Are you a micromanager? "Who me? No of course not. I'm thorough. I'm competent. Okay, so I am a little methodical. That's not bad...is it?" Micromanagers, like many addicts - alcoholics, rageaholics, workaholics, etc. - are the last people on...
Board governance is a hot topic. The recurring spectacular organizational collapses of the last few years (read: Enron) have prompted more stringent securities regulations and closer scrutiny of individual directors in the corporate world. As private sector companies scramble to...
Does it worry you to hear that a recent study, entitled Addressing the Leadership Challenge: Non-Profit Executive Directors' Views on Tenure and Transition in Alberta, revealed that 82% of executive directors expect to leave their current position within the next...
This article is the third in a four-part series offering risk management approaches to not-for-profit organization leaders and volunteers. In the first article we focused on what risk management is and offered examples of fiscal risk prevention and mitigation strategies....
I recently joined an agency where staff are overloaded, and people who approach us for services are told there will be a four-month wait for a first appointment. But some people have been on the waiting list for over a...
Considering the Income Tax Act devotes quite a bit of attention to the issue of gifts, it is perhaps surprising that there is no definition of gift or the act of giving or receiving a gift in the Act. In...
For many organizations, the introduction of strategic planning often raises all sorts of barriers that inhibit the ability to move forward. The purpose of this article is to outline a few of the common barriers organizations face in moving forward...
A gala fundraiser was recently written up in the newspapers as having offended thousands worldwide. The theme and the event inclusions - decor, entertainment etc. - of this particular event were viewed as being disrespectful to a specific religion and...
All the staff at my agency work on contracts, and renewals depend on confirming our core and project funding. The funding approvals usually come in at the last minute, sometimes even after we have worked a couple of weeks in...
Mission, vision and values are supposed to be the North Star of strategic planning, the beacon by which organizations set their strategic compasses and then align their everyday priority setting. But let's face it, the prospect of attending a visioning...
