Has Decision-Making Ever Been Easy?

I was recently perusing my Harvard Business Review (the best dollars spent when you need some quick organizational leadership advice, by the way) and came across an article titled “In Uncertain Times, Ask These Questions Before You Make a Decision” which made me think about both questions and crisis.

I’m a huge fan of questions. In fact, as a manager and nonprofit board member, I think that’s my superpower— I ask a lot of freaking questions. Sometimes it’s because I need to learn more about the content, the way of thinking, or I’m really focused on building relationships. But how does that superpower come into play when the sh** hits the fan?

Sometimes I forget about questions and move straight into action. Probably the worst-practice, but what can I say? I’m human and I want to be responsive.

But what if, instead, we focus on questions when we’re faced with uncertainty? I think that’s why this article stood out to me. The author proposes four questions to guide thinking when decision-making is critical and crisis is everywhere:

(1) What decision today will still make sense a year from now?

(2) If a year from now this decision was used as an example of our leadership, what would it teach?

(3) What if this isn’t the storm — what if it’s the climate?

(4) What’s the cost of waiting?

The author provides examples based in the corporate world — duh, Harvard BUSINESS Review — but I kept thinking, in the nonprofit sector, it isn’t just the Executive Director’s job. You need to pull in the Board! There’s plenty to be examined in the corporate and the nonprofit sector in terms of crisis response. Where corporate comes in more deeply studied and examined we can typically attribute that to the power of corporate to put money and people behind crisis or risk management.

And before we get into the “corporate teaching non-corporate sectors a thing or two” hear me out.

I think the nonprofit sector especially has approached these questions from a values based perspective on the daily without ample people or funding. What the nonprofit sector struggles with is time. Time to ask the questions and reflect on the application of organizational values to the crisis. Then who asks those questions? Who makes those decisions? How do you know if you need to make a change?

Here’s where the nonprofit Board can and should come in. It’s not just the responsibility of the Executive Director to set time aside to think through and plan out these questions. It’s the role of the Board and it’s Executive Team to support and guide the Executive Director in navigating these questions. Below, I provide a few thoughts around each question and how the nonprofit Board can support leadership.

(1) What decision today will still make sense a year from now?

Boards spend a lot of time talking about strategic plans and forecasting. But what happens when disaster strikes (like COVID) and all of your meticulously structured plans go out the window? It’s then time to think about this question.

With this question, I encourage Boards to consider that the ED is likely getting powerwashed with information and crisis, especially if, as during COVID, there’s a potential for impact on staff, community, and the fabric of society. Information is coming from all directions. Support your ED in focusing on the essentials. You can’t do everything, so what is the thing you want to do correctly? Will that decision make sense after you get through the crisis? If you have to streamline services - what will that one decision that needs to be right be?

As the article says, you do not need this to be perfect foresight. That’s impossible. This is, as the lawyer in me proudly states, the “reasonable person” standard. Would a reasonable person in my shoes at the precipice of a crisis understand why this decision had to happen this way?

For the Board, help your ED make sense of what’s around them. If you are the ones making a decision, learn as much as you can to support your thinking.

(2) If a year from now this decision was used as an example of our leadership, what would it teach?

This goes to the legacy and what we leave behind in every nonprofit organization. Think of a decision that you recently made. If it was uncovered by nonprofit archeologists in 100 years, what would they write in the history books about that decision?

Ok, that’s probably dramatic, but you get what I’m saying. What does the decision say about your leadership? What does it say about the organization and it’s values?

During COVID, youth focused organizations switched their information sharing and events to virtual. After we all got over understanding how Zoom worked, we got creative. Before long, we were having Karate lessons over Zoom, virtual scavenger hunts, and cooking parties. What’s the leadership lesson there? There were decisions made that emphasized the experience of being together and community. The biggest lesson I learned during that time was resilience and the value of creativity.

Think about the decision that you are faced with making. You do not need to conduct a full scale collection of leadership development resources to quickly assess, from a leadership perspective, the values being displayed in the decision-making. Are those values aligned with what you put on the website?

Even better: pull down the list of values you have on the website and use those as your guide in decision-making. Do you see the values reflected in your response? If not, you may need new organizational values or new leadership.

(3) What if this isn’t the storm — what if it’s the climate?

Great quote from the article: “ Rather than treating volatility as a temporary storm to wait out, [the question] asks you to consider: What if this is the new normal?”

Let’s talk about the elephant/donkey in the room. Politics today are shaping the sector in ways we haven’t even begun to fully realize. Changes in law and policy may come and go with changes in administration but the changes, over time, shift the tides on the whole. So, what if a rocky political climate is the future for nonprofits? What if it’s hostile? What does that do to the way you do business?

This is where the Board and the ED really need to think expansively and I’m going to encourage network collaboration. As I mentioned, nonprofits struggle with time and the ability to do everything and be everywhere. In my beloved Louisville, we have so many amazing nonprofits. What we don’t have, though, is enough collaboration within and between nonprofits. Where funding becomes slow to grasp, where can we consolidate our efforts through partnerships and collaboration? The Board can help with framing the nonprofit’s existence in the larger community.

But in order to do that, the Board has to be connected to the reality in which the nonprofit lives. This means understanding the nonprofit’s clients, it’s community, and the good/bad/ugly of it’s operations. That’s the only way to truly ask the right questions and uncover possibilities.

More to come on the need for a revolution in public service and volunteerism, but suffice to say, we need a strong community of informed Board members who are ready to lead, not just wait to be led, in questioning and decision-making.

(4) What’s the cost of waiting?

Now, before you think I’m telling you to slow-walk every decision until you have every data point and stakeholder on the record, just hold on. I’m asking you to hold two things to be true — both thoughtfulness and timeliness. In tough decision-making, we battle fear. Fear of making the wrong decision, what others might say, and whether or not we’ve thought through all the possible outcomes.

This question balances the two. So, with your nonprofit Board and leadership team, weigh this question across the others because you may realize that in reality, you actually do have more time than you think or, you realize that it’s actually important that you make a decision now. It could be that a decision about a program cut can actually wait until you hear from a program partner about the expected funding. But maybe you actually do need to give an employee notice that their grant has been cut and their position that was expected to be 9 months is actually just 6 months.

It’s important, as a Board, to also walk through with your ED what is, explicitly, driving their push on timing, whether the slow-walk or the quick decision. If, for example, in the case of the 9 to 6 month employment shift, you note that it’s actually more about the ED fearing the conversation with the employee, you need to discuss how that crucial conversation needs to happen. Similarly, if the Board is stalling on a decision because there’s a split of opinion, the Board Chair and/or Executive Director needs to have a real conversation about the impact of the indecision.

In summary….

Questions are beautiful. I’m a huge fan and you should be too! Thinking about how or why we are acting, thinking, or deciding in a certain way is incredibly important, especially when the stakes are high. Don’t get stuck in a system in which you lock yourself into a decision without taking a second to ask yourselves these questions and guide reasoning. You’ll find with a few lovely questions, you’ll feel better about your decision-making and make better decisions. Who doesn’t want that??

Do you have any lessons learned from crisis decision-making? What did you learn? How have you grown since then?

Warmly,

Cassie

If you want to talk more about crucial decision-making, conversations, and Board governance for your organization, drop us a line at [email protected]. We’re amazing, I promise.