Beyond the Bottom Line

"Despite its ability to focus and clarify issues, there's nothing simple about mission."

"Change in our era is fast, extreme, and often unpredictable. Every public agency and nonprofit organization is faced with the challenge of how to respond."

"The key to success was the way in which management supported workers in making the difficult transition to new ways of doing business."

"The best public-service organizations have developed strategies to focus on and improve outcomes while staying true to their mission of focus."

"Keep first things first. To put it another way, the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

"Effective nonprofits know that they must constantly reassess the performance of the board itself, replacing those who have become burned out or too busy with other matters"

"Strategies fall into seven clearly definable areas of competence that enable the most effective public and nonprofit organizations to meet and embrace challenges."

"The most challenging handicap is the tension among the many customers and constituents of government and nonprofit organizations."

"Make certain that serving the customer is at the core of your training program."

"Get it into your head that no matter what else you do, fundraising has to be a full-time occupation."

"Train all your employees to understand that, in public service, "selling" is not a dirty word."

"Partnerships may actually come more naturally to government and nonprofit organizations than to their private-sector counterparts because successful, enduring collaborations must be built on a solid foundation of shared values and principles."

"Understand that the best partners are those willing to make long-term commitments to the project."

"People in innovative organizations are both intellectually and physically restless."

"Employee ownership of the change is a must."

"Public-sector managers need to find some way to create some protective space for their staff so they can take risks and survive."

"Power sharing is a tough nut to crack. "Sharing" sounds like a euphemism for "relinquishing," and in most cases it is."

"Outstanding agencies performance by developing, supporting, and rewarding their employees' commitment rather than by trying to control people into giving their best."

"Here are four key strategies for a departing leader and his or her organization."

"Seek people who are "lucky," because they have a sense for what to do when the "breaks" appear."

"Remember that you are trying to remove people's reasons to say no, not twist their arms into volunteering."

"Make sure that a significant number of your training courses deal with issues that cross departmental lines. Make sure that representatives from all departments are involved in these courses."

"Decide which existing initiatives can be "weeded out.""