April 25, 2025 • 28 mins
When nonprofit leaders hear "operations," many immediately think of bureaucratic processes that pull them away from their mission work. But what if strong operational foundations are actually the key to multiplying your impact? Joshua Monge, fractional COO and founder of Think, Adapt, Build, makes a compelling case that treating your nonprofit like a business – with clear processes, defined roles, and contingency plans – creates the infrastructure needed for sustainable mission fulfillment. For startup nonprofits, Joshua offers three essential pieces of guidance. First, understand and clearly articulate why your organization specifically should be addressing your chosen issue when others may already be working in the space. Second, focus on measuring outcomes rather than just activities – not just what you're doing but what difference it's making. Third, remain flexible about potential solutions while staying focused on your core mission outcomes. Established nonprofits facing leadership transitions or growth challenges need different operational approaches. Joshua recommends a three-to-five-year window to document core processes, clarify financial systems, and create clear role definitions before significant leadership changes occur. This preparation prevents the all-too-common scenario where critical operational knowledge walks out the door with departing founders or executives. Connect with Joshua at thinkadaptbuild.com for operational resources designed specifically for nonprofits, or find him on LinkedIn where he regularly shares articles and practical wisdom for mission-driven organizations.
Get free nonprofit professional development resources, connections to cause work peers, and more at https://nonprofithub.org
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome back to the Nonprofit Hub podcast.
I'm your host, Megan Spear,joined today by Joshua Monhaix,
who's a fractional COO.
We've spent a lot of time onthe podcast so far this year
talking about fundraising andmarketing and storytelling and
all of the things.
But we're going to take a stepback to the operational side
today, so very excited to haveJoshua joining me to dig into
(00:39):
maybe some of that moreoperational leadership side for
process, for making sure thatthe organization is actually
going to move forward.
Really excited to dig into thistoday.
Joshua, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Oh, thank you so much .
Those other topics, by the way,are way more appealing and fun
and exciting, so I hope we canmake operations, I know.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
And I think that's to your.
That's exactly the point, rightIs that operations is maybe not
like the sexiest side ofnonprofit work.
Nobody really wants to sit downand talk about that.
So I'm excited to hear from youtoday, because I do think we
have a bunch of leaderslistening to the podcast who
need that kind of support, right.
They need some structure andsome help along that way.
(01:20):
So I think this is going to begreat along that way.
So I think this is going to begreat.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
That's awesome.
I mean, I'm sure there'ssomebody that's listening right
now, that's you know.
Oh my gosh, I have all thisstuff on my plate.
I have all of these priorities.
How do I get this sorted orbuild this whole program in a
way that it's not them having todo everything and all that
pressure?
Yeah, this will be fun.
I would love to kind of talkabout operations and how to
(01:43):
break some of that up for them.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Awesome.
So, by way of introduction,give us a little bit about your
background and what led you intohaving such expertise in
operations?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Oh my gosh, okay.
So currently right now I workas a fractional COO.
I have my own practice.
It's called Think, adapt, build.
I started that in 2021.
I did that after my last quotereal job.
I was the director of economicdevelopment for a chamber up in
Oregon.
I was in the executiveleadership, so I got to learn
all the bells and whistles ofrunning a nonprofit.
(02:15):
And when I left the chamber itwas during COVID and not a great
time for a career transition.
So I found myself having tofigure out how to, you know,
bring in money for food, becausemy family liked to eat and they
like to have a place to roofover their heads.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So no, high maintenance.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Yeah, I know Seriously.
So I saw everybody going onlineand I used to run a digital
marketing agency and so I did.
I offered SEO audits and I knewexactly what my target audience
was.
I got that to six figures in 18months.
And then a friend of minecaught up who was a fractional
CFO was like, hey, listen, thework that you did at the chamber
, plus what you did with yourown business, you should help
(02:56):
people being a fractional COO.
And so that's the reason why Istarted this.
Even in my, when I had businessbefore, I was very involved
with the chamber and thenonprofit community, actually
did some consulting for a fewchurches, and then, when I was
at the chamber, I actuallyoversaw three volunteer boards
that were like subset groups ofthe chamber and what they were
(03:18):
doing.
And yeah, so I've watched how,when there's a lack of
operations, how that impacts theorganization, how it flows.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
And then I've seen radical change.
When you just get thingsorganized, put things all in one
place and just operational,foundational basics, and so when
you put those components inplace and treat the nonprofit
like a business and put it tobusiness metrics and build those
business components, then thenonprofit seems to run a lot
(03:48):
smoother and a lot better, eventhough you're reinvesting the
profits back into the business.
Great, you're running aprofitable business that then
you're just reinvesting thoseprofits right, as opposed to oh,
it's okay, we don't need allthat stuff because we're all
here for mission and vision.
We don't need to execute itlike a business.
No, no, no, because we're allhere for mission and vision.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
We don't need to execute it like a business no,
no, no you are yes.
So I say this all the time andI will.
It's, at this point, like goingto be put on my tombstone, but
nonprofit is just a tax status,right.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
It does not impact how we run our organizations.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I mean operationally it should not.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yes, it should not impact how we run our
organizations.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I mean operationally.
Yes, it should not impact howwe run our organizations
Operationally.
It should be exactly the same.
I mean, I know there's a bigqualifier there, but it still
should be running as a strongbusiness.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
So I want to have this conversation kind of two
ways, then.
Okay, one is and I'm going tostart with maybe, the startup
folks, because I know we havethem in our audience, the folks
who either are just startingtheir nonprofit, about to be
launching their nonprofit.
To me that's kind of the blankcanvas right, like we could get
it right from the jump.
And so if you had your way inthe conversation and we're
(05:00):
talking to those folks, what arethe top three things that you
would say?
These are the things that youhave to get right, like if
you're making a process, if youhad a blank slate to start an
organization fresh, where do youstart to make sure that that
organization moves forwardefficiently and operationally
(05:20):
well, from the jump.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
So I think I'm going to borrow from kind of my
playbook of my recommendationfor entrepreneurs in general and
when they are thinking aboutgetting started, and so my first
piece of advice is don't do it.
Sorry, that is not what I wasexpecting you to say say, okay,
(05:51):
entrepreneurship is hard, it isdifficult, and if you listen to
that first piece of advice thatI gave you, then, great, you
shouldn't followentrepreneurship.
It's hard.
You're going to get peopletelling you no, they're going to
tell you a thousand reasons whyyou can't do it.
You're going to have all thesechallenges and so if you're not
prepared to fight for what youwant and you're not prepared to
really step up, don't do it.
So there's my.
I say it tongue in cheek,because 99% of people are like,
(06:12):
oh, dude, you know, you knowwhat you're talking about.
I'm like, hey, great, now let'shave a real conversation about
what this looks like.
Yeah, so then the second one isand I know this sounds very
hokey and I feel kind of cheesyfor saying it, but you know,
when you talk about what yourwhy is and what you exist, I
think for nonprofits, you startout of the gate right away with
the burden of competition.
Why is it that somebody shouldcare about what you care about
(06:36):
and why should they contributeto it and support you to be the
one to execute that version ofthat vision?
Right, and I?
I apologize if I come off alittle too harsh, but I've met a
lot of great nonprofits with alot of great ideas, but I just I
go, what about the guys acrossthe street that are doing it?
Like, why don't you partnerwith them, you know?
Or like, why are you the oneand not everybody else?
(07:01):
So my first piece of advice onthat point is understand your
why and then how you're going tocommunicate that you're the one
that needs to do this, yourorganization is the one that's
going to work on this problem,and that you have a better
chance of success or a betterchance of solving it or creating
more solutions than problems.
If you can really get thatsolidified and really solid, I
(07:29):
think you're going to be, in away, better footing than like,
oh you know, well, we just kindof got together and we kind of
had this vision and nobody elsewas doing it in the market, I
think and so we kind of threwthis nonprofit together and now
we're finding out, oh no, we'recoming up against some really
strong headwinds.
You know you don't want tospend all that money, time and
energy for this not bad idea tofind out that it's not tested
and you're not prepared for that.
So that would be one.
The second thing is, I think,having that clear vision and
(07:50):
everything else, understand whatsuccess looks like with
outcomes, not just withactivities.
So if your solution is like,hey, I know there's a lot of
kids that hang out on thestreets after school or they're
not doing anything, and so we'regoing to create a place for
them to to read, okay, but thenwhat's the what's behind that,
like you know?
(08:11):
And so then if it's like, ohwell, we want them to improve
literacy rates, or we want themto be in a safe place, or we're
going to provide them snacks ormeals, or, and we're going to
mentor them and we're going tofoster a relationship, you know,
of what communityresponsibility could look like.
Whatever that is, make surethat you're always getting to
those outcomes of that impactthat you're making, and not just
(08:32):
the activities.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Okay, does that work.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I like it.
Yeah, Okay, good.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I think that's great, because I do think we get
caught up in the, sometimes inthe well, I want to solve this
particular problem, but down theroad, and especially right now,
you know there's a lot ofquestion around grant funding.
There's a lot of unknowns innonprofit funding in general.
You have to be able to provethose outcomes.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
If we start from a place of this is the outcome I'm
trying to achieve and workbackwards, then we have the
answers when those grantapplications come in.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
How have you done this and what's your success
rate, Instead of going oh yeah,these are our programs, let's
see if maybe I can fudge someanswers and finesse it enough to
pass the grant.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
We need the funding.
So then we're going to go aheadand like, stretch our mission
just a little bit to kind ofcover this.
Yeah, that's, that's hard.
I think you know withnonprofits, to your point of
what you were saying aboutunderstanding the outcome that
you're going for, you also haveto realize too, there's
alternative solutions to thatright.
So the kids that are out atnight I'm just going to use that
(09:42):
as an example for probably therest of the show, but is that
you know?
Could they be in a mathtutoring center?
Yes.
Could they be in a mentorshipprogram where they're learning
trades?
Yes.
Could they be in a sportsprogram?
Yes.
So now you have three different, essentially, solutions to that
same problem with the outcomeis to get the kids off the
street and focused on somethingyou know building themselves,
(10:03):
building their human capital ortheir skill set.
You've got three different waysto do it.
So if you're really outcomefocused, then when it comes to
those solutions, maybe that'swhere you can pivot without
having to set up a whole newsystem.
You're also not locked intolike, oh, this is the only way
that we can get this done.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, no, I like that a lot.
Let's presume, then, that we'regoing to shift the audience of
this and ask a very similarquestion, because I know that
there are folks out there whohave been around a while.
They've been trying to do thedo the things.
Maybe they have the outcomesthat they've proven.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
They've done a really good job and they're like dying
from success.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Either they're dying from success yeah, katie Grant
their own organizations, right,and now those CEO founders are
(11:03):
stepping out.
And we got organizations allover the country who are kind of
in scramble mode trying tofigure out now that person has
retired or stepped out or haspassed away, whatever the case
may be.
They're trying to figure outwhat phase two looks like.
How do we move an organizationforward?
How do we regroup To borrowyour phrase from earlier when
the wheels are falling offorganization forward?
How do we regroup To borrowyour phrase from earlier when
(11:25):
the wheels are falling off thebus?
How do we regroup?
So if somebody finds themselvesin that kind of scenario where
maybe we're established we'vebeen doing the right things, but
either we grew too quickly orthere's been some sort of
massive shift in leadership orsomething on that front, how do
(11:45):
we regroup and put the wheelsback on while we still keep
going?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Oh, that's great.
Oh, I love that question.
Yeah, I think you know fornonprofits that are looking to
make that transition.
If you have a CEO, if you havea nonprofit, that is like
personality centric, so if theCEO is the organization, that's
a hard one to break away from.
I think in Traditional businesssense, when a business owner is
(12:12):
looking to leave, we tell themokay, the day you decide to
leave should be the day that youstart your business, so you
build your business in a waythat you can always leave.
It Doesn't happen, it's a rarething.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
So I think, even in nonprofits maybe they start with
the idea of, hey, we're hungryfor this mission, I'm the one to
execute, I've got a good team,I'm pulling people together, but
they don't think what's goingto happen to the organization
when they get to a place wherethey need to exit.
So I think exit planning kindof at some point, I work it in
as soon as you can.
The second part, though, iswhen you actually are in a place
OK, I'm going to be exiting, Ineed to leave the organization.
(12:46):
Then, basically, you have athree to five year window where
you need to get things reallystructured and organized in a
place to transition to the nextperson.
Get things really structuredand organized in a place to
transition to that next person,and the best way to do that is
to set it up where you know theED or president or CEO I don't
know whatever the head person isthat's responsible for
everything, that they're in aposition that they can actually
(13:10):
step out, that everything isn'tsolely reliant and dependent on
them.
In traditional business sense,there's what they call the
absentee owner, where the ownerowns the business, there's an
operator running it, the owner'sthere for vision, for big
vision those components, but theactual operations gets handled
by an operator.
I think if you can get yournonprofit to where you've got a
good, solid team that can runthe mission without you and that
(13:31):
you're there for vision,supporting the board, help
fundraising those components,then when it comes time to pass
the leadership over, youactually have a business that
you can pass on, because it'snot built just around that one
person.
So I would get that done.
And to do that you need to makesure financials are very clean,
(13:51):
in order and very organized.
I think nonprofits.
I think one of the clearadvantages they have is because
they have so much accountabilityusually the financials are
usually probably better out thegate.
They're less commingling andless weird stuff like that.
But then the second part ismaking sure you document your
core processes, make sure yourcore system's documented and
(14:13):
that the team understands wherethat is and how to utilize that.
And I think most nonprofits Idon't know that it follows the
same growth trajectory as likefor-profit businesses, in the
sense that do you have like aone-year drop-off, three-year
drop-off, five-year drop-off?
I think once you get to likethree to five years, you've got
something that people are buyinginto and that they're
(14:35):
supporting it and you're doinggood.
So I think just documenting thegood stuff and getting that
stuff structured and organizedreally well, I think would be
very helpful.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
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Speaker 2 (15:23):
Nonprofit folks are doing such good work, right,
they're in it to make adifference.
They're impacting their town,their city, their world, some
sort of community, in major ways.
And so how do we embrace thisidea that operations is not the
thing that we put up with?
(15:43):
That detracts from that,because I could see where
somebody if somebody is, youknow, to use your example of
somebody who's let's go stickthat organization that is
wanting to get kids into a safeplace after school.
Right, they are worried aboutfocusing on building
relationships with thosestudents, connecting them to
resources, helping them withhomework.
They're doing all of thesethings.
(16:03):
I could see where, just as adevil's advocate here, right,
having to sit down and documentout how we do that and how we
run this program and what thatlooks like, feels like it's
taking away critical time fromthe doing.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Oh, right yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
So how do we, how do we flip that?
How do we embrace the idea thatlike operations is not a thing
that takes away from the mission, it's the thing that helps the
mission happen?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Yes, okay, so one.
We have to first admit there isa trade-off, right.
So yes, you could spend another.
So let's say you had five hoursof time.
You have five hours servicingor helping, right, or having
conversation and building thatrelationship yes, or you can
spend a couple hours doingoperational stuff, which is not
doing that, which is one not asfun generally right and
especially so much fun.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
What are you talking?
Operational stuff which is notdoing that, which is one not as
fun?
Generally Right.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
And especially so much fun.
What are you talking about?
No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
I am one who would like I would love to be on the
front lines doing it.
And now you're going to tell meI got to sit behind a computer
and do these parts.
That feels not as rewarding.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yeah, I so I have.
I have a little bit of a hackfor people that are, because
most of the people we'reprobably talking to now are
visionaries, like the bigpicture people, and so they're
like don't give me the details,let me just meet, greet and
let's just Right, I don't wantto do the doing.
Yes, yes, okay, totally, totallyfair.
But think of it this way If youwere a baker, right, and you
(17:31):
had to get bread to all thesedifferent locations and you were
the head, but yet you reallygot it baked it, you're the one
that drove it, you're the onethat delivers it right.
There's components of yourbusiness that have to be
solidified, like it just needsto be done, and you need a
repeatable process.
You need to be able toreplicate it, because then what
you can do then is thosecomponents even in my analogy
(17:53):
they gave you find somebody elseto do the deliveries right, or
find somebody else to bake thebread, or find somebody else to
receive the deliveries.
Like you can find components ofthe job that you're doing that
other people can do, and so thenyou can hire them to do that.
So if you don't like documentingprocesses which I totally get
it the first hire that I wouldrecommend for any executive
(18:16):
that's starting a new businessventure or has a seasoned
business venture but can't gettime for themselves is to hire
an executive assistant or a VA.
Hire someone to take all thesmall things off your plate, all
the little you know, likebooking your calendar
appointments.
You know automate booking yourcalendar appointments, you know
(18:40):
automated.
Or hire somebody, and you knowI know people will read about
overhead and how much money isbeing spent for operational
costs.
That's fine, but think of itthis way too You're also giving
somebody an opportunity to workand to contribute to their
mission in a way that is maybefinancially not the same way and
time wise is not the same sameway, but they're going to help
make the little engine that'sgoing to keep you producing
really good work and you'regoing to create this process
(19:01):
that's repeatable.
So hire a va, get them todocument and then have them
document their job.
So when you talk to them, saylike, hey, I just had a, you
know I have to do the boardmeeting and I have to get the
minutes together, and if youshow them how to do, they can
pull all of that together foryou.
So then when you show up, youonly have to do the final
touches on it.
Right, they can go, pull thedata and report, so they can ask
people questions, all of thosekinds of components that you
(19:24):
think are boring, that you don'twant to do.
If you get somebody else to doit, they can document it for you
and then you have a repeatableprocess.
And then, when you decide togrow and you add members to your
team, now you havedocumentation to say by the way,
this is how we do thesecomponents.
If you don't create arepeatable process, then you're
(19:44):
going to be stuck at some pointwhere you've got one person
trying to cook 20 meals all atthe same, 20 different meals all
at the same time, in a kitchenthat can only do five.
Yeah, so Interesting.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Okay, so obviously the documentation piece is
important.
Yes, Right, Becauserealistically turnover can be
pretty high in a lot ofnonprofits.
So we want to make sure thatthe processes don't get dropped
or that we don't skip steps,especially if you're someone
who's in one that has a lot ofcompliance or you know
documentation that is required.
(20:16):
Are there other pieces ofoperational leadership that we
tend to maybe ignore?
Are there other pieces thatkind of fall through the cracks
that we should start payingattention to?
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah, I think clear role definition I think is
extremely helpful Because, likeyou you said, when you have
churn, you know people arewalking out the door so it's
like, okay, bob was handling thecompliance piece, now he's not
here, so now we've got marydoing it, but mary's in charge
of payroll, so then she'ssplitting her time and then
(20:48):
she's like what are mypriorities?
And then somebody else istaking over part of the job and
you get these kind of likeamalgamation, kind of
frankenstein job roles.
I think taking a step back andsaying, okay, clearly, what are
the job functions that we need,what are those accountabilities
and responsibilities, and thencreating an org chart of like
who very clearly is doing thosethings, and then in those job
(21:09):
descriptions clearlyarticulating like what the
priorities are I think are superimportant.
Uh, I mean, if we could takelike non-profit ideology and put
it in a for-profit business,we'd have like superstars doing
20 million things and like wecould do some really cool stuff.
But it's also creates high levelburnout and frustration and I
(21:30):
just I think you can clarify alot of that just by having a
clear job description, clearaccountabilities and a clear org
chart.
Then everybody knows exactlywhat they're doing, they know
who they report to, theyunderstand what their job
capacity is and then when youhave to replace a person,
ideally you're going to replacethat role.
You're not going to replace theperson, because that person is
going to have their own uniquesets of skills and abilities and
(21:51):
everything else is going tohave their own unique sets of
skills and abilities andeverything else.
But you can then hire for thejob, for the functions that you
know you need, because you haveprocesses that require certain
things to get done.
So you're going to hire aperson to take care of that
process.
I don't know.
I've seen a lot of nonprofitsthat when their talented person
walks out the door, there goeslike 20 different jobs that just
got done by them.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
And people only knew about five of them, and so
documenting that, I think, ishelpful.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
So we're going to ask the question.
It's a similar line, butthere's one more group I want to
speak to, right Sure, and thatwould be so if you were to sit
down with, let's say, the CEO ofa nonprofit right now.
What is the one piece of advicethat you would give them in
(22:41):
terms of like, when you thinkabout operations, when we think
about making sure that yourorganization is operationally
healthy?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
What's one piece of advice that you would give to
them to say, like this is theone thing that you want to make
sure stays in check.
Or, if you see this, it's a redflag and it's time to regroup.
What's the one thing that theyshould be looking out for?
Or the piece of wisdom that youwould give them around that?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Well, that is a really good question, cause I
would like to you knowoperations.
Sometimes we like to think thatyou know it's, it's all about
the processes, but I mean, thefinancial responsibilities are
obviously there.
So you know, if the businessruns out of money, that's,
that's the gas that keeps thekeeps the whole thing going.
So I think you knowunderstanding it's the shock to
(23:28):
the system.
So I'll, because we've actuallyhad a conversation One of my
clients they provide SaaSsoftware in the apprenticeship
space and a lot of their clients, not a lot.
What was the percentage?
I think like 25%.
It just feels like a lot.
It's a significant amount ofmoney, but by about 25% of the
clients they run off grants andso, with the current
(23:49):
administration and thechallenges that are happening
right now with funding, theywere like, hey, listen, our
business might actually be.
You know, because we look twosteps down the road.
We see how the money comes in.
We know that this is a problem,and so we had to have a
conversation.
See how the money comes in, weknow that this is a problem, and
so we had to have aconversation like are we going
to have to pause some of theservices that we're doing, or
(24:10):
you know, what does thisrelationship look like now in
these uncertain times?
And I think, for non-profits,planning ahead and that
resiliency of like, okay,there's going to be a potential
shock or something coming up, Ithink this is where strong
operations will help you preparefor that.
Because if you, if you havesystems in place where you know,
let's say, like a winter storm,right, winter storm shuts down
(24:31):
All of a sudden people can't getto work, people can't.
You know, people still needservices, but you're not
providing them because, andresources are all over the place
and deliveries are coming youknow what I'm saying.
Like, if you have,operationally, if you knew we're
like, okay, this is how thesystem runs, these are the
inputs, outputs and we have thismeasured.
(24:52):
Now, what happens when we havea failure, system failure, okay,
well, we know who to call,because all of your
documentation is one place, orthis process broke, okay, why
did it break?
It breaks because this, uh,let's say, we're using public
transit or we're using the localschool.
They're renting out schoolbuses for you to help get those
kids off the ferry.
Can we call a private buscompany to go pick those kids up
?
And then, operationally, that'show that functions.
(25:15):
So, if you have solid operations, I think it can prepare you for
those shocks that are going tohappen.
And my recommendation would bedo your contingency planning
that tests some of thosescenarios or come up with, like
you know, like little, like warroom shortages, with your, with
your board or with yourleadership team to say, hey, if
we experienced these differentkinds of system shocks, like
(25:37):
what are we going to do to prepfor that?
That's going to test youroperational system.
Oh, my gosh, yeah, I like this,this is fun.
This, this, this is what Iwould recommend.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
That's great, I love it.
But you're right, I think,because especially in the
executive director seat, you'retending to focus real big
picture.
We're focused on developmentand fundraising.
We're maybe the vision casterand not necessarily the nitty
gritty.
That's a really good,actionable step that a leader
could take.
And I really where?
Maybe the vision caster and notnecessarily the nitty gritty.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
That's a really good actionable step that a leader
could take, and I really so.
Yeah, I really appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yeah, cause then it just embraces their vision,
right?
So like exactly yeah, oh,that's great, oh, awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Thanks for teasing that out.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Thank you, that was fun.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Joshua.
Yeah, that was fun, joshua.
This has been a really goodconversation and I think it's
going to be super helpful forthose who sit in that executive
director role, but also for theoperations folks, maybe to help
explain their world even alittle bit better to other folks
.
So I think the awareness thatyou are bringing to that side I
think is super helpful.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Oh good, yeah, yeah, for all of those operators in
the nonprofit world.
Thank you Seriously.
You guys are the backbone for alot of the operations and and
you keep the lights on and theday to day going.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
So yeah, that's great .
Speaker 3 (26:52):
They're great.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
If somebody wanted to connect with you to learn more,
maybe about some of the processdocumentation, or wanting to
learn more about the servicesthat you offer.
How do we find you?
Speaker 3 (27:03):
So you can find me online two ways.
One head to my website,thinkadaptbuildcom.
For people that listen to thepodcast, I have a special link,
so I'll send that to you.
Maybe we can put it in the shownotes.
I have a little guide for youfor operational basics that you
should have.
I usually do a 30 minutesession, but I'll do an hour
session if you want.
I'll talk about anything, noobligation.
(27:26):
I just want to help putGoodwill out there.
The second way to find me is onLinkedIn.
I post articles and I shareresources quite a bit, so you
know, if you need something orif you have a question like,
even shoot that to me and I'llanswer it or help out.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Fantastic.
That's awesome, Joshua.
Thank you so much.
I really enjoyed thisconversation.
I think it's going to be reallyhelpful to a lot of folks in
our audience.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Awesome.
Thanks, Megan, for theopportunity.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, again, my guest has been Joshua Monehay, who is
the fractional COO helpingorganizations get their
operations in order.
So thank you, joshua, for beinghere.
This has been another episodeof the Nonprofit Hub Radio
Podcast.
I'm your host, megan Spear, andwe'll see you next time.
Marketing Support Network is proud to serve the
nonprofit community by offeringfull-service contact center
fulfillment, digital marketingand fundraising services.
Your vision is our mission andwe can't wait to partner with
you.
Visitmarketingsupportnetworkcom for
more information.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome back to the Nonprofit Hub podcast.
I'm your host, Megan Spear,joined today by Joshua Monhaix,
who's a fractional COO.
We've spent a lot of time onthe podcast so far this year
talking about fundraising andmarketing and storytelling and
all of the things.
But we're going to take a stepback to the operational side
today, so very excited to haveJoshua joining me to dig into
(00:39):
maybe some of that moreoperational leadership side for
process, for making sure thatthe organization is actually
going to move forward.
Really excited to dig into thistoday.
Joshua, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Oh, thank you so much .
Those other topics, by the way,are way more appealing and fun
and exciting, so I hope we canmake operations, I know.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
And I think that's to your.
That's exactly the point, rightIs that operations is maybe not
like the sexiest side ofnonprofit work.
Nobody really wants to sit downand talk about that.
So I'm excited to hear from youtoday, because I do think we
have a bunch of leaderslistening to the podcast who
need that kind of support, right.
They need some structure andsome help along that way.
(01:20):
So I think this is going to begreat along that way.
So I think this is going to begreat.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
That's awesome.
I mean, I'm sure there'ssomebody that's listening right
now, that's you know.
Oh my gosh, I have all thisstuff on my plate.
I have all of these priorities.
How do I get this sorted orbuild this whole program in a
way that it's not them having todo everything and all that
pressure?
Yeah, this will be fun.
I would love to kind of talkabout operations and how to
(01:43):
break some of that up for them.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Awesome.
So, by way of introduction,give us a little bit about your
background and what led you intohaving such expertise in
operations?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Oh my gosh, okay.
So currently right now I workas a fractional COO.
I have my own practice.
It's called Think, adapt, build.
I started that in 2021.
I did that after my last quotereal job.
I was the director of economicdevelopment for a chamber up in
Oregon.
I was in the executiveleadership, so I got to learn
all the bells and whistles ofrunning a nonprofit.
(02:15):
And when I left the chamber itwas during COVID and not a great
time for a career transition.
So I found myself having tofigure out how to, you know,
bring in money for food, becausemy family liked to eat and they
like to have a place to roofover their heads.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So no, high maintenance.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Yeah, I know Seriously.
So I saw everybody going onlineand I used to run a digital
marketing agency and so I did.
I offered SEO audits and I knewexactly what my target audience
was.
I got that to six figures in 18months.
And then a friend of minecaught up who was a fractional
CFO was like, hey, listen, thework that you did at the chamber
, plus what you did with yourown business, you should help
(02:56):
people being a fractional COO.
And so that's the reason why Istarted this.
Even in my, when I had businessbefore, I was very involved
with the chamber and thenonprofit community, actually
did some consulting for a fewchurches, and then, when I was
at the chamber, I actuallyoversaw three volunteer boards
that were like subset groups ofthe chamber and what they were
(03:18):
doing.
And yeah, so I've watched how,when there's a lack of
operations, how that impacts theorganization, how it flows.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
And then I've seen radical change.
When you just get thingsorganized, put things all in one
place and just operational,foundational basics, and so when
you put those components inplace and treat the nonprofit
like a business and put it tobusiness metrics and build those
business components, then thenonprofit seems to run a lot
(03:48):
smoother and a lot better, eventhough you're reinvesting the
profits back into the business.
Great, you're running aprofitable business that then
you're just reinvesting thoseprofits right, as opposed to oh,
it's okay, we don't need allthat stuff because we're all
here for mission and vision.
We don't need to execute itlike a business.
No, no, no, because we're allhere for mission and vision.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
We don't need to execute it like a business no,
no, no you are yes.
So I say this all the time andI will.
It's, at this point, like goingto be put on my tombstone, but
nonprofit is just a tax status,right.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
It does not impact how we run our organizations.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I mean operationally it should not.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yes, it should not impact how we run our
organizations.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I mean operationally.
Yes, it should not impact howwe run our organizations
Operationally.
It should be exactly the same.
I mean, I know there's a bigqualifier there, but it still
should be running as a strongbusiness.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
So I want to have this conversation kind of two
ways, then.
Okay, one is and I'm going tostart with maybe, the startup
folks, because I know we havethem in our audience, the folks
who either are just startingtheir nonprofit, about to be
launching their nonprofit.
To me that's kind of the blankcanvas right, like we could get
it right from the jump.
And so if you had your way inthe conversation and we're
(05:00):
talking to those folks, what arethe top three things that you
would say?
These are the things that youhave to get right, like if
you're making a process, if youhad a blank slate to start an
organization fresh, where do youstart to make sure that that
organization moves forwardefficiently and operationally
(05:20):
well, from the jump.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
So I think I'm going to borrow from kind of my
playbook of my recommendationfor entrepreneurs in general and
when they are thinking aboutgetting started, and so my first
piece of advice is don't do it.
Sorry, that is not what I wasexpecting you to say say, okay,
(05:51):
entrepreneurship is hard, it isdifficult, and if you listen to
that first piece of advice thatI gave you, then, great, you
shouldn't followentrepreneurship.
It's hard.
You're going to get peopletelling you no, they're going to
tell you a thousand reasons whyyou can't do it.
You're going to have all thesechallenges and so if you're not
prepared to fight for what youwant and you're not prepared to
really step up, don't do it.
So there's my.
I say it tongue in cheek,because 99% of people are like,
(06:12):
oh, dude, you know, you knowwhat you're talking about.
I'm like, hey, great, now let'shave a real conversation about
what this looks like.
Yeah, so then the second one isand I know this sounds very
hokey and I feel kind of cheesyfor saying it, but you know,
when you talk about what yourwhy is and what you exist, I
think for nonprofits, you startout of the gate right away with
the burden of competition.
Why is it that somebody shouldcare about what you care about
(06:36):
and why should they contributeto it and support you to be the
one to execute that version ofthat vision?
Right, and I?
I apologize if I come off alittle too harsh, but I've met a
lot of great nonprofits with alot of great ideas, but I just I
go, what about the guys acrossthe street that are doing it?
Like, why don't you partnerwith them, you know?
Or like, why are you the oneand not everybody else?
(07:01):
So my first piece of advice onthat point is understand your
why and then how you're going tocommunicate that you're the one
that needs to do this, yourorganization is the one that's
going to work on this problem,and that you have a better
chance of success or a betterchance of solving it or creating
more solutions than problems.
If you can really get thatsolidified and really solid, I
(07:29):
think you're going to be, in away, better footing than like,
oh you know, well, we just kindof got together and we kind of
had this vision and nobody elsewas doing it in the market, I
think and so we kind of threwthis nonprofit together and now
we're finding out, oh no, we'recoming up against some really
strong headwinds.
You know you don't want tospend all that money, time and
energy for this not bad idea tofind out that it's not tested
and you're not prepared for that.
So that would be one.
The second thing is, I think,having that clear vision and
(07:50):
everything else, understand whatsuccess looks like with
outcomes, not just withactivities.
So if your solution is like,hey, I know there's a lot of
kids that hang out on thestreets after school or they're
not doing anything, and so we'regoing to create a place for
them to to read, okay, but thenwhat's the what's behind that,
like you know?
(08:11):
And so then if it's like, ohwell, we want them to improve
literacy rates, or we want themto be in a safe place, or we're
going to provide them snacks ormeals, or, and we're going to
mentor them and we're going tofoster a relationship, you know,
of what communityresponsibility could look like.
Whatever that is, make surethat you're always getting to
those outcomes of that impactthat you're making, and not just
(08:32):
the activities.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Okay, does that work.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I like it.
Yeah, Okay, good.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I think that's great, because I do think we get
caught up in the, sometimes inthe well, I want to solve this
particular problem, but down theroad, and especially right now,
you know there's a lot ofquestion around grant funding.
There's a lot of unknowns innonprofit funding in general.
You have to be able to provethose outcomes.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
If we start from a place of this is the outcome I'm
trying to achieve and workbackwards, then we have the
answers when those grantapplications come in.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
How have you done this and what's your success
rate, Instead of going oh yeah,these are our programs, let's
see if maybe I can fudge someanswers and finesse it enough to
pass the grant.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
We need the funding.
So then we're going to go aheadand like, stretch our mission
just a little bit to kind ofcover this.
Yeah, that's, that's hard.
I think you know withnonprofits, to your point of
what you were saying aboutunderstanding the outcome that
you're going for, you also haveto realize too, there's
alternative solutions to thatright.
So the kids that are out atnight I'm just going to use that
(09:42):
as an example for probably therest of the show, but is that
you know?
Could they be in a mathtutoring center?
Yes.
Could they be in a mentorshipprogram where they're learning
trades?
Yes.
Could they be in a sportsprogram?
Yes.
So now you have three different, essentially, solutions to that
same problem with the outcomeis to get the kids off the
street and focused on somethingyou know building themselves,
(10:03):
building their human capital ortheir skill set.
You've got three different waysto do it.
So if you're really outcomefocused, then when it comes to
those solutions, maybe that'swhere you can pivot without
having to set up a whole newsystem.
You're also not locked intolike, oh, this is the only way
that we can get this done.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, no, I like that a lot.
Let's presume, then, that we'regoing to shift the audience of
this and ask a very similarquestion, because I know that
there are folks out there whohave been around a while.
They've been trying to do thedo the things.
Maybe they have the outcomesthat they've proven.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
They've done a really good job and they're like dying
from success.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Either they're dying from success yeah, katie Grant
their own organizations, right,and now those CEO founders are
(11:03):
stepping out.
And we got organizations allover the country who are kind of
in scramble mode trying tofigure out now that person has
retired or stepped out or haspassed away, whatever the case
may be.
They're trying to figure outwhat phase two looks like.
How do we move an organizationforward?
How do we regroup To borrowyour phrase from earlier when
the wheels are falling offorganization forward?
How do we regroup To borrowyour phrase from earlier when
(11:25):
the wheels are falling off thebus?
How do we regroup?
So if somebody finds themselvesin that kind of scenario where
maybe we're established we'vebeen doing the right things, but
either we grew too quickly orthere's been some sort of
massive shift in leadership orsomething on that front, how do
(11:45):
we regroup and put the wheelsback on while we still keep
going?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Oh, that's great.
Oh, I love that question.
Yeah, I think you know fornonprofits that are looking to
make that transition.
If you have a CEO, if you havea nonprofit, that is like
personality centric, so if theCEO is the organization, that's
a hard one to break away from.
I think in Traditional businesssense, when a business owner is
(12:12):
looking to leave, we tell themokay, the day you decide to
leave should be the day that youstart your business, so you
build your business in a waythat you can always leave.
It Doesn't happen, it's a rarething.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
So I think, even in nonprofits maybe they start with
the idea of, hey, we're hungryfor this mission, I'm the one to
execute, I've got a good team,I'm pulling people together, but
they don't think what's goingto happen to the organization
when they get to a place wherethey need to exit.
So I think exit planning kindof at some point, I work it in
as soon as you can.
The second part, though, iswhen you actually are in a place
OK, I'm going to be exiting, Ineed to leave the organization.
(12:46):
Then, basically, you have athree to five year window where
you need to get things reallystructured and organized in a
place to transition to the nextperson.
Get things really structuredand organized in a place to
transition to that next person,and the best way to do that is
to set it up where you know theED or president or CEO I don't
know whatever the head person isthat's responsible for
everything, that they're in aposition that they can actually
(13:10):
step out, that everything isn'tsolely reliant and dependent on
them.
In traditional business sense,there's what they call the
absentee owner, where the ownerowns the business, there's an
operator running it, the owner'sthere for vision, for big
vision those components, but theactual operations gets handled
by an operator.
I think if you can get yournonprofit to where you've got a
good, solid team that can runthe mission without you and that
(13:31):
you're there for vision,supporting the board, help
fundraising those components,then when it comes time to pass
the leadership over, youactually have a business that
you can pass on, because it'snot built just around that one
person.
So I would get that done.
And to do that you need to makesure financials are very clean,
(13:51):
in order and very organized.
I think nonprofits.
I think one of the clearadvantages they have is because
they have so much accountabilityusually the financials are
usually probably better out thegate.
They're less commingling andless weird stuff like that.
But then the second part ismaking sure you document your
core processes, make sure yourcore system's documented and
(14:13):
that the team understands wherethat is and how to utilize that.
And I think most nonprofits Idon't know that it follows the
same growth trajectory as likefor-profit businesses, in the
sense that do you have like aone-year drop-off, three-year
drop-off, five-year drop-off?
I think once you get to likethree to five years, you've got
something that people are buyinginto and that they're
(14:35):
supporting it and you're doinggood.
So I think just documenting thegood stuff and getting that
stuff structured and organizedreally well, I think would be
very helpful.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
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Speaker 2 (15:23):
Nonprofit folks are doing such good work, right,
they're in it to make adifference.
They're impacting their town,their city, their world, some
sort of community, in major ways.
And so how do we embrace thisidea that operations is not the
thing that we put up with?
(15:43):
That detracts from that,because I could see where
somebody if somebody is, youknow, to use your example of
somebody who's let's go stickthat organization that is
wanting to get kids into a safeplace after school.
Right, they are worried aboutfocusing on building
relationships with thosestudents, connecting them to
resources, helping them withhomework.
They're doing all of thesethings.
(16:03):
I could see where, just as adevil's advocate here, right,
having to sit down and documentout how we do that and how we
run this program and what thatlooks like, feels like it's
taking away critical time fromthe doing.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Oh, right yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
So how do we, how do we flip that?
How do we embrace the idea thatlike operations is not a thing
that takes away from the mission, it's the thing that helps the
mission happen?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Yes, okay, so one.
We have to first admit there isa trade-off, right.
So yes, you could spend another.
So let's say you had five hoursof time.
You have five hours servicingor helping, right, or having
conversation and building thatrelationship yes, or you can
spend a couple hours doingoperational stuff, which is not
doing that, which is one not asfun generally right and
especially so much fun.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
What are you talking?
Operational stuff which is notdoing that, which is one not as
fun?
Generally Right.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
And especially so much fun.
What are you talking about?
No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
I am one who would like I would love to be on the
front lines doing it.
And now you're going to tell meI got to sit behind a computer
and do these parts.
That feels not as rewarding.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yeah, I so I have.
I have a little bit of a hackfor people that are, because
most of the people we'reprobably talking to now are
visionaries, like the bigpicture people, and so they're
like don't give me the details,let me just meet, greet and
let's just Right, I don't wantto do the doing.
Yes, yes, okay, totally, totallyfair.
But think of it this way If youwere a baker, right, and you
(17:31):
had to get bread to all thesedifferent locations and you were
the head, but yet you reallygot it baked it, you're the one
that drove it, you're the onethat delivers it right.
There's components of yourbusiness that have to be
solidified, like it just needsto be done, and you need a
repeatable process.
You need to be able toreplicate it, because then what
you can do then is thosecomponents even in my analogy
(17:53):
they gave you find somebody elseto do the deliveries right, or
find somebody else to bake thebread, or find somebody else to
receive the deliveries.
Like you can find components ofthe job that you're doing that
other people can do, and so thenyou can hire them to do that.
So if you don't like documentingprocesses which I totally get
it the first hire that I wouldrecommend for any executive
(18:16):
that's starting a new businessventure or has a seasoned
business venture but can't gettime for themselves is to hire
an executive assistant or a VA.
Hire someone to take all thesmall things off your plate, all
the little you know, likebooking your calendar
appointments.
You know automate booking yourcalendar appointments, you know
(18:40):
automated.
Or hire somebody, and you knowI know people will read about
overhead and how much money isbeing spent for operational
costs.
That's fine, but think of itthis way too You're also giving
somebody an opportunity to workand to contribute to their
mission in a way that is maybefinancially not the same way and
time wise is not the same sameway, but they're going to help
make the little engine that'sgoing to keep you producing
really good work and you'regoing to create this process
(19:01):
that's repeatable.
So hire a va, get them todocument and then have them
document their job.
So when you talk to them, saylike, hey, I just had a, you
know I have to do the boardmeeting and I have to get the
minutes together, and if youshow them how to do, they can
pull all of that together foryou.
So then when you show up, youonly have to do the final
touches on it.
Right, they can go, pull thedata and report, so they can ask
people questions, all of thosekinds of components that you
(19:24):
think are boring, that you don'twant to do.
If you get somebody else to doit, they can document it for you
and then you have a repeatableprocess.
And then, when you decide togrow and you add members to your
team, now you havedocumentation to say by the way,
this is how we do thesecomponents.
If you don't create arepeatable process, then you're
(19:44):
going to be stuck at some pointwhere you've got one person
trying to cook 20 meals all atthe same, 20 different meals all
at the same time, in a kitchenthat can only do five.
Yeah, so Interesting.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Okay, so obviously the documentation piece is
important.
Yes, Right, Becauserealistically turnover can be
pretty high in a lot ofnonprofits.
So we want to make sure thatthe processes don't get dropped
or that we don't skip steps,especially if you're someone
who's in one that has a lot ofcompliance or you know
documentation that is required.
(20:16):
Are there other pieces ofoperational leadership that we
tend to maybe ignore?
Are there other pieces thatkind of fall through the cracks
that we should start payingattention to?
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah, I think clear role definition I think is
extremely helpful Because, likeyou you said, when you have
churn, you know people arewalking out the door so it's
like, okay, bob was handling thecompliance piece, now he's not
here, so now we've got marydoing it, but mary's in charge
of payroll, so then she'ssplitting her time and then
(20:48):
she's like what are mypriorities?
And then somebody else istaking over part of the job and
you get these kind of likeamalgamation, kind of
frankenstein job roles.
I think taking a step back andsaying, okay, clearly, what are
the job functions that we need,what are those accountabilities
and responsibilities, and thencreating an org chart of like
who very clearly is doing thosethings, and then in those job
(21:09):
descriptions clearlyarticulating like what the
priorities are I think are superimportant.
Uh, I mean, if we could takelike non-profit ideology and put
it in a for-profit business,we'd have like superstars doing
20 million things and like wecould do some really cool stuff.
But it's also creates high levelburnout and frustration and I
(21:30):
just I think you can clarify alot of that just by having a
clear job description, clearaccountabilities and a clear org
chart.
Then everybody knows exactlywhat they're doing, they know
who they report to, theyunderstand what their job
capacity is and then when youhave to replace a person,
ideally you're going to replacethat role.
You're not going to replace theperson, because that person is
going to have their own uniquesets of skills and abilities and
(21:51):
everything else is going tohave their own unique sets of
skills and abilities andeverything else.
But you can then hire for thejob, for the functions that you
know you need, because you haveprocesses that require certain
things to get done.
So you're going to hire aperson to take care of that
process.
I don't know.
I've seen a lot of nonprofitsthat when their talented person
walks out the door, there goeslike 20 different jobs that just
got done by them.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
And people only knew about five of them, and so
documenting that, I think, ishelpful.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
So we're going to ask the question.
It's a similar line, butthere's one more group I want to
speak to, right Sure, and thatwould be so if you were to sit
down with, let's say, the CEO ofa nonprofit right now.
What is the one piece of advicethat you would give them in
(22:41):
terms of like, when you thinkabout operations, when we think
about making sure that yourorganization is operationally
healthy?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
What's one piece of advice that you would give to
them to say, like this is theone thing that you want to make
sure stays in check.
Or, if you see this, it's a redflag and it's time to regroup.
What's the one thing that theyshould be looking out for?
Or the piece of wisdom that youwould give them around that?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Well, that is a really good question, cause I
would like to you knowoperations.
Sometimes we like to think thatyou know it's, it's all about
the processes, but I mean, thefinancial responsibilities are
obviously there.
So you know, if the businessruns out of money, that's,
that's the gas that keeps thekeeps the whole thing going.
So I think you knowunderstanding it's the shock to
(23:28):
the system.
So I'll, because we've actuallyhad a conversation One of my
clients they provide SaaSsoftware in the apprenticeship
space and a lot of their clients, not a lot.
What was the percentage?
I think like 25%.
It just feels like a lot.
It's a significant amount ofmoney, but by about 25% of the
clients they run off grants andso, with the current
(23:49):
administration and thechallenges that are happening
right now with funding, theywere like, hey, listen, our
business might actually be.
You know, because we look twosteps down the road.
We see how the money comes in.
We know that this is a problem,and so we had to have a
conversation.
See how the money comes in, weknow that this is a problem, and
so we had to have aconversation like are we going
to have to pause some of theservices that we're doing, or
(24:10):
you know, what does thisrelationship look like now in
these uncertain times?
And I think, for non-profits,planning ahead and that
resiliency of like, okay,there's going to be a potential
shock or something coming up, Ithink this is where strong
operations will help you preparefor that.
Because if you, if you havesystems in place where you know,
let's say, like a winter storm,right, winter storm shuts down
(24:31):
All of a sudden people can't getto work, people can't.
You know, people still needservices, but you're not
providing them because, andresources are all over the place
and deliveries are coming youknow what I'm saying.
Like, if you have,operationally, if you knew we're
like, okay, this is how thesystem runs, these are the
inputs, outputs and we have thismeasured.
(24:52):
Now, what happens when we havea failure, system failure, okay,
well, we know who to call,because all of your
documentation is one place, orthis process broke, okay, why
did it break?
It breaks because this, uh,let's say, we're using public
transit or we're using the localschool.
They're renting out schoolbuses for you to help get those
kids off the ferry.
Can we call a private buscompany to go pick those kids up
?
And then, operationally, that'show that functions.
(25:15):
So, if you have solid operations, I think it can prepare you for
those shocks that are going tohappen.
And my recommendation would bedo your contingency planning
that tests some of thosescenarios or come up with, like
you know, like little, like warroom shortages, with your, with
your board or with yourleadership team to say, hey, if
we experienced these differentkinds of system shocks, like
(25:37):
what are we going to do to prepfor that?
That's going to test youroperational system.
Oh, my gosh, yeah, I like this,this is fun.
This, this, this is what Iwould recommend.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
That's great, I love it.
But you're right, I think,because especially in the
executive director seat, you'retending to focus real big
picture.
We're focused on developmentand fundraising.
We're maybe the vision casterand not necessarily the nitty
gritty.
That's a really good,actionable step that a leader
could take.
And I really where?
Maybe the vision caster and notnecessarily the nitty gritty.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
That's a really good actionable step that a leader
could take, and I really so.
Yeah, I really appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yeah, cause then it just embraces their vision,
right?
So like exactly yeah, oh,that's great, oh, awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Thanks for teasing that out.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Thank you, that was fun.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Joshua.
Yeah, that was fun, joshua.
This has been a really goodconversation and I think it's
going to be super helpful forthose who sit in that executive
director role, but also for theoperations folks, maybe to help
explain their world even alittle bit better to other folks
.
So I think the awareness thatyou are bringing to that side I
think is super helpful.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Oh good, yeah, yeah, for all of those operators in
the nonprofit world.
Thank you Seriously.
You guys are the backbone for alot of the operations and and
you keep the lights on and theday to day going.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
So yeah, that's great .
Speaker 3 (26:52):
They're great.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
If somebody wanted to connect with you to learn more,
maybe about some of the processdocumentation, or wanting to
learn more about the servicesthat you offer.
How do we find you?
Speaker 3 (27:03):
So you can find me online two ways.
One head to my website,thinkadaptbuildcom.
For people that listen to thepodcast, I have a special link,
so I'll send that to you.
Maybe we can put it in the shownotes.
I have a little guide for youfor operational basics that you
should have.
I usually do a 30 minutesession, but I'll do an hour
session if you want.
I'll talk about anything, noobligation.
(27:26):
I just want to help putGoodwill out there.
The second way to find me is onLinkedIn.
I post articles and I shareresources quite a bit, so you
know, if you need something orif you have a question like,
even shoot that to me and I'llanswer it or help out.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Fantastic.
That's awesome, Joshua.
Thank you so much.
I really enjoyed thisconversation.
I think it's going to be reallyhelpful to a lot of folks in
our audience.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Awesome.
Thanks, Megan, for theopportunity.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, again, my guest has been Joshua Monehay, who is
the fractional COO helpingorganizations get their
operations in order.
So thank you, joshua, for beinghere.
This has been another episodeof the Nonprofit Hub Radio
Podcast.
I'm your host, megan Spear, andwe'll see you next time.
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