Nonprofits tend to spend very little time or effort in training staff in leadership because they are focused on putting all their resources in achieving their mission. The downside to this is that they might not have a balanced team that can think cross-functionally and help make great decisions for the organization as a whole. Nonprofits can develop sound strategies and attract sufficient capital, but without strong leaders at the helm, they’re unlikely to deliver outstanding results.
Many organizations think leadership development is too expensive, that it’s a “nice to have but not necessary” employee benefit. They’re wrong. Strengthening leadership development results in more mission impact, higher revenues, lower costs, less staff turnover, and greater stability. Staff training often consists of going to conferences and workshops. It sometimes means moving developing leaders into a variety of roles to provide a breadth of learning opportunities. It takes courage to choose which of your employees is going to get leadership support because of leadership potential. And they might need coaching to get established.
