Creating a culture of inquiry

Does your board welcome diverse perspectives?  Are individual board members given an opportunity to weigh in on important organizational decisions?

Boards often aim for diverse membership but fail to engage the full board.  How does your organization cultivate a culture of inquiry–defined by thoughtful, mutually respectful debate and dialog about consequential questions and issues for the agency?

Key ingredients (BoardSource would agree) include :

Trust, Information Sharing, Teamwork and Facilitative Leadership

And most importantly, a focus on mission.  In order to truly create a culture of inquiry all board members must put aside self interest and focus on what decisions will enable the agency to most effectively accomplish the mission of the organization.

Thank you for visiting All About Mission

There are hundreds of social media forums available to discuss the nonprofit and philanthropic sector.  This particular blog is intended to engage in a meaningful conversation about effective practices of nonprofits and grantmakers to achieve their mission.  This is a place to share case studies, stories and experiences–big and small–that highlight the ability of nonprofits and grantmakers to achieve their mission as well as a discussion forum for raising questions and challenging practices that negatively impact a focus on mission.

One such challenge facing organizations of all scope and size is founder’s syndrome.  How can capacity builders, consultants, funders and nonprofit leaders help founding executive director’s recognize when and how to concentrate on leaving a legacy and ensuring that the organization will continue to serve the mission beyond the any one individual?

Thoughts…

Here are some related articles and blogs:

A must read…Founder’s Syndrome:  How Corporations Suffer–and Can Recover by Carter McNamara from Authenticity Consulting, LLC      http://www.managementhelp.org/misc/founders.htm

Great example!  http://www.savingmissolivers.com/the-founders-syndrome/

While these top six might appear a bit extreme at first glance they serve as a good warning sign for new nonprofits in danger of setting up Founder’s Syndrome from the beginning….http://alltopstartups.com/2011/03/18/6-startup-founder%E2%80%99s-syndrome-that-can-kill-your-startup/

Another take
http://donationpay.org/blog/2010/05/founders-syndrome-an-epidemic/