In my last newsletter, I discussed the need for leaders to get comfortable building while flying. The most effective and sustainable organizations are those that manage to work on both process and mission at the same time.
“Easier said than done,” you’re probably thinking.
I get it.
Consultants have a reputation for giving advice without walking the walk. And when it comes to topics like strategic planning and project leadership, their advice often relies on ideal conditions, rather than practical realities.
In this newsletter, I’ll describe some of my own recent experiences trying to build an airplane midflight.
It’s a messy and challenging process.
But if I can do it, so can you.
Testing my own advice
In addition to my consulting work, I’m deeply involved as a volunteer with two local organizations. One is an established arts nonprofit, where I serve as chair of the board of directors; the other is a community group that I co-founded with two incredible people just a few months ago.
I’m passionate about the missions of both organizations, and a big part of me just wants to dive in and start doing great things.
And in both cases, the members of these groups are also eager to get to take action and get results.
Yet my process-oriented side knows that to be sustainable, we need to develop an infrastructure that lets us not simply function, but grow and thrive.
Through working with both organizations, I’ve identified four principles that help you move forward even when you’re still figuring things out.
Four principles to build and fly
1. Have a clear purpose and goals, but don’t plan the entire journey.
To get launched, you need to clarify to yourself and your team just why you are doing this work. Why this project, and why now? What are you hoping to achieve?
Note that I’m not proposing that you spend time crafting a mission statement—not yet.
As I noted in my last newsletter, the best planes are built in response to actual flight conditions. At the beginning of a new journey, you simply don’t yet know all the conditions.
2. Determine the minimum you need to get going.
Ask yourself, “If I had to deliver on this initiative next week, what would I need? In most cases, this will involve some combination of people power, financial resources, and a way to communicate and share information.
When launching our community organization, we simply had a three-person steering committee, a small amount of seed money, an e-mail address, and a basic website.
3. Identify 1–2 simple actions to implement right away.
In my experience, small actions lead to bigger ones; early successes help attract more people (and often more funding).
For example, my nonprofit board needed to update its bylaws, which can be a lengthy and complicated process. An easier first step was to develop simple internal working job descriptions for board members, which required no legal support.
4. Name the elephant in the room.
Organizations fail when everyone can see a problem, but no one is willing to say it out loud.
Whether you’re dealing with a toxic personality, overworked staff, lack of funds, or absentee board members, your first step isn’t to solve the problem—it’s having the courage to acknowledge that it exists.
Depending on the situation, you may be able to devise short-term workarounds. But in my experience, you’ll probably need to drive out the elephant before you can make any progress toward your long-term goals.
Final thoughts
Incremental progress, no matter how small, is always preferable to inertia or paralysis. The most successful organizations I know didn’t wait for ideal conditions. They started with what they had, learned from what they experienced, and built something remarkable along the way.