e-Newsletter: Training and Resources
Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
by Jeff Vengrow, Director of CNE Solutions, Center for Nonprofit Excellence
You’ve read the leadership books & you’ve attended the seminars,
but what you need is someone who will work with you one-on-one on your questions, your challenges, your goals.
You need a COACH!
Now more than ever in recent history, leaders must develop a vision, think strategically, provide direction, create a goal-oriented climate, provide constructive feedback, emphasize personal accountability, and remember to celebrate success! All these are needed to create an organization culture that can adjust to the current economic reality. Consequently, it is vital that nonprofit organizations support the development of their leaders to build the capacity and sustainability of their organizations. And one way to enhance the skills of nonprofit leaders is through coaching.
Coaching can be defined as a partnership that offers a structured, supportive, and confidential, environment for visioning, goal setting, learning, and accountability. Recognized by private businesses for decades, the nonprofit sector has more recently begun to realize that coaching can help nonprofit executives identify and develop the specific competencies needed in today’s uncertain environment for their organizations as well.
Coaches provide feedback to leaders that they may not get from anyone else, especially in smaller organizations with no other management staff. Staff may hesitate to speak frankly to leaders about their behaviors or performance issues, and board members may not conduct regular performance reviews or may have too limited a view to identify situations that need attention or correction.
Nonprofit leaders should consider a working with a coach when there is a:
- recognition of the need to improve performance more than simply the acquisition of new knowledge or skills
- willingness to participate in a rigorous and honest self-appraisal
- willingness to devote the time, energy and resources to make changes over a period of months
- willingness to trust another person and genuinely talk about strengths and challenges
For coaching to have the most impact, it must be aligned with the organization’s values and mission, be obtained independently, be completely confidential (no reporting back to the board or anyone else), and there must be trust and a strong rapport between the coach and the leader.
There are, of course, costs to providing coaching to your nonprofit leader. The costs include time away from other work, the direct contractual cost for the coach, and the costs that may result from learnings or changes brought about through the coaching. On the other side of the coin are the benefits of coaching include:
- Providing an objective and confidential ear
- Offering a time and place to reflect on practice
- Helping in problem solving and providing accountability
- Providing assistance with balancing work/life issues
- Increasing job satisfaction
- Improving relationships between executive directors and their boards
- Enhancing the application of training to organizational practice
- Accelerating the pace of change within organizations. (From the W.K. Kellogg Coaching and Philanthropy (CAP) Project)
Of course some leaders will not, or cannot benefit from coaching, and that’s a decision the board must make before the investment is made. If the underlying problem is a serious personal problem of the leader, or a poor organizational structure or board leadership, no amount of coaching of the Executive Director or other leader is going to fix those problems.
Generational change will significantly impact the nonprofit sector over the next 10 years as there will be a large transition of leaders who are Baby Boomers, which will be coupled with a more limited number of leaders behind them who have not had opportunities for mentoring and coaching due to staff and financial shortages. Coaching can help to minimize the time needed to prepare these new leaders for their broader responsibilities. And developing the next generation of leaders can have broader ramifications for the whole organization, as the value and importance of coaching is taught and shared.
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Resources / Sources
Click here to download the the following resource list. [PDF]
1. Berry D, Cadwell C, Fehrmann J. Coaching for Results Assessment Instrument. Amherst, MA: HRD Press; 1996.
2. McDaniel G. Conflict to Cooperation: A System for Mediating Differences. Austin, TX: F&F Publishing, 1st World Library; 2002.
3. Carlson M, Donohoe M. Executive Director's Survival Guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2003.
4. Lombardo M. For Your Improvement: A Development and Coaching Guide. Minneapolis, MN: Lominger Limited; 1996.
5. Lencioni P. Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Manages and Facilitators. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2005.
6. Coleman J, Corbett B. The Sherpa Guide: Process-Driven Executive Coaching. Tampa, FL: Thomson; 2006.
7. O'Brien G. Coaching Yourself to Leadership. Amherst, MA: HRD Press, 1/1/2006.
8. Goldsmith M, Harkins P, Morgan H, eds. The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching: 50 Top Executive Coaches Reveal Their Secrets. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons; 2005.
9. Fairley SG, Stout CE. Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons; 2004.
10. Dilts R. From Coach to Awakener. Capitola, CA: Meta Publications; 2003.
11. Flaherty J. Coaching: Evoking Excellence in Others. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann; 2005.
12. Cottrell D, Layton M. The Manager’s Coaching Handbook. Dallas, TX: The WALK THE TALK Company; 2002.
13. Coach U, Inc. Coach U’s Essential Coaching Tools. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons; 2005.