WHY CAN'T A NON-PROFIT BE MORE LIKE A PROFIT?

It's very simple. The goal of any organization is to best service the client. That applies to both non-profits and for profits. And in case there is any confusion about what the definition of a client is - that means the patients, customers and yes, even the volunteers. It also means that management has to best service their employees by giving them the best tools available to service and communicate with their clients.

Again, very simple, right? No. The entire concept I just described sadly falls short of reality in the non-profits that I have personally investigated and done volunteering for. From what I've experienced, if you look at five non-profit organizations, there are few who run their operations similar to a successful growing for profit company. I see non profits make classic avoidable business errors that damage their credibility, image and reputation.

There is a tried and true management concept called MBWA or management by walking around. I've also heard is referred to as "wandering" around. I believe it began somewhere with HP - Hewlett Packard and described by consultant and author Tom Peters. In my forty years of business experience in a wide variety of industries, I used MBWA both extensively and successfully. And to be clear, MBWA doesn't mean a few 360's around your office, it's means your entire facility. If your patients, clients or customers are elsewhere, MBWA includes the elsewhere.

I heard something the other day which prompted me to write this article. A large well-established church is "stuck". It's losing younger members to more "with it" newly formed congregations. "Light" religious programs that also feature learning English as a second language, drug and alcoholic recovery programs, day care, VPK K-5 schooling, weekend and evening social activites and even skateboarding ramps are what are now available to the community.

In a classic for-profit mistake, the well-established non-profit church's "management" failed to listen to and respond to its "clients" needs. I learned that the "head" minister was seen walking around into the attached school that was the last "money-making" operation that was keeping the church's lights on. It was a rare thing - him being outside of his office or "his" adjacent chapel.

He walked up to one of the teachers and asked "Who are you?" She replied by identifying herself as an employee of the church for over ten years. The director of the school who was standing nearby quietly laughed and shook her head. She couldn't recall the last time the senior minister had seen "his" school. He never interfaces with his "employees". Let's say that his practice was one of MBA - management by avoidance - rather than MBWA.

This is NOT an isolated event. I have looked into the Tampa Chapter of the American Red Cross, the local "Literacy" Council, the ESL Program at the Largo FL library, Big Brother Big Sisters of Pinellas County, Suncoast Hospice, AARP and others I chose not to identify. Some are religious organization ie: churches, temples and "ministries". Some are national while others have just a local focus.

At one point I thought one might be different - better - than the other. But what I found were highly disfunctional groups infected with employee frustration, pettyness and jealosy. Yes, they were doing some amazing things upfront, but their "back" office operations were very damaged.

I want to clearly point out that as an experienced manager I have always had "mountains" to climb to attain the goals I was either assigned or I determined were necessary for the organization to grow. I overcame obstacles not diminished operational or communications excellence because of them.

Not unlike non-profits, the for-profit businesses I worked for had employee shortages, budget-cuts, cut-backs, lay-offs, legal and governmental issues, taxes, training and motivational difficulties - everything that a typical business experiences both in reality and in business school case studies. Non-profits tell me "we lost a grant" or this or that excuse - well, it's the same as a for profit losing a large customer or a key performer to a competitor. You deal with it, continue to provide superior customer service and move on.

There is NO excuse for a non-profit to make excuses because they are a non-profit. There is no excuse not to respond to client (and volunteers) requirements as would any superior for profit business. We have too much to do and too many cases does not cut it. We are all overworked and stressed. A local library director doesn't read or acknowledge her "clients" (that would be the people who pay for the library aka taxpayers) e-mail comments or suggestions.

You cannot survive as a non profit service organization if you don't have volunteers to assist. You can't have a church without members. If your "group" requires donors and grants, then you must create the necessary top notch methods for obtaining them. If a non-profit cannot effectively c-o-m-m-u-n-i-c-a-t-e and multitask in the volitile economy that we are seemingly mired in then they will not survive.

Every "breath" of operating a non-profit should be geared toward being on the cutting edge of EVERY aspect of your operation. I have seen too many vital things "fall through the cracks" because non-profit highly educated professionals don't have the simple business skills to see them through effectively. A Ph.D or Master Degree in Social Work or other related field does not translate into the necessary "street smarts" to manage a non-profit, coordinate volunteers, obtain donors or service clients.

The worst case is a non profit that doesn't realize they're in trouble, but it is very clear to an "outsider". Not a MBA theory, but "Alligators Up To Our Asses" or perhaps more apropo "Can't See The Forest For The Trees" certainly applies. Time to seriously regroup and seek clarity of purpose. Many cases of non-profit organizational "Cancer" can be cured with a serious rethink. Tom Peters would recommend an outside consultant be brought in to evaluate. Not a bad idea.

Let me wrap this up. I have seen first hand how non profits operate. I was shocked, amazed and disappointed. I was expecting a better - more braver environment. Their problems are obvious and simple. I see more problems with non profits than I do with profits. Non profits make more excuses for non performance. I've experienced more unsettling arrogance with non profits concerning listening and change. Non profits because of their purpose take longer to fail, but they do. Non profits need to look at their for profit partners and seek to model the best operational, communications and customer service practices.