Guardrails for Growth

Like the steady columns of a pier, clear boundaries guide progress without limiting the view ahead.

Organizations do not lose sight of their purpose all at once. It happens in increments—a new initiative here, an urgent need there.

One of the challenges faced by businesses is to maintain focus, to keep to their core purpose and mission. This is especially true with for-profits when money is tight. I have found it true with nonprofit organizations when an exciting new program or service captures the imagination of the leadership. This month we will be exploring the perils and pitfalls of lost focus.

Understanding Mission Creep and How to Avoid It | Association Acumen

I feel like I could have written this article. It does a great job of summarizing the external pressures that lead a nonprofit to add programs and services outside of its purpose, and it offers a few tips on how to avoid it.

14 Ways Nonprofit Leaders Can Prevent ‘Mission Creep’ | Forbes

This article from Forbes provides a long list of diverse strategies to help organizations maintain focus. Each strategy is written by a different nonprofit leader who has struggled with mission creep. The list is long, but the article is not.

Avoiding Nonprofit Scope Creep (Staying on Mission) | American Nonprofit Academy

In this online interview from the American Nonprofit Academy, Miriam Dicks, founder and CEO of 180 Management Group explains how mission creep occurs and the dangers it presents to organizations. In the video, she explains the value of a decision-making matrix, another tool that nonprofit leaders can use to maintain the integrity of the mission.

Next week, we will move this conversation from awareness to action with training opportunities that help association professionals put guardrails in place to stay on mission. Focus isn’t about doing less; it’s about doing what matters most.

ChatGPT provided light editorial input on this article.