Why are you still stuck?
You have a decision you need to make. Deep down, you know what you should do. And you have known for a while. But you cannot bring yourself to act.
CEOs frequently share this dynamic with me. Sometimes they are stuck in The Niceness Trap. Sometimes they are wandering around in The People Paradox. Other times they just don’t have someone giving them permission to lead.
But for those who have decided and who have moved, what makes the difference?
In this week’s episode, Will Jones shares about a challenging situation he walked into as he started leading at Thompson. In his first month, his CFO came to him for a signature to pull $150,000 from their endowment to cover $200,000 of payroll. (This is not ideal.)
Drastic times, drastic measures. Will went to his board, explaining that he needed to lay some people off, to navigate the financial shortfall and begin to right the ship...in his first 60 days as CEO.
Some people ask me if a coach would help with this. I usually say no, because of what Carol Bremer-Bennett told me in Episode 24:
I would say there was at least a year of delay and me trying to [make a hard decision]...I had engaged with this organizational culture coach because I had a sense but I didn't know what to do about it…I don't think I had quite the courage and maybe I felt like I didn't have the skill set to be courageous in that moment…I've been blessed with fantastic coaches in my life. So bringing it to a coach was really important to me to have that executive coach. We also had this consultant who was really an expert in organizational culture.
She had an executive coach and a culture consultant. She still took over a year to make the decision and take action.
Other CEOs have told me stories of things going differently:
[Talking with advisors and friends], one of them's like, “You've been talking about this and the challenge you're facing for a while. What are you going to do about it?” And it's obviously the most obvious question, but just the timing and the way that he said it, I was just like, “Yeah, what am I going to do about it?” —Bobby Gruenewald, YouVersion, in an upcoming episode
“So what's stopping you from making that decision? You're the CEO.” Oh yeah, I'm the CEO. No, nothing's really stopping me, other than my own fear of rocking the boat. —CEO of a large religious nonprofit
Nick Grono of Freedom Fund covered similar dynamics in Episode 25. “It was really good to have that challenge of when are you going [to move] and how are you going to do it.”
Sometimes nonprofit CEOs talk to someone who enables their delay, who allows them to drag their feet. They tolerate behavior that is hard for the other staff and worse for the beneficiaries of the organization. What is needed is someone who is outside the system, with no stake in the outcome, who helps you see what you need to see, and who will press you to cut the crap and move on it.
Most CEOs I talk to do not have that level of counsel.
And I’ve come to believe that their organizations accomplish less of their mission as a result.
CEOs across the sector frequently tell me they wish they had made a decision and acted sooner. Very rarely does anyone tell me they wish they’d taken longer to make a decision.
What do you need to decide? Do you know what you need to do? Why haven’t you done it yet? Thank you for what you’re leading.
Adam Jeske, The Nonprofit CEO Advisor
P.S. I'm taking on 1-2 new advisory clients for Q4. CEOs hire me when a decision has stalled, and they want someone to help them see it clearly and to get movement on it.
If that's where you are, reply with one line about the decision. I'll tell you whether I can help.