Brian Reich

There is little denying that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is a genius. He created a site that not only attracts more traffic than any other on the web, but also influences behavior, business, and social norms at an unprecedented level.

He can sit down and build something that most of us could never even imagine existing with lines of code that almost none of us can understand. But for all that brilliance, I wouldn’t give him the task of running a nonprofit organization. And especially not an arts organization. He is not the right fit for the task.

But if Facebook were to commit its resources and energy towards supporting the arts, Zuckerberg would almost certainly assume a leadership role in that effort because of his existing role as CEO of Facebook.

Thankfully that is a hypothetical situation. But it happens all the time – an existing organizational leader is thrust into a position where they are not a good fit. They are asked to guide an effort, inspire a team, and help an organization transform itself to meet a new set of challenges, only to find out too late that they weren’t up for the task. That practice needs to stop.

Some of the biggest efforts to address problems facing our society are being led by organizations that are, inherently, at a disadvantage in terms of management. With a few exceptions, the makeup of nonprofit organizations, or those groups who lead with their mission and passion, tends to not be conducive to good management.

As the needs of organizations expand and change, today's personnel may not be the best fit tomorrow. The people you have on your staff, many of them who have contributed to the growth, the success and the prominence of your work, are not necessarily the right people for the next stage of work on which an organization is about to embark.

If your organization isn’t fulfilling its mission, or if the work you are doing isn’t significantly contributing towards finding solutions to serious issues in our society, it’s time to fire your staff.

For all the negative impacts of the economic slowdown that has consumed the nation, and the globe, one certain benefit is the ability for organizations to re-make their staff. We have seen big companies quickly shed five or ten percent of their workforce because of the economy -- the truth is a lot of the people that they’re shedding are people that they had planned on getting rid of but didn't have an excuse to do so.

The nonprofit world should also take advantage of the opportunity to shed people that are not performing.

This problem is not limited to staff either. You hear a lot about partnerships being created – between organizations and corporations, between technology providers and groups who are offering access to certain services or experiences to their audiences – but you rarely hear about partnerships being un-made.

The same old team, operating in the same existing ways, isn’t working anymore. And expecting them to change on their own is not likely to yield the desired results.

But, organizations don’t just need to change their approach internally, they also need to change the way they partner and align with sponsors and donors. To successfully address serious issues, organizations are going to need to change their culture, their business practices, and their approach to embrace the challenges of working in a connected society.