Leading with Purpose: Mission-Focused Nonprofit Leadership

Welcome to our first lessons on mission-focused leadership! In this series of videos and lessons we will take our first steps in defining what “mission leadership” means, and also look at why it matters. Our overview of the skills related to building up your own mission-focused leadership to support your own professional work, no matter what position you hold in your nonprofit.

We’ll close out this series by spending some time on learning how we can spot what effective mission-focused leadership looks like in the real world. You’ll likely see a lot of relatable examples here, and will probably spot areas where your own organization is doing well...and could use improvement.

Now let’s jump in on our learning!

*Note that a transcript of all audio is available for download on the lessons to come, as well as an audio-only version of the lessons. You can always turn on closed-captions on the video player settings above.

In this lesson, we'll jump in on an overview of what mission focused leadership is.

Be sure to download the transcript to begin building your reference library, and also feel free to use the audio-only download below for on-the-go learning.

Now that you have some basics about mission-focused leadership, let's take a look at why it matters.

Remember, you can download the transcript for this video below, and can also turn closed captions on and off for your convenience.

In this lesson, we'll look at the key skills related to mission-focused leadership. Remember: skills can be learned, practiced, and developed over time, so if you feel that you have a little (or a lot of!) room for improvement, know that you're on the right track!

In this lesson, we'll bring together our learning on why mission-focused leadership matters and the skills needed to work effectively in this capacity. We'll answer the question "What does effective mission-focused leadership look like?" and also consider how we measure some of the key indicators of mission-focused leadership success.

Now that we know what effective mission-focused leadership might look like, let's take a look at how we can measure it in action.

Remember, you can download the transcript for this video below, and can also turn closed captions on and off for your convenience.

Welcome to the silver badge series on activating mission-focused leadership abilities! Here's a quick overview of what you can expect in this lesson.

How to Build Mission-Focused Leadership

Now that we know what the concept of mission-focused leadership is all about, and what it looks like when it shows up effectively, we’ll now turn our attention to a few lessons on how to actually build up our leadership capacity across the organization. In the next few lessons, we’ll discover how to activate your organization’s energy around a common mission and vision, how to ensure you have the right information and resources to do so, and how to set goals to target the right kind of positive movement.

Remember that leadership is getting everyone on the boat rowing in the same direction and feeling really connected to the direction you’re heading. With this image in mind, let’s start with our first lesson on activating mission-focused leadership!

*Remember that a transcript of all audio is available for download below on the lessons to come, and you can always turn on closed-captions on the video settings above.

In this lesson, we'll jump get ready to do some action planning around activating mission-focused leadership abilities, and look closely at how you can make (or support) a really great plan for positive change in your own nonprofit.

Be sure to download the transcript to not only review your learning but also to see the research references used in this lesson.

Now that we have a little bit of foundation in action planning, let's think about how we can apply this to your organization.

Remember, you can download the transcript for this video below, and can also turn closed captions on and off for your convenience.

In this lesson, we'll look at what types of information can be gathered, shared, analyzed, and used to improve an organization's work in choosing a leadership style.

Be sure to download the transcript to not only review your learning but also to see the research references used in this lesson.

We've talked about action planning and information sharing, but what about reaching success? Goals are a means of knowing whether you have made the change you wanted (or missed the mark), and defining them about organizational capacity means we will continually strive to improve.

Be sure to download the transcript to not only review your learning but also to see the research references used in this lesson.

Goals can get us to new levels of functionality in many areas of our organization. We'll next consider how setting mission-focused leadership goals can be successful both at the individual and team levels.

Remember, you can download the transcript for this video below, and can also turn closed captions on and off for your convenience.

So far, we’ve gotten a full sense of what mission-focused leadership is, looks like, and the skills needed to develop it. We’ve also spent some time looking at how we can build up mission-focused leadership skills by setting goals, using different leadership styles, and energizing yourself and others to plan your actions.

We’re ready to tie it all together in this final series of lessons on building motivation and momentum through a concept called “dynamic leadership,” and we’ll close out our learning with some reflective time working on your personal leadership learning plan.

Your work on mission-focused leadership is truly just a starting point for building this capacity in yourself as a professional. We encourage you to spend time each day envisioning the type of leader you’d like to be and pausing to connect with the mission of your organization.

The work that you and your organization do is so vital for our community, and your commitment to your own leadership is one of the greatest stepping stones toward successfully helping those you serve. Let’s now wrap up our learning.

In our final series on mission leadership, we'll look at getting everyone involved in improving this capacity...including you! We'll look at motivation, teamwork, and personal development to ultimately earn your final badge!

*Note that a transcript of all audio is available for download below on the lessons to come, and you can always turn on closed-captions on the video settings above.

In this lesson, we'll look at how motivation can be supported in building and creating through mission-focused leadership in your organization. Be sure to download the transcript to review your learning.

Motivation doesn't always have to be a serious subject: let's look now at a few ways to have fun keeping your energy up and building up the team spirit to improve motivation through mission-focused leadership.

Remember, you can download the transcript for this video below, and can also turn closed captions on and off for your convenience.

In this final teaching lesson on mission-focused leadership capacity in review, we're bringing together all our learning into a capstone video on how we can grow from everything we've covered thus far!

Be sure to download the transcript to not only review your learning but also to see the research references used in this lesson.