02 Sep Are You Mission-Driven?

By Tiffany Rucker, MBA

As the CEO of an organization, your number one goal is to fulfill the mission, which makes you the driving force behind the organization’s focus.

Your plans and actions are critical to ensuring that everyone is on board with what the organization stands for and delivers each day.

Build the WHY into Your Nonprofit’s DNA.

When all team members have a heart for the population served and are focused on the organizational “why,” it can be felt throughout. You have a hand in ensuring that individual team members are properly aligned with the organization’s mission, which helps ensure that recipients of services are treated with compassion and respect—and without bias. Team-building activities, retreats or staff meetings are good opportunities to ensure that your whole team—from the boots on the ground to those in the boardroom—understands the why behind the services provided. The why is what drives care provided, services offered and population served.

Teach Everyone How to Tell Your Nonprofit’s Story.

As the leader, you’re the role model for displaying passion and excitement for the mission. When you speak about the population or services offered, your team, volunteers and donors should always hear your compassionate, care and concern. Then they can echo and amplify it.

Culture Includes Expectations—and Rewards.

Creating a properly aligned culture starts with setting expectations for behavior and actions. After those expectations are set, you can put goals and rewards in place to help drive the energy you want to create. Recipients and partners alike can get a feel from the culture and determine if they want to be associated with your organization.

Prioritize People’s Health.

The COVID-19 pandemic showed us all that no organization can be productive when everyone is sick or at risk of getting sick. As you focus on meeting mission goals in this new ear, be sure that team members understand your expectation that they take care of themselves. Build in ways for your team to effectively manage stress levels, protect their mental health and optimize their physical health. When the team is healthy and functioning optimally then services provided will likely exceed your goals.

As the CEO, if you take time to evaluate your organization to ensure that you and your team are in alignment with the mission, you can help everyone involved enter their work each daily with a positive mindset so that positive outcomes will follow.

Tiffany Rucker is a small business and financial literacy coach as well as wife, mom and special needs advocate. She lives in Tampa, Fla.