After a long, unexpected hiatus from my blog, I’m glad to be back. I once had an English professor tell my class that if we didn’t actively write, we had no business calling ourselves writers. As an English major at heart, nothing makes me more uncomfortable than having to count myself out as a writer because I’ve been lazy with my craft… unsurprisingly, I think the same goes for blogging.
And I am returning to blog about something I’ve touched on before, except now it’s happening: the NP 2020 Conference! It opened tonight and–I know I’m a nonprofit nerd through and through–the energy is already contagious. Being around the flurry of networking nonprofit professionals is refreshing, especially when they are young, talented, and ambitious.
It’s that kind of energy that may both affirm and counter the conference’s core question: “Will you lead?” I think tonight is already an indicator that there is a new generation of nonprofit leadership and it’s not just willing to lead; it’s ready to lead.
The question we may really need to think about over the next two days of the conference is, “How will the sector invite you to lead and support you in leading?”
Lisa Rose Starner of Mixed Greens touched on this in the opening speech when she encouraged everyone to think about the leadership deficit not as an issue only for leaders themselves to solve, but as a part of organizational development that requires funder support. She noted that funders should consider investing in transition planning rather than programming alone.
I would add that such funding should be coupled with stronger standards for how transition of nonprofit leadership occurs. I don’t think many nonprofits have considered a rationale for transition planning and talent development. If such development occurs, it is often put together in a way that is not systemic or sustainable… maybe not even replicable from one organization to the next? I once shared an idea for a mentoring and talent development program internally–it was well-received but then landed on my work plan for the next year, right back in the vacuum I was trying so hard to push it beyond.
Without a more common understanding of what we mean when we say “talent development” and “transition planning,” it seems like there is not a solid “product” the nonprofit sector can offer funders… after all, this is still programming in a way, just internal programming. (And I would not even say it’s capacity building, because depending on the program, it has benefits beyond the nonprofit organization.)
In my experience, outside leadership development organizations (i.e., American Humanics, which is supporting NP 2020) are good at placing talented young leaders in organizations, but the organizations themselves don’t have a system in place to identify, groom, and keep that talent. There should be some good practices organizations can borrow from each other and translate into a localized plan for transitioning the nonprofit sector. That would not only seem more strategic, but more worthy of the kind of funding needed to impact many organizations in a measurable, long-term way.
I hope some of this will bubble up tomorrow… it’s going to be great to watch the conversation and networking continue. I’ll post more here as time allows.
banana backtalk