Hi Reader,
This month I'm leading a cohort of about 70 nonprofit leaders from around the globe (5 continents!) in a series of sessions about project management. The topic is on my brain, so today's tips come from that vein. If you or someone on your team could use some tips for how to make projects flow smoothly, keep reading.
Let's get to your Monthly Management Memo - as always with something bold, something new, something borrowed, and something to pursue.
π₯ Something Bold - Let Silence Become a Decisionβ
Early in my nonprofit career, my team and I went through about twelve rounds of edits on a donation envelope. Move the logo three pixels left. Try the other font. Twelve rounds, on a thing no donor has ever picked up and put back down because of the font.
So I finally wrote: I think this is good. Unless I hear back from you by tomorrow morning, I'm sending it to the printer.
Here is the shape of it, for whatever's currently sitting in somebody's inbox.
"If I don't hear back by [date], I'll proceed with [this approach]."
That stops you from waiting. Silence becomes an answer instead of a delay. And as someone who has been on the receiving end of plenty of these, it is honestly a relief - I get to look at it and think, yes, that's fine, go ahead without me.
You can't use it on everything, and you know your organization better than I do (none of us are likely getting away with "If I don't hear back in an hour I'll go ahead and buy the Ferrari!"). If it wouldn't be right with the person you're sending it to, trust that. But when your judgment says this is a reasonable decision that has already had plenty of discussion, try it once and see what happens.
π Something New - Your Buffer Is Probably in the Wrong Placeβ
I have always told people to build buffers into a project plan. For years, my version of that advice was essentially "add two weeks, because something will come up."
My thinking has gotten more precise this year, and it has made a real difference.
A project plan usually doesn't break where the work is hard. It breaks at the waiting points - the moments where your next step needs something from someone who doesn't report to you. A sign-off. A budget figure. A translation. A permit. A funder's disbursement. A partner organization's data.
So put the buffer at each waiting point instead. List your project's phases with a rough date for each, mark every place where you're waiting on someone else, and you'll have a much more realistic sense of how long something is actually going to take
π€πΌ Something Borrowed - A Planner for the Conversation You Keep Putting Offβ
One of my favorite clients (the team at Nonprofit Builder) built a difficult conversations planner that I have started pointing people toward. You tell it what you need to say and who you need to say it to, and it helps you plan how to open it - useful when the conversation you owe a manager or a colleague is something you keep putting off.
Worth a look before your next hard convo (and it's free).
ππΎββοΈ Something to Pursue - Appreciation, More Often Than Feels Necessaryβ
Only 14% of people - about one in seven - get recognition from a manager at least once a week. Another 21% get it once a year or less. (Gallup, 2024, in a survey of employed adults in the United States.)
When I first came across that number as a new manager, the part that surprised me wasn't that people need recognition. It was the frequency. Saying thank you to someone every single week felt like a lot, until I started doing it.
Yesterday morning, I asked a room of nonprofit managers from about twenty countries what they already do. These are theirs:
- A recognition day, where managers organize the event and thank staff with small gifts and letters
- A standing slot in the weekly project meeting for people to appreciate each other
- Appreciations built into the project lead's weekly written update
- Cakes for each other's birthdays
- Watching a movie together when something big goes well
And the script that makes it even better: "Thank you for [the specific thing]. It meant [the specific result]." Specific beats generic every time - though "great job" still beats saying nothing, so don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good here.
Last Month's Most-Clicked Management Memo Link: Jess's Honest Transitions Toolkit from Libby Fischer and Jess Skylar at the Helia Collective, for when it's time for someone on your team to move on.
Bring your team; Iβll bring my A-game. I love helping teams with workshops on productivity, team culture, and effectiveness at work. βFind out more and book a free chatβ to see if I can be helpful to your organization.