Shaping organizational culture can steady the path to a nonprofit’s growth and sustainability, especially in today’s challenging world. Here’s why it’s beneficial, along with some ideas and best practices.

Organizational culture is the invisible force that shapes how a nonprofit grows and operates, for better or worse. Applying a consistent, clear, and engaging culture within your organization can guide who you hire, increase collaboration, reduce burnout, and strengthen trust across your organization. It can also promote an openness to change. A weak or toxic work environment can lead to disengagement, high turnover, and inefficiency.

The concept of culture is widely diverse. Many of us think of culture as being about place, societal characteristics, and norms. However, more generally, it encompasses the values, beliefs, systems of language, communication, and practices that people share in common, and that can be used to define a group as a collective.

In the case of nonprofits, depending on the size of the organization, culture is usually shaped by the founder/s, leadership staff, and the board. Shaping organizational culture is a critical part of an Executive Director’s role. If you, as a leader don’t set the tone and guidelines, organizational culture will develop on its own, which may not necessarily be constructive.

Shaping organizational culture positively is about providing a stable, people-centered environment where board and staff feel valued, engaged, and aligned with the mission. It is setting clear expectations, fostering open and consistent communication, and modeling the behaviors you as a leader want to see. Building an engaged and motivated team isn’t simply about hiring the right people. If your employees feel that they are treated with respect, in a non-judgement environment, they are more likely to be satisfied, more productive, work well as a team, and understand the value of collaboration for long-term success.

In a nutshell, ensuring a positive workplace culture entails:

Implementing organizational practices and policies that lead with empathy, encourage respect, ensure equity, reduce judgement, focus on inclusivity, build trust, and create a sense of belonging.
Providing an environment where people are heard and engaged, they have clear guidelines within which to function, and are empowered to innovate, collaborate, and grow.
Incorporating relationships with your volunteers, vendors, donors and funders too in line with your culture and values.

All this sounds great, doesn’t it? However, maintaining a positive culture requires ongoing effort and adaptability. Although it might sound like there’s a lot involved, it is actually fairly straightforward. No one is saying it’s easy, certainly not me. The key is to recognize the need and then to intentionally make a plan to incorporate ‘it’ into all aspects of your organization’s way of operating.

Organizational culture needs to be based on the Vision, Mission, and Values of your organization (strategic direction), and be embedded into everything you do as an organization. For example, when you’re hiring, are you intentionally seeking people who align with your values? If not, the people you bring in could undermine the positive culture and, in some cases, cause disruption.

Embedding organizational culture means:

Gaining alignment – Each person’s actions and goals are aligned to your organization’s strategic direction (vision, mission, values, and overarching goal) and its clearly defined purpose – it is a way of sharing authority and
Ensuring fit and flow, bearing in mind that there is no one best structure nor one best
Creating an operating plan that embeds organizational culture into the overall organization.
Evaluating and monitoring culture impact by establishing milestones and

When we at JBL Strategies developed our Strategic Leadership Essentials® model for nonprofits, it was in recognition that to build a consistent culture and achieve sustainability long-term, it is essential for an organization to intentionally integrate strong leadership, clear strategy, and consistent communication practices. By integrating these three areas – leadership, strategy, and communication – organizations can cultivate a resilient and thriving culture, functioning more effectively and sustaining long-term success.

I’m often asked, who is responsible for setting organizational culture and how can non-leadership staff contribute or even influence its development?

As I mentioned previously, organizational culture needs to be led by the CEO/ED and, if there is one, the executive leadership team, while at the same time intentionally working to ensure buy-in from your Board and Staff.

Because, to a large degree, building organizational culture is about servant leadership, the opportunities for everyone to be involved and to influence are usually inherent. The key attributes of a servant leader or leaders are that they understand the importance of building a safe, enjoyable, and productive work environment for all its people. It is about leading by example (NOT: Do as I say, not as I do); listening to what your people say and inviting their input, engaging them, where possible, throughout the process so that they understand that they will be heard or why they are being asked to do what they’re doing, albeit not always given what they want.

As you shape the organization’s culture, it is a great opportunity to involve your team in the process. The result is usually greater engagement and motivation. It also provides a strategy screen and mindset for assessing the opportunities presented and whether they can be done now or whether they could wait until later, or whether they should be done at all.

Best Practices

Here are some ideas and best practices for building and maintaining a positive organizational culture. As I mentioned, developing a positive organizational culture is relatively easy once you begin to truly focus on your desired outcome of a people-centered workplace.

Being intentional
Putting culture in strategic context
Listening to understand not to respond
Assuring engagement
Being clear in communication and story telling
Building respect and trust
Defining open door policy
Managing burnout
Fostering a proposal mindset
Celebration and recognition.

Being intentional:

If I had to choose one word to live life by this would be it. Living intentionally can make life and leadership easier and clearer.

Putting culture in strategic context:

Even though it does take precious time, by reviewing your organization’s strategic direction, along with your board and staff, you have the opportunity to step back and reflect on whether what you’re doing is in line with your desired outcomes for the organization and whether it aligns with your overall culture. At the same time, everyone understands the purpose of their work as it relates to the mission and impact.

Listening to understand not to respond:

The former involves attentively listening to the other person’s perspective and fully processing what they are saying before immediately formulating a response. In contrast, listening to respond often leads us to pre-plan our reply while the person is talking, potentially causing us to miss important details and appearing disrespectful.

Assuring engagement starts with inclusion in the conversation and listening to understand; approaching conversations with the mindset that no idea is a bad idea, and at least allowing the person to express their views. Having said that, if someone is constantly giving their opinion and discouraging others from participating or being disruptive, then it is important as a leader to discuss it with that person and provide guidance on the way forward, putting in place agreed upon parameters or ground rules.

Remember you don’t need to respond to someone immediately. You could say “I hear you and I will look into it and get back to you tomorrow or whenever”. The reason for doing that is to ensure you’ve done your due diligence on the impact of what is being discussed and, secondly, to show that you are thoughtful about the potential impact of decisions you make.

Being clear in communication and storytelling:

Effective and intentional communication strategies are fundamental to ensuring alignment and And yet they are often ignored. Communication is the means to clearly and consistently define and communicate your organization’s purpose and culture, internally and externally. Is everyone singing from the same song sheet? Does everyone know what is happening?
Authenticity – do you come across as
Storytelling – encouraging people to speak about their experiences with the organization’s culture to influence others in wanting to engage as well. Obviously this relates to a positive culture but should also provide the opportunity to address any potential negative impacts.
Empathy – true leaders have always been empathetic. Empathy is about thinking through the implications of your actions and understanding where someone is at a particular moment in time and looking for a solution that works for them and for your Being empathetic does not mean that you say YES simply to please or placate.

Creating a positive organizational culture does not always mean saying “Yes” to ideas and suggestions. What it does mean is a willingness to listen to understand and then, if whatever it is isn’t possible, either at that time or possibly not at all if it doesn’t fit with your organization’s overall strategic direction, being willing to explain why not – “I hear you. However, …”

Your role is to not be afraid to say “No” or have hard conversations. Your team will look to you for that. Again, it comes down to approach and in most cases preparation, thinking through your desired outcomes and allowing space to hear the other person’s point of view or situation. Not everyone will like you or agree with you every time. What matters is that you communicate the No in a way that is understandable, with clearly outlined parameters, and perhaps with a caveat that it doesn’t mean you won’t be willing to revisit it at an appropriate moment. However, for now it is No.

Building respect and trust:

This starts with you. You’ve heard people say “They don’t respect me” or “Show me respect”. Respect is given and shouldn’t be expected. In some ways you have to earn trust. Simply because you’re the leader doesn’t automatically entitle you to respect and trust.

Studies have shown that people want their leaders to be honest, forward-looking, inspiring, and competent. All of these attributes combine to create credibility. When we believe a leader is credible, we trust them. Part of developing the culture, is to demonstrate behaviors that you want others to follow. You also need to learn to let go and to trust others, although as a leader you need to verify that you can until you are sure, without micromanaging.

Defining Open Door Policy:

The key is to create an environment (culture) where staff feel they can come to you. Simply saying “My door is always open” is not enough, especially if you then aren’t ever available. You need to walk the talk and invite conversation, which is not always easy if that is not your natural bent. It is also important to guard your time for thinking and working so sharing some simple guidelines on what “My door is always open” means can be helpful to you and to others. It is about managing expectations, clarity and communication.

Managing burnout:

How do you not burn out yourself and your team? If it’s you, like the airline cliché, you need to put your mask on first. When you recognize that you are heading that way, take an intentional step back to see if you could be doing things differently, such as:

Better forward planning by making time at the start of each week to review the next few weeks and identify upcoming activities that need advance preparation rather than leaving it to the last minute.
Managing your time more effectively, such as introducing designated ‘no meeting’ days, set aside for getting work done. Planning one day a week for this made me realize that I could manage my own time rather than always fitting in with other people’s schedules. Simply not being available for meetings that day and suggesting alternative dates and times, means you can manage your calendar, while making it easier for other people to
Delegating to others (if, so to whom and asking if they can take on more).
Being more consistent (perhaps hire a confidential nonprofit coach to help work things through).

When it comes to your team, you first need to be intentional about noticing when someone might be burning out (trying too hard, taking on too much – they kept saying Yes, going silent, experiencing a change in behavior). Sometimes you can be so focused on what you’re needing to achieve that you don’t pay attention to how others are feeling. As a leader you have to pay attention and notice how your employees are doing. It’ll save time, emotional upheaval, and quitting if you do. There are different ways to deal with this that is a whole other topic. The key is simply to invite sharing, listen to understand, acknowledge what you’ve heard and, if there is something you can do, say you’ll get back to them once you’ve had time to consider possible solutions and ideally by when.

With all the challenges that you are grappling with at the moment, it is normal for you all to focus on the immediate, addressing the urgent now, and leaving longer-term important actions aside. With the right culture in place, you have the opportunity to step back and take a longer-term view, with an easy-to-use plan and clear strategies. If you do, life can be less stressful and definitely more successful. It’s about identifying important vs. urgent and intentionally deciding where to focus your efforts.

Proposal mindset:

One way that I work with clients to address potential burnout and enhance effectiveness, is to develop a proposal mindset within the organization. In a nutshell, it means getting everyone into the habit of intentionally thinking through a situation and considering a solution or solutions before bringing it to others. Very often, people take the first step of either considering something could be better or perhaps is wrong or even that they have the right answer. They then state the challenge or problem, question why it is or should be, and then expect you as their leader to defend the situation or provide a solution.

By developing a culture of proposal mindset, both you as a leader and your teams are able to be more effective. Saves you time, if you can get your team, whether paid or unpaid, to recognize the ease and helpfulness of a draft proposal. Creating is much harder and more time consuming than editing. It will also potentially avoid burnout. Most of my clients are now encouraging this approach throughout their organizations as a way of engaging everyone in not only identifying the problems but also suggesting the solutions.

Celebration and Recognition:

Finally, don’t forget to celebrate significant achievements and recognize actions by your staff that demonstrate the cultural behavior you are seeking, possibly taking into account how people prefer to be recognized, which can vary.

In conclusion:

Shaping organizational culture comes down to strong collaborative leadership, practicing what you preach, clear and consistent communication, engaging everyone appropriately, and assuring inclusivity. Culture is not static. It evolves with the organization. With intentionality and effort, nonprofits can build an environment where employees thrive, and the mission succeeds.

For a deeper dive into shaping organizational culture, check out our 60-minute-webinar for National Book Access where we discuss best practices, elaborate on the organizational lifecycle [at 31:26], the impact of culture on alignment [at 39:35], and explore our JBL methodology: