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Leadership 101 - What does ‘Accountability’ really mean?

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We often throw around words like responsibly, accountability, and answerability; however, many do not really know what these words mean therefore use them in the wrong context.  First of all, responsibility refers to performing a task, while accountability refers to the result. As an example, the First Officer of a ship may be responsible to steer the craft in the right direction, but the Captain who is sleeping in her quarters is still accountable when the ship is ran aground. It is said you can delegate responsibility, but cannot delegate accountability.    In the above example as the Captain cannot be awake on the bridge for days on end, it stands to reason she passed on responsibility to the First Officer but did not have the luxury of absolving herself of accountability.  Then there is the term answerability, which means you must be prepared to answer why something happened as it did, but often no real accountability exists. All this said, neither accountability nor answerability
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Cooking the Books

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We have all heard the term ‘cooking the books’ and when we do, it almost always has a negative connotation. However, there may be times where this practice has its place. Many nonprofit organizations operate multiple programs and programs within programs. Sometimes similar programs are funded by the same organization, where others although similar, have different funders. Where it starts to become grey is when one program is over running its budget while the other has a surplus, which leads to the temptation to play with the expenditure coding in order to balance the bottom lines. Although funders may frown on such practices, I can tell you there is some legitimacy to this. For funders who are now jumping up and down, please hear me out as I provide some examples. We had two similar programs each with their own contract and each funded the same amount. Carrying out the services were a full time program coordinator and a full time program delivery officer each working somewhat equally i
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Setting Priorities

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Let’s face it, there is never enough money; therefore, it’s about setting your priorities.   A common theme during my public sector career and now with nonprofits, is not having enough money. Many politicians, bureaucrats, and servants of the public have grand ideas of what they want to do including the services they want to provide; but it all costs money, and often more than we have.   The reality check: there will never be enough money to do everything you want to; you can only do what you have money for. Once you and your funders accept that, you can focus your efforts accordingly. Unfortunately, instead of accepting this reality, funders continue to push service providers to deliver regardless, and service providers bend over backwards to oblige. However, there comes a point where all parties have to face reality.   It is not that simple? Sure, it is.   Five step approach to allocating funding:   ·               List the objectives you want to achieve; ·              
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Funder reports

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  Reporting results is my favorite part of working on the nonprofit sector… no, it’s not actually… in fact, it’s my pet peeve.   The joy of multiple programs is multiple funders each with their own reporting requirements including level of detail, frequency, templates, portals, and restrictions. As the Director of Finance for a mid sized nonprofit, I have thirty programs funded by over ten major sponsors to contend with, and sometimes even the same funder has different requirements for each of their programs. Unfortunately, there are situations where certain funders assume they are the only program we are running; probably because they themselves despite having multiple deliverers, are only running one program. The result of this can sometimes lead to angst and increases administration costs of program delivery.   Before we get into the details of funder reporting, let’s have a discussion on why we are reporting in the first place.   When you tender a requirement for a contracted
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Send me more money!

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  Sound ridiculous? But what about when the funder is also the decision maker for the salaries of your unionized employees?  Being in the social services field, many of our contracts are for delivering services on behalf of the government, both provincial and federal. In our particular jurisdiction many of the employees of nonprofit entities have become members of the same bargaining agent as government workers which means our funders have also become the negotiator of how much we may in salaries and benefits. Unfortunately, these salary decisions extend to our other programs, regardless of who funds them. This incestuous relationship came to a head this year where employees were given a pay raise which included retroactive pay for the prior year as well as current, the compounded effect being 14%. Having to pay the raises was a contractual obligation on behalf of the nonprofits; unfortunately recovering these funds from the decision makers was the next challenge, and although they eve
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Nonprofit Financial Management - Means to an end inverted

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A significant difference between private and public sector is what I call ‘means to an end inverted’ where in private sector, the thing you do is the means to an end which is money; in the public sector, money is the means to an end which is the thing you do. That being said, serving the public is a business when you are being paid for a deliverable.   Schools, service organizations, sporting clubs, emergency services, and social welfare programs all have two things in common: they are there to provide citizens or members a service, and they are accountable to the funders. Whether the program is funded through federal, state/provincial or local taxes, or through donations, service fees, or membership dues, the concept is the same.   Why is the inversion of Means to an End important for those who operate in the nonprofit and public service sectors? It has to do with the philosophy of why you do what you do, and if you are doing it for the right reasons. Entrepreneurs are there to ma
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Span of Conrol

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  How many people can you manage effectively? Although some textbooks will say you can effectively manage 5-7 employees, reputable ones will then qualify this with lengthy discussions on why this does not even qualify as a guideline. Last week I had a client initiate a discussion about whether or not to create and staff a new director position; during the conversation, he told me he was not certain he needed the position as other than his own assistant, a receptionist, and the accounting and human resources managers, he only had four other direct reports, and they were all strong managers. For those counting, this adds to eight which is on the outside of the theoretical formula. The reality is, one person can effectively manage many people if they are all the same profession, performing similar tasks, have similar competencies, and are working in the same location; but what about situations where each is a different profession with different roles, and at different work locations? For
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