News & Views

 By Valyrie Laedlein, CRE Co-Director - I’d been looking at data from the Daring to Lead 2011 study about how Executive Directors spend their time – and how they THINK they should be spending their time – and was preparing to write a blog about what prevents us from focusing on “what matters.” Simultaneously, of course, I was reading articles and analyses about the debt ceiling agreement that has been reached in Washington and finding myself increasingly incensed by how the decisions being made by every level of government are impacting our communities, the nonprofits that serve them, and the impossible quandary about just what should get our attention as nonprofit executives.

After much drama at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue over many weeks, we now have a decision about the nation’s finances – at least for a while. With nary a whisper about revenues, our leaders have trimmed a neat $2.1 trillion in primarily “discretionary” spending over the next 10 years, and already there is extensive analysis about the number of jobs to be lost as a result. Knowing what the implications will be for communities we serve, one can’t help but feel assaulted by the succession of cuts that all levels of government have taken – and dismay at the choices that we, as a society, seem to be making.

To add insult to injury, the debt ceiling agreement got made just 6 days after the Pew Research Center released its report on the growing wealth gap between white households and those of blacks and Hispanics. Median wealth among white households is now 20 times that of blacks and 18 times that of Hispanic households in this country. These ratios have nearly doubled what prevailed in the two decades preceding the economic recession.

As leaders in a sector that is undervalued – working with clients, program participants and communities who are largely ignored in favor of those whose non-taxed earnings must be preserved – where should we first turn our attention? What should we be focusing on? What’s most important to devote time to? Especially in this moment when we nonprofit leaders have absorbed budget reductions by trimming back middle management, office support and administration, in the interest of preserving much needed services.

In the Daring to Lead 2011 study, the recent releases of Brief 1: Leading Through a Recession and Brief 2: Inside the Executive Director Job describe the pressures that EDs are under in this climate. What is compelling as I look at the data from 3000 EDs is the extent to which they do not feel as if they are doing “the right things.” When asked how they feel about the time they spend on various functions commonly identified as those performed by the Executive Director, this is what the data show:

• 54% feel they do not spend enough time doing Marketing, Communications or Public Relations
• 53% say they do not spend enough time doing Fundraising
• 52% report spending insufficient time on Networking, External relationships or partnerships
• 47% feel they do not spend enough time on Public Policy and Advocacy work

This strikes me on two levels. First, these are all the functions that are most critical to attracting resources to support an organization’s work. The unfortunate reality is that community-based organizations – those that are closest to the communities in need and best able to reach people most affected by the recession - are also those with the leanest staff and fewest resources. Thus they are least able to devote time to these functions of marketing, fundraising, networking and advocacy. The result is that these organizations, like many of their clients and participants, face a wealth and income gap of their own as government at all levels devotes a shrinking resource pie to such “discretionary” programs as community development, youth programs, job training, and education.

Second, EDs are painfully aware of what they are not getting to in their busy days and are grappling with untenable choices about how to manage their time. CRE sees this among our coaching clients in our leadership practice – and I know that I experience it personally in trying to strike that balance between the internal and program tasks at hand and the time for strategy, perspective and planning.

What this week’s events painfully brought home to me, however, is that the broader role of thinking, strategy, and advocacy that is aimed at working for systemic change is not only likely to get tougher to fit into the schedule, but has never been more critical.

Links to previous posts in the CRE Daring to Lead blog series:
What Works in Leadership Development
Three Key Issues In Succession Planning
One Size Does Not Fit All Boards
A Bone To Pick About Government Contracting
Daring To Lead: A National Study on Executive Leadership

Click here for more information about the New York City respondents and interesting facts about their Daring to Lead responses.

Read the Daring to Lead main report, Brief 1: Leading Through a Recession, Brief 2: Inside the Executive Director Job and Brief 3: The Board Paradox.