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Who You Gonna Call When Your Nonprofit Needs Rescue?
Who You Gonna Call When Your Nonprofit Needs Rescue?

Do you feel like your nonprofit needs a “Ghostbuster” to bring everyone back to life?  Is your board actively engaged in your nonprofit?

Most people feel that answer is no. Many times, it is tough to get board members engaged as each person is serving on a board for different reasons.

There’s no one size fits all board.

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How I Landed My Dream Job (That I Didn't Know Existed)!
How I Landed My Dream Job (That I Didn’t Know Existed)!

When Kristen Laramore joined us for a Consultant Connection, we were thrilled. We wanted to talk about her journey as a leader and surprised us by saying she landed her dream job, a job she didn’t know existed!

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Leadership and NASCAR. The two words, at first glance, may not seem to fit together. For Hardy Smith, they do. Hardy was able to work under the Bill France family, founder and owner of NASCAR. The lessons learned in his 30-year career with NASCAR have helped Hardy become the leader he is today. It has greatly impacted his service with nonprofit organizations and chambers. As Smith shares in an interview with Connect for More’s founder Liz Wooten-Reschke [hyperlink to youtube video on the red text], one of the top tips received from Bill France was to anticipate and recognize your problems in advance. Problems are going to occur. If you learn to anticipate them, you can weed most of them as a true pressing issue. When a problem does arise, having already recognizing what could be an issue, at least you’ll know how to solve it more quickly. Smith translated this philosophy into his nonprofit consulting. For nonprofit organizations means he incorporates it into his “rinse and repeat of best practices” format. “My definition of courage for nonprofits and boards is being willing to recognize what you’re doing isn’t working and change isn’t just going to happen,” Hardy says. Hardy Smith’s Courageous Leadership Tips: • Have the willingness to change and adapt • Don’t do something just because all the other nonprofits are doing it. Make sure it’s right for your organization. • Learn to create sustainability for your own organization. • Be willing to work in connection with competing organizations as long as it benefits both parties. (Something Connect for More calls “coopetition.”) • Make sure the staff and board are working together for the same goal. • Be willing to say, “where do we go from here?” when something didn’t work as planned. Smith shares how important it is that there’s absolute clarity on board expectations. Many organizations fall short in this area. They assume everyone knows the expectations or are too afraid to list the requirements. Building a successful nonprofit business takes time, commitment, and intentionality. Be intentional with your board recruiting. How can you be intentional in board recruitment? 1. Effective communication is critical in obtaining and maintaining a great working board. 2. Create a culture your board members WANT to be a part of. 3. Acts of appreciation with words of thanks, recognition, and praise help keep members engaged. Smith believes any nonprofit can break the cycle of frustrating board relationships. His book “Stop the Nonprofit Board Blame Game” offers a different approach in altering leadership practices to encourage a culture where board members benefit are fully engaged. Additional Resources: • Stop the Nonprofit Board Blame Game | Hardy Smith • Board & Organizational Development Services | Connect for More
How NASCAR Influenced Hardy Smith’s Leadership Journey

Leadership and NASCAR. The two words, at first glance, may not seem to fit together.

For Hardy Smith, they do. Hardy was able to work under the Bill France family, founder and owner of NASCAR. The lessons learned in his 30-year career with NASCAR have helped Hardy become the leader he is today. It has greatly impacted his service with nonprofit organizations and chambers.

Read More “How NASCAR Influenced Hardy Smith’s Leadership Journey”
Taking Your Courage to Move Your Mission
Taking Your Courage to Move Your Mission

We’ve all been through the pandemic, the shock, the transitions, the setbacks, and reactions to the start and stop of funding and keeping our mission on track.

So, now that we are on what looks to be the other side of the pandemic, how do we take our lessons, our courage of fighting through the pandemic, and move our mission forward again?

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Don’t Let Fear Stop You Now
Don’t Let Fear Stop You Now

Have you ever moved to a new area? One where you didn’t know anyone? That’s what Sabeen Perwaiz of Florida Nonprofit Alliance did.

Sabeen moved to Jacksonville from New York with her husband. He was from Jacksonville and his family was there, Sabeen knew him and had met the family, but didn’t know anyone else.

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Strategic Planning
5 Tips to Take the Scare Out of Strategic Planning

In such uncertain times, trying to plan a strategy may seem scary. With the need to adjust and pivot so quickly, it’s normal to have a “why bother” attitude toward strategic planning.

The fast-paced changes that the pandemic brought about have left you on the continual need to stamp out fires and even at odds of how to proceed for a thriving future.

If your organization hasn’t revamped your vision recently, it’s likely you’re attempting to limp along with the day-to-day with an outdated plan.  Now is the perfect time to pause and develop your strategic plan.

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Do You Know What Today Is
Do You Know What Today Is?

A little-known fact about me is that I am a HUGE R&B music fan, with a special love of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s variety. If you are as well, chances are you just finished this blog title with a tune in your head from Tony Toni Tone’s “It’s Your Anniversary”. To be sure, listening to this genre of music makes me smile, breathe a little easier, and sing along with joy.

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What's In a Name
Rumbling With Your Personal Story & Brand

What’s in a Name?

Imagine if you will… a young girl ALWAYS being last to be seated in a classroom. Becoming best friends for a time with another wayward soul given the last name of Young because teachers were still at the time putting students in alphabetical order.  Ah the benefits of a last name that begins with a “W” and growing up in the 80s!

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Putting the Human Back into Leadership
Putting the Human Back into Leadership

Though it’s been around for a few years, I’ve recently just learned of a concept that I want to share with you – humanistic leadership.

In large part due to the amazing folks I’ve met as part of my Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator status, I’ve had the great privilege of surrounding myself with colleagues I consider much smarter than myself including Angela Lehr and Susie Vaughan. These two professionals recently completed a research study interweaving humanistic leadership with the impact of the pandemic on grief and resilience. What they found was fascinating!

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Creativity Sink: What Nonprofit & Small Businesses Need to Learn from Pixar
Creativity Sink: What Nonprofit & Small Businesses Need to Learn from Pixar

Part of my personal professional development journey often includes challenging myself with reading books by leaders in “other” sectors. You know, those business books not directly meant for we warm-fuzzy nonprofit people.Some of my favorites have included: You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader; The Five Dysfunctions of a Team; New Ideas from Dead CEOs and a recent favorite Creativity Inc.

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