Mission in Motion: Navigating Change in Nonprofits

Change is difficult in any organization, but in nonprofits, it often feels personal. What is typically your biggest asset—the deep connection staff, board members, and funders have to your mission—can become your biggest challenge when navigating change. A change management strategy for a nonprofit is about more than operational shifts: you need to successfully navigate identity, organizational values, and relationships with the community. With a comprehensive change management process, most nonprofits can effectively lead through the uncertainty that comes with change.

What is Change Management?

Change management encompasses all the steps organizations take to successfully make a shift—big or small—from conception and ideation, through implementation and onto final evaluation. This definition, while accurate, makes an often fraught process seem straightforward. Yet change is one of the most challenging things to manage successfully. It is uncommon, if not rare, to have unanimous support for change.

Following a strategy of expert tips can smooth out many of the bumps in the change management process. We’ve divided our strategy into the three basic phases of change management: before, during, and after.

Preparing for Change: The First Step in Your Change Management Strategy

A change management process can be used to evaluate any size change, from “smaller” shifts such as choosing a new CRM or updating branding, to larger ones, such as leadership transitions or expanding/discontinuing a certain service program. How long you need to take at each stage depends on the complexity of the change and the number of invested parties.

The “before” stage, which could be thought of as the preparation or research stage, is when leaders or board members are considering a pivot in some aspect of the nonprofit. It includes both the brainstorming phase and initial rollout steps to ensure buy-in.

Step 1: Reaffirm Values

When you’re considering a change, weigh it against your values. It’s easy to get caught up in the potential benefits of a new program, software, or fundraising strategy. Before you green-light your idea, carefully consider how it aligns with your organizational values. For large decisions, a weighted rubric that evaluates the decision against each value or long-term goal of the organization can help systematize the process.

Once you’ve decided to go ahead, make sure you reaffirm your values to staff, donors, clients, and other stakeholders. Communicate that this decision aligns with the existing values of the organization and how this change will further not just your values, but also your mission-oriented goals. Grounding a decision in what your team, board, and funders already believe in lessens resistance and increases interest.

Step 2: Understand the Emotional Aspect of Change

People are generally change-resistant, even when it’s to their advantage. Which means you should be prepared for a wide variety of reactions to your plan.

Familiarize yourself with the change curve. Created by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, it shows the continuum of emotions and reactions people experience during change. If it looks a lot like the stages of grief, it should: Kübler-Ross developed the change curve while researching grief and bereavement. Organizational psychologists have since realized that staff go through the same basic stages when dealing with work-related changes. And just like with grief, it’s not guaranteed that all people will go through all stages, or in the prescribed order.

To add to the challenge, people tend to have both internal and external reactions to change, and they’re not always aware of how the internal drives the external. Anticipate mixed reactions and create space for them in team meetings, one-on-ones, and informal conversations to help staff or other stakeholders process the decision. An open dialogue and a lot of patience are your best tools for navigating the emotional upheaval you can expect.

One of the most emotional changes in an organization can be the departure of a beloved leader. If you’re navigating a leadership transition, Edgility’s Leadership Transition Playbook is a robust support tool. Download it for free.

Step 3: Engage Your Key Culture Leaders

Identify the key culture leaders of your organization. Hint: they’re not always—maybe not even often—in your C-suite. Examine every level of your organization to find individuals who embody the values and culture you aspire to, as well as those who have an outsized influence on their teammates.

Once you know who they are, bring them into the conversation. This establishes transparency and mutual respect as value pillars of the process and should give you a pretty accurate picture of how the rest of your staff will respond. These are also the most important people with whom you need to establish buy-in. If the biggest cheerleaders for your organizational goals can’t understand the need for the move, chances are you’ll struggle to sell it to anyone else. On the flip side, once your culture leaders are on board, they’ll become one of your strongest tools in the change management process.

Take Action: How to Lead Effectively Through Change and Uncertainty

You’ve done all the legwork and decided the proposed change is necessary and beneficial. Your “before” work is complete. The “during” stage is the implementation stage. Steps four and five of your change management strategy help you lead effectively through the change process and manage uncertainty—your own and your stakeholders’.

Step 4: Make and Take Decisive Action

It might sound unnecessary to create a step in the process that tells you to “take action,” but wobbling on big decisions is common—and detrimental to successful change management. Once you’ve made a decision, move forward confidently (even if you don’t always feel confident). Create a strategic implementation plan to guide you when things feel uncertain. Identify allies within and outside your organization who can affirm your choice when things get chaotic, but who won’t undermine staff morale. Then roll out the plan.

Step 5: Communicate Well and Be Transparent

Clear communication rooted in transparent action is the simplest way to navigate the upheaval change causes, but it’s certainly not the easiest. You’ll need to make consistent effort and create many opportunities for feedback. Even—or especially—when a necessary change is unpopular, hiding what you’re doing and why will only lead to more anger and confusion. Be in charge of the narrative by being honest and leveraging your culture leaders.

See it in action: Consider how Enroot Education used transparent, open conversations to create and implement a new compensation strategy.

Moving Forward: What to Expect “After”

The final stage of your change management process—the “after”—will likely last awhile. True change takes time, no matter how well you roll it out. Your job over the next weeks and months will be to keep the boat afloat.

Step 6: Keep the Boat Afloat

It’s an apt metaphor because change can often feel like we’re slowly—or even suddenly—sinking. Leaders of the change management strategy should expect a lag in the adoption and results of the change. The application may be inconsistent, and questions will likely continue to come up.

You can help all those affected by the change by:

• Celebrating wins, even the small ones. Recognition reinforces new behaviors and boosts morale.
• Encouraging leaders at every level to model the changes you’re seeking. Your culture leaders should be your biggest champions here.
• Offering ongoing support. This might involve continued training sessions, one-on-one meetings, or large group conversations.
• Adjusting based on feedback. You don’t want negative feedback to derail a necessary change, but keep listening for constructive feedback that could make the change smoother.

Remember that the change will happen. You’ve used an effective change management strategy to ensure its success, but it likely won’t be linear. Continue to lean on your allies for support and feedback throughout the process—and keep the boat afloat!

A Partnership to Consider

Sometimes the best thing you can do to support change in your organization is to bring in a neutral third party. They can be the voice of reason, help de-escalate heightened emotions, and support leadership in staying the course. Edgility partners with mission-driven organizations by getting to intimately know your values and goals, until your mission becomes our mission. Work with us on your next project.