Protecting Momentum in Nonprofit Leadership

In this episode of the Nonprofit Hub Radio Podcast, Alison Teitelbaum of AST Strategies shares practical insights on how executive directors and boards can protect strategic direction, reduce friction, and keep teams energized through transition and change.

The conversation covers essential techniques for overcoming mission creep, such as "level setting" decisions with clear context, measurable goals, and explicit reopening criteria. Teitelbaum details strategies for transitioning legacy organizations from working boards to strategic boards through training and term limits, while offering startup leaders a lighter cadence for keeping strategic plans active and aligning board vision with daily staff realities.

Transcript

Sponsor Message From Feather

SPEAKER_01 0:00

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Welcome And Why Momentum Matters

SPEAKER_01 0:23

back to the Nonprofit Hub Radio Podcast. I'm your host, Megan Spear, joined today by Alison Teidelbaum, who's the founder and principal consultant at AST Strategies. We're going to dig into a topic that I think every leader listening to the podcast needs to hear. I don't say that lightly or often. Normally our topics are maybe a little more niche depending on who's listening, but this one is just so appropriate for every leader out there. And I'm really excited to dig into it with her today. Allison, welcome in.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to chat today about this topic because it's just across the board. Yes. An issue, right? All organizations, anyone with a board, really anyone with a staff. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Yes. So that's a fantastic teaser. We're not going to tell anyone what the topic is yet. I love it. But before we get into the topic itself, tell us a little bit about yourself and kind of your background that brought us to the work today.

Alison’s Governance And Continuity Work

SPEAKER_00 1:18

So I've spent most of my career working with nonprofit organizations, largely in the health space. Lots of cause-focused organizations and associations. And I transitioned my work from kind of the C-suite executive in those spaces to running a consulting group. And so the thing that's great about that is I can really focus on what I like and what I think has the biggest impact on organizations based on what I've seen. I've worked with dozens and dozens of groups, and there are just some things that are universal, they're ubiquitous. And so I'm glad to be able to spend my time on those things. And so largely what I work with organizations about now is it's around leadership continuity and governance structure. So every organization has a governance structure, right? And um, and there are sometimes issues with those. And so by working with um not wards and executives, then I'm able to kind of help surface what's where some of the gaps might be and help them through that, particularly during times of transition or change. And then when I'm working with them, it could look like a variety of things, strategic planning, you know, sessions. But the point is we're working to help build a stronger organization that is better able to maintain continuity during change.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

I love it. So

Momentum Is A System Problem

SPEAKER_01 2:50

good. Okay, so as we dig in here today, the real topic at hand boils down to leaders who are finding that they are struggling to maintain momentum. And I I think we generally tend to think of that as maybe a communication problem or a behavior or performance issue. But you are saying that's not that's not the root cause. Right. So let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Yeah. So I think you absolutely nailed nailed it in that most people attribute challenges with keeping momentum in organizations to people problems more than anything else, but also communication issues and just, you know, a lack of capacity or skill or whatever. But I think, um, and based on my experience, it's it's a systemic issue. It's not something that you can kind of say it's this person or it's this thing. It's an environment that in the organization that is not built to help maintain continuity when there's change or just in in general. And so uh that kind of I think stems back to how does the organization protect the strategic direction that it's supposed to be moving along when there are things that are trying to throw it off. There's an executive that's kind of hearing something different from a board member or they're hearing something different from a staff member that kind of want to derail like where they're going and undo the decisions that they had already made. And and that is much deeper than a person problem. And I think actually it is a huge disservice to an organization to try to label things as people problems because it's

Decision Rules That Prevent Mission Creep

SPEAKER_00 4:40

so infrequently just that.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Yeah, I think that's great. I think one of the things that you're kind of hinting at is this idea of mission creep, right? Where we have other people who are trying to feed into where we should be going or where we should be headed.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

And so those are things that have to get kind of nipped in the butt, if you will. Yeah. Talk a little bit about how if you are in that leadership position, right? If you are that executive director that's starting to hear those things, how do you suggest handling that? What's your first approach?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Yeah, absolutely. So I think that if let's pretend that you are just coming into your position or something like that, and you're just getting to know kind of where the organization is supposed to be going, you know, what the mission is, where you are, uh, what the goals are, and you start to have those kind of extra voices coming in and saying, well, you know, what if we did this? Or I think it's really important that we do this, or I saw some other organization do this thing, why don't we do that thing? And and so if you're starting with taking a look at that governance structure within your organization, then one of the things I think is is easiest to do is to start by level setting with your board members to um say this is the decision that was made. Here's the context behind that decision, like the considerations we had, the you know, the discussions that we had. Here is what our goals are to achieve, like for that decision. And most importantly, here's how we decide where when we might reopen that decision. So, what would make us go back and reconsider that decision that we've made? And so that's that's the first step. And when it's that last piece, you know, that you're like, when are we allowing ourselves to go back and say, actually, this is the only time we're gonna do it? So when you do that, then you're able to set yourself up to have conversations or kind of, I guess kind of like criteria in place to deal with new things that would potentially lead to a mission creep. So if a board member or a staff member or a person that's, you know, dedicated in your community, whatever, comes and says, I think we should do this thing, you know, then you can go back and say, okay, here is where we were. This is where we said we were gonna be, you know, this is where we said we were gonna focus our time and resources to achieve these goals in this direction. Let's see how that idea fits in with that, right? And so if you um, because you only have so much time, so many resources, and when you get pulled in a million directions, then you can't keep going in the original direction, right? So if you can set the understanding of here's where we're going and here's what would justify revisiting it, and at the same time say, okay, so how are we going to evaluate new ideas against that? Then that's a a start at least to being able to have some control over those other ideas from so many voices that are trying to or who uh without intending to will throw you off.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Sure.

Moving A Board Past “Always Done”

SPEAKER_01 7:53

I'm curious, and I'd like to maybe direct this because I think the answer might be different. So I want to direct it in two different ways to two different audience groups that I know listen to the podcast, right? Yeah, absolutely. So we have a we have a lot of folks who are executive directors of long-standing organizations who are maybe uh stuck in a this is the way we've always done it mindset, right? Where we get this is how we've always done it is the death knell. And so I'm curious your thoughts if somebody finds themselves in that position where they're trying to move something forward but it's new and it we haven't done it that way before. And so there are a lot of a lot of communication things that have to get on board to get everybody moving in the right direction. And at the same time, I know that we have a lot of folks who listen who are startup founders. Yeah, this is their we're just in maybe year one or two starting to put that organization and getting it moving forward. And so I'm curious from your perspective for the first audience, how we drive change efficiently when that has not been the norm, right? And on the flip side, if we're newer, what does it look like to maintain that excit exciting or exciting momentum, right? And kind of build a culture of this is the movement that where we're headed. So I'd love to hear you speak to to maybe both of those. Oh my gosh. Because I think the answer is gonna be different. Maybe I'm wrong. No, no, no, you're not wrong.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Okay, so my first executive director job, I came into this organization that had never really had an executive director before. It was a 50-year-old organization, and they'd had an executive assistant, basically, and um, who was serving as an executive director, but wasn't, you know, actually fulfilling all the roles and responsibilities of executive direct executive director. On the board, well, there are the staff had been there for a million years, but on the board, there was someone who'd been there for 30 years. And um term limits exist for a reason, friends.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Put them in your bylaws. Term limits exist for a reason, and we need to do that. Yes, they do.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Yeah, they had no term limits, obviously. There was they had terms, but you could just be re-elected as many times as you wanted, right? And he was super passionate about it. He had no intention of leaving, right? And he'd been there for so long that everyone was kind of like holding on to him as a crutch. Like, well, we need to have him here because he remembers how things were done 30 years ago or 25 years ago, and no one else does. And, you know, we feel like if we don't have his voice, then we're going to lose, I don't even know, like lose where we came from, you know. And um, instead of focusing on where do we need to go. So what I had to start doing was changing that mindset, right? We can't focus on what we've done. You need to focus on where we're going. And um, and it does, you can't do it overnight. But the place that I started, um, or one of the places I started was the board members didn't really have any training or information about like what's actually your job. You know, your job, it was very up, it was very much an a working board. You know, they were I one of my first meetings, they spent 45 minutes talking about whether or not we should sell bumper stickers. And we did not have a merch shop, you know, and I was just like, why are we talking about this? So that I mean, that was super early on. Yeah, really bad. And so, you know, it started with, okay, here is the difference between a working board and a strategic board. Here's what a strategic board gets you versus a working board. Here is, you know, here are the different hats that you need to wear. You know, here are the different responsibilities. These are your fiduciary responsibilities, you know, all of these things. And um, so we kind of started there with this is the way it's supposed to be, right? And then we went into, I went into an exercise with them about where is it that you want to go, right? So I made them think about the future and do kind of a modified, it was more like a visioning experience exercise. It wasn't like full strategic planning, but it forced them to let go of where they've been for the moment, at least, and think, where is it that we want to go? And then working backwards, okay, if that's where we want to be in 30 years or in 15 years, then what do we need to do to get there in 10 years? What does 10 years need to look like? Then what does five years need to look like? Okay, then what do we need to do in the next year? Right. And so, I mean, it's a simple process, but it forced them to kind of reset what they were thinking about. So they had to look forward. At the same time, I worked with them on, you know, what's an appropriate governance structure? Let's look at the bylaws. What does it say? What should it be? You know, and so doing all of that at the same time. Now you can't push change too quickly, right? Because then people get scared and frustrated and just go back, you know, to what they were, what you're trying to free them from. And so, you know, you have to kind of figure out what's their appetite for change, how far or fast can you push them towards the direction they need to go without making them kind of retreat. So that's, I think, a way to start approaching

Startup Energy Through Ongoing Visioning

SPEAKER_00 13:06

that. And then for the startup side, it's some of the same things. Um, you know, the reason people join boards or get involved in organizations or startups is because they're passionate about something. They want to do good things, they want to see success. But when you get into especially startup mode, there's so many things that you have to think about that aren't necessarily the end product, you know, in however many years. Uh, and so you have to help, you have to get those folks to continue to think about where we need to go. And I find that kind of baking that kind of a conversation or thought process, I mean, it's really like a like a visioning exercise into meetings or, you know, kind of exercises along the way. So you can't do it like once a year. You know, you can't or say, like, okay, this is where we're gonna go, we're gonna create this great thing, and then expect people to remember that. You know, I think every time you have a group of people getting together, they leave more energized than they were when they came in, right? And so you need to create those spaces for people to collaborate in in a strategic kind of big thinking, like here are the signals kind of thing, rather than um, okay, we're all together and we're going to figure out um more nuts and bolts, or um, this is where, you know, these are the logistical things that we need to make sure that we get done. Just less big picture. Um and um, so if you can get, if you can install those, those moments, you know, like quarterly, go back and revisit why the heck are we here? What is it that we wanted to do when we started this? Is that still where we want to go? And you know, force them to think ahead. And it rebuilds that excitement so you can keep things going.

Sponsor Break From Feather

SPEAKER_01 15:02

You wear a lot of hats. Getting the word out about your mission shouldn't have to be the hardest one. That's why this episode is sponsored by Feather, a nonprofit marketing platform that helps organizations reach the right people, promote campaigns and events, and understand what's working. We use Feather here at Nonprofit Hub2, because staying visible and connected matters when you're trying to grow your impact. To see how Feather can help make your marketing simpler and your impact bigger, visit feather.co. That's feather, f e-a t-r.co.

Keep Strategic Goals Top Of Mind

SPEAKER_01 15:47

You brought up an interesting point, and I think it's probably true for both startups and and not the long-established, right? And that's idea, the idea of um obviously the forward thinking. And I think sometimes we get into these rhythms where we do a strategic plan and we go through the whole big process, and it's a lovely binder that sits on a shelf that doesn't actually drive any change. So I love the idea of actually working through that in a like an ongoing cadence, whether that's costly or as you go. Yeah. I'm curious your thoughts though on how because that is that is a piece that needs momentum behind it.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

If you're going to create these these five, 10, 15-year goals of where we're headed, that does not happen just because we put a plan together and again is sitting in a binder on a shelf. Yeah. So I'm curious your thoughts on some strategies that you have seen work really well for folks to keep those strategic goals top of mind. Because you don't want to spend time in every meeting going over them. No, like there's there's day-to-day things that have to get done, right? Right. And we need to keep space for that. But I'm curious your thoughts on either some strategies that have worked, some cadence in terms of meetings that have worked, to keep those priorities kind of top of mind so that everyone's behind them and moving forward together.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Yes. Okay. So when, so absolutely the strategic plan should be a living document. I think it should be pretty short, actually. It doesn't need to be super complicated. Yeah. And you need to revisit it, you know, every few years, the the kind of best practice around when you should take a look at your whole strategic plan. You know, it used to be a long 10 years, five years, and now it's every couple of years, right? In the meantime, you need to have, I have seen that the organizations that put even 15 minutes, you know, into each of their meetings or quarterly in their meetings, at the bare minimum twice a year, so that you can refocus the board members on what it is that you decided, like collectively, this is what we're gonna do. This is what we think is really important. And so it keeps that more top of mind, even if it kind of fades away in between meetings. And then you are not, then at least annually, you're taking a much broader look at the strategic plan and and what like again, I consider like a strategic working document and taking a look and seeing like, okay, this is where we were last year. Is this where we think we still are? Because I don't think that when you build a strategic plan, that means you're locked into it. Like you shouldn't be, right? Because things happen all the time and that throw, you know, curveballs and you know, whatever it is into the way. And if you're just unable to, if you have no flexibility in in how you approach your strategic direction and like what it is you have to do, then um you're not gonna be as successful as you want to be. Uh so baking that into meetings and then at the same time having the staff like or like a separate group of people take a look at it because the staff are gonna have a different perspective than anyone who's on a board. And so you need to have staff input on a regular basis, you know, maybe more frequently than um the how the board's weighing in, so that the staff can really examine it or assess it. Like, okay, is this still the bright thing? Oh, we planned for this and budgeted for this this year, but we should not do that, and then be able to take those recommendations to the board. So you guys are also kind of retaining like some of the control and autonomy over this thing that the board members who are coming in not being in it every day may have a different view on you know what's important. Um, so if you can blend those things together, you know, the recommendations from staff and then the kind of big kind of input that pairs how are we doing this right now with where do we want to be 10 years from now, then I think you're much more, you're much better set up for success. And then there's some ways that you can strategically structure those conversations. And um, I would recommend using kind of the same conversation with the board each time, have a structure, maybe even ask them ahead of time, like, is this still, you know, where you need to be? And that way you have that feedback that you're presenting in the meeting, and then you're not taking up time in the meeting to say, how does everyone think we're doing? you know, which can speed up so much time. And um, so there are actual tools that you can use and ways to structure the conversation, but I think the bottom line is that you have to do it frequently.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

So good. And I think just in that little section alone, you have hit the nail on the head for what is one of the executive directors' hardest jobs. Yeah. And that is balancing that tension between the folks who are casting vision and the folks who then are day-to-day on your staff carrying out that vision, right? Yes. That is admittedly

Managing Board Staff Tension

SPEAKER_01 20:59

one of the hardest parts of that role, right? Is holding that tension, holding space for everybody to have their opinions in those discussions. So I would love your your thoughts. I'm curious where what your top piece would be of wisdom for those executive directors who are are trying to balance that. Yes. Because there's really nowhere for you to go with it.

unknown 21:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Right? Yeah. There's nowhere, as the executive director, there's nowhere for you to you're not gonna go complain to the board about that. Right. You certainly are not gonna complain to yourself about the board. That's but it's a frustration and a tension that exists in your day-to-day. So I'm curious your thoughts on how the best way for executive directors to manage that and to carry that piece of the job that can sometimes be a little heavy.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

It can be really heavy and really fatiguing and exhausting, you know, and cause burnout and a lot of disfac dissatisfaction. Like right when you have that tension between the board. And the executive or the staff in general, then that you just makes everyone like have a it it reduces the um amount of joy you might get, you know, from the workplace. And especially in a nonprofit, at least for me, I've always wanted to feel like I was doing something to help, you know, help people, like help the world be a healthier place. And if I'm stuck as an executive director just fighting with my board, then I lose all of that, right? So creating that, that kind of relationship takes time. And you have to have, or you have to, I would say, cultivate board leadership investment or interest in in helping to smooth the friction, even though they're gonna be experiencing it in a very different way than like the executive is, right? So it helps to be able to do this if you have regular turnover, like you have a regular cadence of elections or whatever, and you don't have board members that have been on there for 30 years. So what you are what you can do is actually before the new leader takes their seat, you can do a couple of things. One, you are talking with the board kind of regularly, right, about the strategic plan. So everyone's on the same page about where you're supposed to go. Then separately, you are having an individual conversation or kind of, I don't want to say collaboration because that's not really what it is, but a relationship-building conversation between the new executive, sorry, with between the executive and like the new chair or the new people that are coming into power on the board to say, okay, this is how we're going to handle things. This is how we're going to handle disagreements in the board space. This is how we're going to manage, you know, like new ideas that come in. This is how we're going to work together to help reduce conflict. And it I'm saying this is how we're going to do it because the I think that the executive director needs to bring their preferred way of doing those things based on best practices and their experience to that conversation instead of having it be like, how do you want to handle conflict? Because then you're just doing the same thing every time a new person comes into their position, right? Yeah. And so if you can have those conversations and start to lay out the expectation of what the relationship and working relationship is going to be between the executive and the board member, then when eventually, like even maybe within, you know, three years, it could happen. The executive is, I mean, the board person is coming in going, okay, I understand that like this is the way things are gonna happen when I'm in my position and you know, this is how we're gonna interact with the with the executive director because that expectation's already been set. Um yeah. And so um, yeah, so I mean, it just it helps to create that, like I said, it it takes you cannot do it overnight. But if you have an executive director that's planning on being there for a little while, then you can take control of that. I think so much friction makes executive directors feel like they are out of control, like this is just happening to them. They hate it, they're counting down the days until that board board person like is off the board. And um I have friends who've had like count like countdown clocks like on their computers or on their phones, but you can start to regain or gain control and more autonomy over things if you sit down and can kind of map it out and have a an initial one or two board members that are willing to sit down and have the conversation and so that you can start to set things on the right course for the executive director.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Uh, so good. Uh, so good. And such an encouragement, I feel like, again, to executive directors of all sizes, that there are solutions and ways to deal with that. I really appreciate that wisdom so much. Tell

Building Expectations With New Board Leaders

SPEAKER_01 26:05

us a little bit about AST strategies and the work that you do specifically.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

So I like I said a little bit at the beginning, I work primarily with leaders of organizations, so board leaders or kind of senior staff to figure out where are decisions slowing down, why are things not moving forward, where are the gaps in, you know, communication or knowledge that kind of pop up when you have a lot of turnover and board over time. These are all things that contribute to your momentum or you know, strategic direction kind of slowing down. And it, you know, contributes to burnout, it contributes to staff dissatisfaction, it contributes to board dissatisfaction. And so I work with them to kind of say, okay, where are the vulnerabilities that you have? You know, where are the gaps you have right now in a system like that will help support you so that you as the executive director aren't like forcing it, you know, and you and there are a lot of things that you can do beyond what I've talked about today to reinforce um kind of like the scaffolding of an organization in a way that will actually protect momentum and protect the staff so that you can move forward. Um, so good. Yeah. And and how that looks like when I'm with an organization, it could be many different things. Um but it starts with kind of assessing like where are you, like what's going on. And I just love getting into that with organizations because I do think there's a way that you can structure things so that you have a better experience and better outcomes as an executive director. And and I don't think that that you should feel like you're completely out of control. So anyway, so I love doing that stuff with boards and then helping them kind of see, oh, okay, I can put this stuff in place, and then it's gonna be better for everybody. Yeah. And um and

How To Connect With Alison

SPEAKER_00 28:06

getting them there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

Yeah, that's great. And if someone wanted to learn more or connect with you, what's the best way to go about that?

SPEAKER_00 28:12

One, you can find me on LinkedIn and you know, I'm I'm always there. But then you can always go to my website, which is asthystrategies.com, and um, there's a contact form on there. And so you can always reach out that way. My direct email address is on that page as well, so you can always email me and just kind of have a conversation to figure out where are you and how can I help you? Or, you know, is there a possibility for me to be able to help you with what you're experiencing? I think there probably is an opportunity, but um, that's how you can find me. So a couple of different ways.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

That's

Book Pick Invisible Women

SPEAKER_01 28:47

great. Okay, so as we wrap up today, the closing question on the podcast this season has been we've dubbed 2026 as the year of learning. Um, what is a book that you would recommend everyone put on their to read list? Could be professional or personal or something that's really impacted you. What would you recommend?

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Yeah, so I would actually recommend Invisible Women. Um, so it's a it's on the professional side of books. It's by Caroline Creato Perez. And one of the things I didn't really touch on today that wasn't the topic was I also work with organizations about how, well, and leaders with how women who are in leadership positions experience this kind of friction and transition differently than men do and the different kind of expectations that are put on women. And I think that book, Invisible Women, really lays out a lot of the kind of societal and sociological and psychological kind of underpinnings to all of that. And um, and it's all data, like it's not just conjecture. It's here's the research that's been done. So, you know, I think it's it's absolutely a great read and likely very insightful for, you know, whoever's reading it. I know it it was for me.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

Yeah, I would double that recommendation. It is a fantastic book and also could be a whole podcast episode in and of itself because the data behind and the science behind is really interesting. It's fascinating to break down. So yes, highly recommend. I will I will second that motion. Awesome. Yeah, it's great. Very good.

Closing Thanks And Wrap

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Allison, thank you so much for being with us today. We really appreciate you sharing all of your wisdom and insight. I hope I I am sure that a lot of our executive directors found it to be very encouraging about ways to move forward. So thanks so much for being here.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

Thank you for having me. I do hope everyone found this valuable. My goal when I'm talking to folks is always do you feel like this was a good use of your time to listen to me talk about something? So hopefully that's true.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

Absolutely. Again, my guest has been Alison Teidelbaum, who's the founder and principal consultant at AST Strategies. This has been another episode of the Nonprofit Hub Radio Podcast. I'm your host, Megan Speer, and we'll see you next time.