Crisis Mode

When on the board of a nonprofit, there is a constant ebb and flow in the stability of the organization. So for a nonprofit board to be in a crisis situation is somewhat normal. However this does not mean that there aren't different levels of crisis. Significant crisis (i.e. closure) can be adverted depending on how the board handles the situation. In a study by Jill Mordaunt and Chris Cornforth (2004) titled The Role of Boards in the Failure and Turnaround of Nonprofit Organizations, they look at the stages that 4 types of nonprofits went through during a time of crisis.

The stages that organizations go through in crisis are; Recognition-and-denial, Mobilization, Action, and Transition. The Recognition-and Denial stage is when the issue is brought to a boards attention for the first time. The issue is typically brought up by someone who has recently joined the organization, this could be a new board member or board chair or a new executive director. In most cases, during this stage the chief executive attempts to get the board to recognize the problems confronting the organization with limited success (Mordaunt & Cornforth, 2004). It is rare that there will be a consensus amongst all board members.

Once there is a majority understanding of the problems facing the organization the board will attempt to move into the mobilization stage of the process. During this stage the organization will begin to determine how they are bale to move past the problems that are facing the organization. This stage I believe can also be called the strategic planning stage. It is necessary for the organization to have a clear and concise plan in order to move forward. A quote that I heard at some point is quite accurate during this stage of the process, failure to plan, is planning to fail. If this stage is skipped and individuals move directly into the action stage, board members will become frustrated when their tactics do not work.

The next stage is action, there are many organizations that never make it to this stage because they were unable to agree on the problems or possibly the plans to fix the issues. When boards begin to act, the successful boards report back on their successes and hold additional meetings to review the plan. Organizations that failed in this stage often began to blame each other for their failure.

When an organization is successful in curbing the crisis they slowly transition back to their original organizational structure. In the beginning stage of the transition the board is involved more in the day-to-day operations of the organization. A gradual drift drift back to the chief executive dominance occurs, until the next crisis (Mordaunt & Cornforth, 2004).

The ability of a board to mobilize and act determines if an organization is going to succeed or fail in times of crisis. Too often boards are overwhelmed with the crisis information and will fail to mobilize, many board members will resign from boards in these situations. If you are an executive director of a nonprofit it is your job to assist board members through a crisis stage.