Publications and Tools > Leadership Effectiveness

Leadership Effectiveness

Effectively leading a nonprofit organization takes more than strong leadership skills. It takes an ability to build and align teams that will fulfill an organization’s strategic priorities. The ideas, tools, and resources found here can help nonprofit leaders develop their skills, and build and develop their leadership teams.

Download a PDF of our latest Leadership guide:
Nonprofit Leadership Development: What's Your "Plan A" 
for Growing Future Leaders?

Featured Content

Evaluations for All: Even the CEO Deserves a Report Card

Making the evaluation process a natural part of the organizational culture can help align staff with strategic goals. But it doesn’t stop with staff. Establishing a culture where a formal, documented, fair, and pragmatic annual evaluation is routinely expected needs to extend to the CEO evaluation process, driven by the board.

Video Tutorial: Identifying Leaders with the Performance-Potential Matrix

This video, the second in our leadership development series, features the Performance-Potential Matrix tool, a tool you can use to assess an employee’s current performance and the likelihood s/he can succeed in a leadership role.

When the Change Needs to Be You

When faced with organizational challenges, it’s easy for a nonprofit leader to lock in on everything other than himself to effect change. But what if he is the one who needs to change? In her column, Saroga.org’s Nicki Roth helps leaders assess their need to change and offers guidelines for changing leadership behavior.

Video Tutorial: Understanding Your Future Leadership Needs

Leaders of every nonprofit eventually arrive at a point where they need to examine the organization’s goals and assess whether they have the talent needed to lead the organization into the future. This video, the first in a series based on our leadership development research, walks you through three steps to tie the skills and talent your organization will need to your strategic planning efforts.

Nonprofit Leadership Development: What's Your "Plan A" for Growing Future Leaders?

Many nonprofit leaders and boards confront the question of leadership development only when faced with a succession crisis. Rather than an ad hoc response to crisis, this guide treats leadership development as a proactive and systematic investment in building a pipeline of leaders within an organization, sharing strategies nonprofits can use in their day-to-day operations.

Understanding the Different Cultures of Different Generations

Conflict between generations is as old as parents and teenagers. But today, more than ever, a lack of intergenerational understanding has spilled into the workplace. In a nonprofit already short on resources, this type of discord could hurt its ability to fulfill its mission.

How to Engage Senior Leaders in Leadership Development

It is essential that leadership–development initiatives at nonprofits begin at the very top. This article explores how nonprofit executive directors/CEOs can effectively engage senior leaders in this important process within their organizations. It offers five actions leaders can take to build momentum and includes references to sample tools used by nonprofits for leadership development.

Beware Your Leadership Blind Spots

Even under the best of circumstances, giving feedback on a nonprofit organization’s effectiveness to those in higher positions can be difficult. Yet nonprofit leaders need to make sure they’re getting this feedback; without it, executives can overestimate their organizations’ capacity and neglect areas that need improvement.