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If you feel stuck, it is not because your job is impossible. You feel stuck because your attention is being pulled into work that isn't actually yours. And the moment you start reclaiming even a small portion of your time for futurist, steward and optimizer work, I can assure you that everything begins to change. Hey friend, this is Dolph and I am glad you are here for the relaunch of the Successful Nonprofits Podcast. Relaunch Week includes three brand new episodes with one being released each day of the on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. And while the podcast back catalog has more than 300 episodes for you to download and learn from, this week's episodes and all future episodes will focus on helping nonprofit chief executives navigate the complexities of their work. And now, here is the episode you downloaded. Welcome to the Successful Nonprofits Podcast Friend. I'm Dolph Goldenberg and I am a consultant, coach and confidant for leaders at small and large organizations across the country, and I bring more than three decades of leadership and consulting experience building, growing, leading and repairing organizations. Today, friend, I am going to talk about why so many strong and capable nonprofit executive directors feel busy all day but are not actually doing the most important work that moves their organization forward. By the end of the episode, you will have a simple framework to rethink about how you spend your time and a very practical way to shift your day in, day out operational gravity work back into the work that only you as the Chief executive can do. I want to start by telling you about a coaching client. She is the executive director of a small but growing nonprofit. She is smart, capable, and deeply committed to her mission and every time that she and I would meet, she was just exhausted. I often ask my coaching clients to do some prep work before our session and she almost never did that work. It wasn't because she didn't want to, but her days were packed. Meetings, emails, staff questions, funder requests, budget tweaks, personnel issues. And at the end of the day, she felt like she had a productive day. But she also felt extremely frustrated because she would actually say, you know, she just felt like she was running in place on her treadmill. When I asked her to describe the last time she had a truly strategic day, she paused. Then she smiled and she told me about flying back from a conference on the other coast. She had three uninterrupted hours in the air and spent that time synthesizing and digesting her key learnings from the conference. Operational gravity was keeping her frustrated and that plane ride was proof that she could sail high above it all. As the chief executive, there are three roles that only you can fill. The futurist, the steward, and the optimizer. And when operational gravity takes over, these are the roles that get crowded out. So I wanted to share with you all three of the roles, and then we're going to have a little more of a conversation. The first is futurist. No one else in your organization is regularly thinking 20 or even 10 years into the future. As the futurist, your role is to digest and reflect on the trends that are going to impact your organization and the people that you serve. In that role of futurist, you're asking some big questions. What are the long term risks and opportunities, the big ones that my organization is facing? How will changes in technology, media and society impact our mission and our operations? And where do we need to be in 20 years in order to be effective? Let me be clear. After you answer those questions. You're not making radical changes every month or even every year because it will cause whiplash for your staff, your clients and and your community. But what you are doing is you are regularly making small decisions that nudge your organization in the right direction. And then every few years, you're making some big moves. And those small decisions and big moves combine to move your organization forward. The next role is steward. As the steward, you are managing and cultivating your organization's resources so that they can replenish and multiply. When I talk about stewardship, especially replenishing and multiplying, most people think about money. But it starts with people. Your staff, your board, your key stakeholders. You're using their time wisely, you're respecting their expertise, and you're engaging them in a way that ensures your organization thrives. Now, in addition to people, you are also stewarding legal compliance, public trust, and of course, as part of that, your organization's reputation. Because at the end of the day, you're responsible for all of. Now, Friend, before I share our third role optimizer, as a nonprofit chief executive, I'm going to take. Friend before we talk about that third role optimizer of the nonprofit chief executive, we are going to take a very short break. It is hard to believe that these are the first episodes that I have released in about a year. But I am glad that you are here for the relaunch of the Successful Nonprofits podcast. During my recording hiatus, I stepped back and asked what I most wanted to share with you and other leaders in the sector. And Friend, here's what I realized after nearly two decades as a permanent or interim executive director and a dozen years coaching chief executives and their boards. I have a lot to share with people who are doing that job right now. And that's why going forward, this podcast and my email newsletter is going to be focusing on nonprofit chief executives. And the timing here really matters. Many chief executives and their organizations are under immense pressure right now. Government funding is shrinking, demand for services is increasing, the political climate increase. It's just exhausting. And let's face it, the chief executive role has only become lonelier and more stressful. In my consulting work, I've worked directly with 65 or 70 chief executives and hundreds of board members. As a consultant or chief executive, I have tackled most of the major and minor issues you could face as a leader, and I want to help you propel your organization to new levels of success. So if there is an issue you would like me to cover either on the podcast or in my email newsletter, please email me@dolphuccessfulnonprofits.com if you're listening on a streaming app that allows comments. You could also just drop it in the comments. Remember, friend, my goal is always to help you and your organization thrive. All right, friend, before the break, we talked about the first two roles of the chief executive, the futurist, and the steward. Now let's talk about the optimizer. Because the optimizer is where strategy and stewardship truly come to life. This is where you ensure that your organization is operating efficiently and effectively so that it really can meet its goals. Now, that optimizing role includes decisions that no one else can make. For example, hiring or terminating someone. This is especially true if you're at a smaller organization, choosing between competing priorities, the final review of your Form 990. All of those are things that only you can do, especially at a small organization. But here's the trap. Too often we over focus on the optimizer role, and the reason we do is because it feels more productive and it feels less ambiguous. Marking four tasks off our to do list feels better than spending two hours thinking about the future. It just does. So here's the discipline. Before you take on a task under the guise of being the optimizer, ask yourself, is this actually work that only I can do? If it's not, then please, please delegate it out. And if you can't delegate it yet, ask yourself this other question. What should I do? What should I change so that I can delegate this in six months? Because that, friend, that is the true embodiment of your futurist and steward roles. You also have to be a futurist about how you're going to be spending your time and and stewarding your time in the future. This is not about effort, it's about structure. Emails and meetings are poll based work. They demand your attention. But CEO level work is pushed based work. No one is asking you to do it. No one is running to your desk going oh my gosh, I need you to be thinking about the future. I need you to be thinking about stewardship or about optimizing what we do. No one is coming to you every day and saying that this is truly, truly the work though that you need to be doing. Emails and meetings, they're poll based work, they demand your attention. There are people coming to your desk or showing up in meetings saying oh my gosh, we need you to do this right now. Your best chief executive level work is pushed based on no one is asking you to do it. No one is showing up at meetings going oh my gosh, you have to be thinking about the future. We need you to put time on your calendar today to think about the future. And that means that it is the easiest work to put off. And instead the visible, urgent and easy to complete crowds out the work that is ambiguous, that is long term, but deeply in impactful and that's the operational gravity that we all have to break free from. So let's go ahead and bring this together. As a nonprofit executive director, your job is not defined by how many emails you answer or the number of meetings you attend. Your job is to focus on three roles. Futurist, which is holding the long term vision. Steward, so that you are protecting and cultivating resources and trust. And of course optimizer making those high stake decisions that move the organization forward. And the challenge isn't understanding this because you knew what your role was before you clicked play on this podcast. The challenge is protecting time to actually do that critically important work. Now if you found this helpful, there's two other resources at successful nonprofits I want you to check out. The first is a blog post about categorizing and triaging your fires. I'm going to link to that in the show notes. The second is a bonus break of the podcast, five Steps for Addressing Disruptive Behavior that is also linked to in the show notes. So friend, here's my final thought. If you feel stuck, it is not because your job is impossible. You feel stuck because your attention is being pulled into work that isn't actually yours. And the moment you start reclaiming even a small portion of your time for futurist, steward and optimizer work, I can assure you that everything begins to change that, my friend. That's our show for the week. I hope that you have gained some insight to help you and your nonprofit thrive. And of course the lawyers make me say it. I I'm not an accountant nor an attorney, and neither I nor the consulting practice provide tax, legal or accounting advice. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied on for tax, legal or accounting advice. Please. If that is what you need, find a licensed, qualified professional in your area and get the support you need.