“I’m sorry, Parker. You can’t have another cigarette right now,” I said to a man three times my age. “It’s not quite time yet.” Twenty-something years ago, I started my career working in a group home for people with disabilities that had spent their childhood and much of their adult lives in an institution…until then. With their new-found freedom came so much joy, new experiences, and risk; along with the now outdated concept of “negotiated risk.” Twenty-something years ago, Parker had to negotiate for his right to smoke if he so chose despite being a grown man who knew all the risks involved. Supporting Parker’s personal risk management and working with him to develop mitigation strategies preventing house fires was my first exposure to the concept of risk management, and the strategy and collaboration that goes along with it. All along, I thought Parker was teaching me life lessons about autonomy, self-governance, advocacy, but he was actually teaching me about the effectiveness of strategic collaboration to manage risk. Thanks, Parker!
In this edition of Jani’s Journal…
We explore three seemingly unrelated but critically important topics for both nonprofit and for profit businesses: risk management, collaboration, and strategic planning. Certainly, understanding each alone has value, but understanding their intersectionality brings even greater value to your organization, so read on…
Want to grow your nonprofit’s mission? Impact more lives? Bring more goodness into the world? You’re in the right place! Jani’s Journal is where nonprofit heart meets business savvy mind.
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Jani’s Jackpot!
Five Ways Managers Sabotage the Hiring Process
OK, I’ll admit on the surface this article seems a bit out of place, but it’s actually a Jani’s Jackpot! article because the five saboteurs listed apply to oh so much more than the hiring process! Beyond ensuring your hiring goes sideways, Fixing & Rescuing, Validation Seeking, Boundary Breaching, Micromanaging, and Detachment also sabotage your ability to clearly assess risks (crucial to effectively manage them), develop mutually beneficial collaborative relationships, and implement agreed upon strategies. This 7-minute Jackpot! read can improve your recruitment and hiring approach, risk assessment, overall approach to strategy development and implementation, as well as collaboration with both internal and external stakeholders.
Risk Management
What Is Business Risk?
Parker may have taught me about negotiated risk, but a business operations career taught me about “enterprise risk management”—a fancy term for organization-level negotiated risk. This McKinsey article offers the simplest definition of business risk I’ve heard: “…a situation that can lead to decreased profits or even bankruptcy.” Since nonprofit budgets typically have slim to no margins, even slight profit decreases can quickly jeopardize a nonprofit’s very existence. This 13-minute read teaches you a risk management plan’s three core elements and five actions you can take to build your organization’s risk management plan, and it has a great summary on cybersecurity risk—something any nonprofit that maintains financial or healthcare data must attend to (think donors or the vulnerable populations your mission may serve).
Once you’re finished reading this article you may be thinking…I need one of those, but where do I start? Assessing risk can be as complicated or as simple as the risk itself. One tool I’ve borrowed from project management may help you get started. A risk mitigation plan simply lists potential risks, prioritizes them based on likelihood of occurrence and potential impact, and prompts organizations to develop prevention, detection, and response strategies before the risk ever comes to fruition.
Collaboration
Nonprofit Collaboration for the Greater Good
While only one of my business school professors openly touted his goal of teaching us all how to get rich, much of what I learned did involve maximizing profit. Firms commonly do this by developing their own or acquiring a competitor’s complimentary product to boost existing product’s sales. Nonprofits can take a page from this playbook without adopting the cut-throat corporate mindset that often accompanies it. In times of scarce resources, and tight budgets, nonprofits may mistakenly hunker down and focus on being the best and doing it all. This 3-minute Forbes read reminds us to avoid this pitfall because collaboration is king! Find allies that are closely aligned with or adjacent to your mission (think “complimentary products”). Developing collaborative partnerships can maximize positive impact and reach of both organizations’ missions.
The Growing Role of Mutual Aid
Within the last decade, the emergence of “Small Business Saturday” as a major holiday shopping day has signaled the growing focus on the local community. While it far pre-dates Small Business Saturday, the concept of mutual aid is similarly community focused and experiencing a resurgence. Nonprofits should take notice of their surrounding communities’ growing informal networks neighbors have established to meet local needs. These non-traditional collaborative partners have the potential to develop a mutually beneficial relationship. Check out this Nonprofit Quarterly article for some great ideas and collaborative inspiration!
Strategic Planning
Getting Strategy Wrong--And How to Do It Right Instead
Want to avoid your next strategic plan being “a toxic mix of wishful thinking combined with a jumble of incoherent policies?” A little on the longer end, this McKinsey article is full of illustrative stories making it well worth the 18-minute read. Too many businesses, both nonprofit and for profit, either completely lack a strategic plan or have a stagnant list focused on ambitions or financial goals sitting on a shelf collecting dust that they call a strategic plan. As this article notes, lack of execution of a strategic plan is one indicator it’s not really a strategic plan—an action plan based on rigorous internal and external assessment designed to move the organization forward “through a gnarly challenge…It is not static. Strategy is continued, ongoing problem solving.”
This article rightly hints at the intersectionality among strategy, risk, and collaboration. Inherent in a good strategic plan’s development is an assessment of risk(s) to the business and a team’s plan to address it. No one person owns an organization’s strategy—it’s a team sport requiring collaboration to both thoroughly assess the risk(s) and to problem solve through them.
If your organization is about to embark on strategic planning, consider working with an external party to facilitate your team’s work. Having a seasoned strategist, like Jani Consulting Services, facilitate your plan’s development ensures everyone can participate and brings an independent perspective as your organization works through those gnarly challenges more effectively. For more information on strategic planning services, contact mindy@jani-cs.com.
What was your favorite article this week? Let me know in the comments!
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