Whereas the strength of most for‐profit enterprises is their management practice, a Bridgespan survey showed that non‐profits are best in visionary leadership, but often significantly under‐managed. This paper aims to describe how a few charismatic leaders recognize the crucial importance of improving their management capabilities so the organization will deliver great results over time.
Examples of five leading non‐profits are presented to show how management strengths can be added.
Key points learned by successful non‐profits are: understand the tension between leadership and management; get strategic clarity to make it easier to see how to achieve the desired impact by setting priorities, establishing performance measures, and making tradeoffs; anchor strategic clarity in a few key metrics, to keep everyone focused; build and align the team; and actively manage the change process.
Implementing this agenda in the context of nonprofit leadership is difficult. A framework is offered that illustrates the shift that many non‐profits need to work through in order to become a high performing organization.
When asked, non‐profit leaders profess that visionary leadership (with a compelling case for a cause) drives fundraising and recruitment of volunteers. But their management to deliver long‐term results is not as strong. Organizations must find a balance, with the goal of becoming both strongly led and strongly managed.
