definitions
Leadership: drawing people together to identify shared values and goals and then formulating plans to achieve them
Management: overseeing activities to carry out the plan and accomplish goals, including planning, organizing, delegating, and coordinating activities
Supervision: guiding production and procedures of staff to accomplish a delegated goal or objective
Overlap of skills across roles
Distinctions made in larger organizations

3. Components of Leadership
Envisioning situations that are in line with shared values, specifying a desired future condition
Engaging others in shaping the vision
Deciding together on our shared goals
Identifying ways to attain them together
Inspiration rather than authority
Motivated by vision and purpose
Problems resolved by referring back to shared vision

4. Leadership Styles Charismatic Charm and grace attract others
Self-belief is vital
People follow others they personally admire
Transactional
People are motivated by reward and punishment
Social systems work best with clear chain of command
Prime purpose of subordinate is do what leader says
Transformative
People follow one who inspires them
People with vision and passion can achieve great things
Get things done by enthusiasm and energy
Servant
Leader has responsibilities for followers and society
People who want to help others do this best by leading them
Leader serves others, rather than others serving leader

5. Leadership differs from Management
Leaders create environments that influence others to clarify and achieve group goals, knowing that people support a world they help create.
Managers implement processes to achieve goals and monitor results, knowing that people support processes that help them succeed.
Both involve people-skills, process-skills, communication, and accountability.

6. Leadership is NOT Having the answer to every problem
Ordering others to do things
Being the smartest or most efficient person in the room
Blaming others for their limitations
Telling them how they should act, think, or feel
Doing the tasks others fail to do
Rescuing others from consequences of their actions (or inactions)
Clinging to familiar ways of doing work while expecting others to change

7. Leadership is more about vision than precision
more about relationships than results
more about processes than structures
more about taking risks than security
more about cooperating than winning
more about effectiveness than efficiency
more about setting examples than getting quick results
more about long-term learning than short-term conclusions
more about asking the right questions than giving the right answers

8. A Definition Leadership:
Intentional actions to facilitate the process of people working together to identify and achieve shared, long-term goals

9. Skills of effective leadership
Bring participants together in a safe environment to form a cohesive, inclusive group or team.
Identify the group’s true, long-term interests together:
a. Examine current realities of market and organization
b. Identify opportunities, challenges, problems
c. Draw upon mission to articulate a vision that all can share

10. Help the group formulate work plans for achieving that vision together
Specify goals for each dimension (what do we want to accomplish?)
Identify products or results to be attained for each of them (what will success look like in each area?)
Set clear work assignments and timetable (who will do what, by when?)
Identify evidence of success (assessed by what criteria?)

11. Make success a team effort
Be sure everyone knows what is expected of her/him and how that links to the group’s goals
Articulate how each individual’s talents contribute to success of the whole (why am I needed?)
Identify means for problem-solving and accountability as a team (what will we do when problems and barriers show up?)
Specify methods for reporting and communicating progress (how will we know it’s done?)
Monitor, evaluate, and report on results
Find ways to reward team successes

12. Reinforce Changes
Communicate progress widely and often, using multiple means
Articulate the connections between actions and results
Recognize and reward successes
Report results to others outside team
Encourage group learning from experiences
Develop and nurture new leaders, ensuring leadership succession
Model the behaviors expected of others

13. Effective leaders practice emotional intelligence (as well as rationality)
Self-awareness: ability to recognize and understand one’s own moods, emotions, and drives, as well as their effects on others
Self-regulation: ability to redirect disruptive impulses, suspend judgment, think before acting
Motivation: passion for the work and propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence
Empathy: understanding of others’ emotional makeup, skill in treating them according to their reactions
Social skill: proficiency in building networks of relationships, ability to find common ground and build rapport with diverse others

14. Leaders go beyond familiar habits
Develop new models or metaphors to analyze issues and understand stakeholders’ long-term interests
Raise different and more penetrating questions about purposes, future directions, strategies, standards, and group performance
Invite the group to identify solutions
Model the behaviors they would like to see incorporated in the organization, such as
Diversity Accountability
Efficiency Creativity

15. Leaders nurture groups that learn
Focus the group’s attention on those few, key issues that really matter most to the ends, mission and purposes of the organization as it goes into the future
Set priorities for the group’s attention and then keep meetings focused on them
Specify criteria for monitoring progress
Work on priorities through better committee structures and meeting formats
Take time to examine and learn from experiences

16. Key Components of Management
Planning: identifying ways, means, and resources to accomplish goals
Organizing: creating structures and assignments to pursue goals
Coordinating: overseeing the application of people and resources to accomplish goals
Monitoring: assessing progress toward goals; rearranging applications of resources to refine pursuit of goals

17. Core Skills of Management
Planning, goal setting
Problem-solving and decision-making
Delegating
Motivating
Sustaining communications
Facilitating meetings
Ensuring accomplishment of goals
Monitoring staff performance
Praising and rewarding success
Removing barriers to performance
Managing oneself, improving interpersonal skills

18. (Re)Designing the Organization
Start with a solid mission statement and clear strategic plan
Identify the skills and resources needed to accomplish strategic goals
Specify the activities needed to attain goals
Group up those activities into clusters for individuals/ teams
Establish structures of coordination and accountability
Depict positions in chart, showing lines of accountability
Delegate objectives and tasks, making sure that everyone understands expectations
Sustain clear communications
Monitor and evaluate results, use feedback loops

19. Base Everything on the Mission and Goals of the Organization
Goals: large, overall preferred results for the organization in the future
Mission: goals must be consistent with mission
Market: planning must engage important internal and external audiences, seeking their views and involvement
Strategies: the overall methods or processes for accomplishing the goals
Objectives: specific accomplishments that must be completed to reach the goals; major milestones along the way
Criteria: indicators of successful accomplishment of objectives and goals
Implementation: delegation of tasks to people who will complete each objective
Evaluation: monitoring progress toward goals

20. Managing Staff Performance
Def. Processes that provide effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organizational success
Emphasizes strategic goals and application of organization’s resources to accomplish them
Makes sure every individual understands how his/her efforts contribute to overall success
Integrates all aspects of the organization into coordinated activities to accomplish goals
Encourages behavior that fosters good working relationships and ongoing improvement
Provides ongoing means for learning and continuous quality improvement

21. Delegation
Assign responsibility for accomplishing a goal or objective to a team or supervisor
Allow that person or team to formulate activities needed to accomplish assignment
Builds motivation
Increases competencies
Risk of assuming “Why bother? I could do the work in much less time.”
Allows manager to oversee all operations

22. Steps of delegation Give whole tasks to individuals/ teams
Select the right person/team for tasks, matching skills and interests with tasks
Clearly specify results expected, not the methods for accomplishing them
Make sure recipient understands and agrees with assignment
Ensure that needed resources are available
Agree on criteria for monitoring progress, times for reporting & feedback
Maintain open lines of two-way communication
Set up means for addressing problems/ barriers
Evaluate and reward successful performance

23. Components of Supervision
Guiding the activities of staff or teams to accomplish a delegated goal or objective
Identifying tasks and roles needed
Developing effective teams
Ensuring that the right competencies are being applied to tasks
Seeing that problems are resolved
Monitoring and refining staff/team performance
Conforming with organizational policies

24. Core Skills of Supervision
Translating delegated goals into action, including:
Conducting feasibility studies to refine work plan and to identify required resources and skills
Mobilizing the right mix of people and skills to accomplish components of delegated goals
Team building
Ensuring understanding of work objectives, tasks, and individual contributions to overall success
Facilitating meetings, sustaining progress
Monitoring progress toward goals and objectives
Trouble-shooting, resolving problems & conflicts

25. Project Planning and Supervision
State the problem (not the solution) clearly so everyone involved has the same, accurate understanding of the issue to be addressed and solved.
Identify the goal to be attained, solution (so the problem is resolved), how it is linked with mission.
Specify what the team needs to do, a framework or structure to organize work, tasks linked by structure, clear enough that person assigned task will know what to do.
Identify set of activities that together will accomplish the goal, with time ordering so they are completed in sequence and on time for subsequent tasks. Set times for beginning, milestones for accomplishment, project completion.
Organize into sequence diagram, flow chart (project management software is available for this: Microsoft office has one; see also and )

26. Project Planning II
Task allocation: assign specific tasks to individuals who have competencies to complete them. Include some stretch so people will develop/grow.
Resources: ensure that needed resources are available on time for each task.
Record-keeping: set up procedures to keep track of tasks, assignments, due dates.
Communications: set up procedures for monitoring work, reporting on tasks, supporting collaboration, alerting others to barriers, testing for quality
Plan for errors and handling problems along the way: convene team to address and resolve.
Protect team members from other demands on time.
Disseminate and celebrate results.

27. Getting Started: Defining a New Job Role
Recognize need through problems in completing work assignments or
Anticipate need when planning for new service or program
Specify tasks and competencies through examination of current job roles and gaps
Identify how new role fits with organizational structure, work flow
Write job description
Estimate costs, including salary, benefits, taxes

28. Make use of Volunteers
Traditional “busy-work” not interesting or motivating to most people
Begin with workforce needs and identify tasks at all levels that may be done by volunteers
Must engage staff in planning
Follow similar steps of preparing job description, recruitment, screening, orienting, training, supervising, firing
Monitor performance and satisfactions, make adjustments to retain good volunteers
Recognition and appreciation are essential for retention

29. Performance Management seeks to ensure that each person
Understands what is expected of her and how her work leads to organization’s goals
Has the skills and abilities to deliver on those expectations
Meets those expectations
Is actively engaged in designing and implementing work tasks
Sustains positive relationships
Receives feedback on her performance
Has opportunities to improve performance

30. Problem Solving Impulse is to react in ways that have been used before
Satisficing: looking close to familiar solutions, selecting easiest one (fewest demands) to apply
Instead, seek to understand why you and others think there is a problem
Ask what do we see, where, how occurring, when, with whom, why, own role in it?
Seek to frame the issue in ways different from past
Engage others in examining definitions and potential solutions
Set priorities in addressing components

31. Further steps in problem-solving
Examine potential causes for the problem; ask for views and advice from staff, peers, managers, outsiders
Brainstorm to identify creative alternative approaches to solving it in long term, including asking others views, opinions
Screen alternatives for feasibility, likelihood of long-term resolution, risks and benefits, potential consequences
Imagine success: “What would we be doing if this were not an issue for us any more?”

32. Communications
Everyone should submit periodic progress reports to supervisors; each is crucial audience for other
Hold regular meetings with staff to discuss progress on assignments, with individual/team summaries, open feedback
Learn to listen actively; ask for clarification, check to see if you and others understand one another’s points
Demonstrate practices of open communications, asking for and giving feedback
Encourage staff to initiate discussions when tasks accomplished or barriers encountered
Solicit views of ways to deal with barriers; invite others to help solve problems.
Spread news of successes; show appreciation for others; say “thank you” often

33. Managing and reducing risks
Def: Steps to ensure that critical assets and resources are protected from loss or damage
People
Screen applicants, clear job descriptions, fair reviews, adequate compensation, prevention of discrimination and harassment
Responsiveness to problems, complaints, grievances
Policies on conflicts of interest, whistle-blowing
Policies on giving public information
Property and resources
Clear policies on handling money
Careful accounting and regular audits
Monitor and ensure workplace safety
Insurance (liability, D&O, property)
Policies on document retention, access, and destruction

34. Managing Yourself I Keep the mission in mind always.
Set priorities among tasks (urgent vs. important).
Recognize own signs of stress. Tell others and ask for feedback
Monitor own time and work hours; take responsibility for personal rest and renewal
Set personal growth goals and follow plan to attain them.
Get and use a mentor or coach. Ask for help.
Always tell the truth, keep your promises, admit mistakes, never blame, build trust.
Learn to delegate, as it builds others’ competencies
Understand your own style of learning, approach to power and to problems, dealing with criticism and conflict.

35. Managing Yourself II Develop emotional intelligence
Communicate with staff, supervisors, partner, mentor (err on the side of too much)
Learn and practice active listening
Give constructive feedback to others on the spot; don’t let discontents fester
Resist impulse to jump in and “fix” things
Address underlying issues, not crises
Identify aspects of work that are satisfying
Know when to stop, quit, leave. Prepare successors and stay aware of “founder’s syndrome.”
Recognize and celebrate own accomplishments

36. There is never enough time! Signs of poor time management
Staff meetings last too long and accomplish too little
I’m spending too much time on s and the telephone
My time gets consumed by unimportant things
My staff does not work productively when I’m not in the office
I tend to get too involved with too many projects at once.
There are always so many interruptions.
I need to make so many urgent decisions that I cannot study them all
I’m just a hands-on manager and like to be involved with everything
If there are problems, I can always finish the job myself.

37. Principles of time management
Planning
An hour of planning can save many hours of implementation.
Start the day by deciding which issues are the most important and put them first.
Save smaller issues for late in the day.
Avoid accepting others’ definitions of each problem as a crisis.
Remember: Someone else’s procrastination isn’t my emergency.

38. More on time management
Organizing:
Make responsibility congruent with authority.
Have people report to one supervisor only.
Staffing:
Match person with task to optimize motivation (including yourself).
Orientation for newcomers can save time later.
Learning should be supported and reinforced on the job.
Expect people to take initiative and responsibility for solutions, not just identifying problems.

39. More on time management
If it cannot be changed, don’t waste time on it.
People adopt the organization’s culture, so lead with solutions, not just complaints, and expect other to do same.
Focus on goals and policies, not complaints.
Make sure plans are clear about tasks and responsibilities.
Don’t take on tasks that could be delegated to others.
Delegate responsibility for whole tasks, not just parts.
Communicate expectations clearly.
Keep your eye on the long-term future.

40. More on time management
Decision-making
Distinguish issues from causes.
Focus on underlying issues, not complaints.
Build on what works now (not just in the past).
Indecision is in fact a decision, one that wastes time.
Decisions should be made at the front lines, not in executive office, wherever possible.
Decisions should be made by those who have the most information in the issue and the most stake in success.

41. Emotional Intelligence
Identifying emotions: the ability to perceive and recognize emotions in oneself and others (this varies widely among people)
Using emotions: the ability to generate and feel emotions in communication
Understanding emotions: the ability to understand emotional information, how they arise and combine
Managing emotions: the ability to regulate expressions of emotions in oneself and others so as to promote interpersonal understanding and growth.

42. Personal Emotional Competencies
Self-awareness of one’s own inner states
Recognition of how one’s emotions influence attitudes and communications
Self-confidence in one’s own worth and capabilities
Self-management and control of one’s own feelings, impulses, resources
Trustworthiness in maintaining personal honesty and integrity
Conscientiousness, taking responsibility for personal performance
Adaptability, flexibility in handling change
Initiative, readiness to act on opportunities
Achievement-orientation, internal readiness to improve or meet higher standards of excellence

43. Social-emotional competencies
Social awareness of others’ feelings, needs, concerns
Body language: reading voice, movement, gestures, eye contact, volume, posture, silence, timing
Empathy: sensing others’ feelings, perspectives, taking active interest in their concerns, active listening
Organizational awareness: reading a group’s emotional currents and power relationships
Service orientation: anticipating, recognizing, acting on consumers’ needs and interests
Social skills in inducing desirable responses in others
Developing others: sensing others developmental needs and bolstering their competencies and confidence

44. More social-emotional competencies
Leadership: inspiring and guiding others, using effective tactics for persuasion
Communication: listening actively and openly; sending clear and convincing messages
Change catalyst: initiating and managing change in relationships
Conflict management: negotiating and resolving disagreements, finding mutual solutions
Teamwork and collaboration: working well with others toward shared goals; creating group synergy in pursuing collective goals; showing appreciation to others for accomplishments.

45. Exercise
Review and rate your own performance in the skills of leadership, management, supervision.
Identify your strengths and limitations.
Select one skill in which you would like to grow.
Specify how you want to perform in that area. What would someone see if you were doing it well?
Decide how you want to get feedback from others on your performance in that skill. From whom? In what form?
Select some learning resources that will help you improve in that skill.
Negotiate a plan for getting periodic feedback on your progress.