Blogging Columbia Business School: Leadership, Strategy and Conflict, Oh My!

My dear readers, I’ve been blogging sporadically trying to juggle my real work with the intense preparation for a week of professional development outside of my world in Washington, DC. Yes it’s a good thing that I’m on my third day of residence week for Columbia Business School’s Middle Management Program. It’s being taught through their Institute for Nonprofit Management, and so far it’s the best week of my life. The Heldrich is a beautiful hotel in New Brunswick, New Jersey, across the street from Rutgers University. Imagine waking up every day to wonderful artwork everywhere, comfy beds to sleep in each night, and the best meals you can imagine. You name it, we got it. Knowledgeable and warm professors, experienced and supportive colleagues, and a climate that makes you want to wake up each day to learn something new. I’m learning so much from the professors and my 24 peers in every session. There’s a good mix of managers from large organizations, small ones, and even a start-up nonprofit.

We’ve done A LOT so far, with sessions on leading and managing strategically, Myers-Briggs, performance management and feedback, negotiation skills and conflict resolution, and fundraising and resource management. Michael Park of the Robin Hood Foundation is co-teaching us negotiation and conflict resolution and he is AWESOME! If you don’t do anything else with your life, you must read Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. It will change your world. The best thing about this program is the emphasis on experiential learning and that we are able to role play a lot around conflict and making the “ask” in fundraising, and negotiation. This way we get the kinks out before we try it out for real in our organizations. A really exemplary part of the program was Diane Dean, who was formerly at the Girl Scouts who taught us everything we needed to know about fundraising successfully in just 3 1/2 hours. I’m not kidding! This is really the kind of program that makes you want to go back to your nonprofit organization 9am on Monday morning and create meaningful change with your newfound skills. This is the kind of place where every moment is an “aha” moment, so I’ll try to share some of the juicy nuggets that I’ve grabbed up so far:

Your job, and the challenge of being a leader is to take the organization’s big idea or vision and turn it into performance and results

Leading strategically means being able to align your staff and planning with the organization’s vision or theory for change

Effective strategy is achieved when all aspects of the organization are running on the same track and “speaking to each other” – finance, fundraising, programs, board, etc.

A definition of strategy: deliberately chosen change

Strategy should be the discipline that guides your behavior in the present

Instead of “competitive advantage”, nonprofits need to be clear about our “value proposition” – it’s not that we’re the best at what we do or that we’ve been doing it the longest, it’s about the benefit to the user/funder, etc. What value do we add?

We need to see competitors as allies in the nonprofit sector and work together because even if all of us could be fully funded to fulfill our missions, we still wouldn’t solve all the problems we are trying to solve

The best way to diffuse tension in an interaction or conflict is to listen

In negotiations, it’s important to listen first, to be sure the other party feels heard

Debunk the myths of negotiation: disclosing the facts does not make you vulnerable, and taking a position too early in the game is not the best way to go

There’s SO much more, believe me, that I’ll try to cram into future blog posts. And more on my program experience later. Right now I’m full of ideas and inspiration to tackle the biggest issues I’m facing at my organization knowing how to better manage & lead others to achieve the greatest value for my nonprofit. I’m definitely feeling the words of Carl Sandburg tonight:

“I’m an idealist. I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.”

Photo, “Infinite Loop”, by kurafire