Vibrantly multi-dimensional, Northeast Ohio’s business community is a unique ecosystem of for-profit and nonprofit, local and multinational, sole practitioner and mega-corporation all wildly varied and moving to an all-encompassing drum beat to run in the black, says Terry Davis, President and CEO of Our Lady of the Wayside. Endless niches and approaches to business ensure that it’s regularly dynamic, even if it’s occasionally chaotic.
It’s a well-established fact that two different things can be true at the same time, and the ability to manage the tension of those opposites is very often the key to creating success.
“The next right move is what leads to maximization of resources, bolstering of vulnerabilities, and showing up for customers,” Davis says. “But what informs that right move? How do you prepare for not just that move, but the five after it?”
Smart Business spoke with Davis about how for-profit and nonprofit organizations choose their next right move in an environment of evolving uncertainty.
What pressures are both for-profit and nonprofit businesses currently facing?
Like for-profit businesses, nonprofits are wrestling with expenses and hustling to increase revenue. There is excitement about hiring great employees and looking to differentiate from the competition. The worries by nonprofits about Medicaid cuts are absolutely on-par with for-profits’ anxiety about tariffs or changes in IRS rules. There are new challenges that have the capacity to turn the sector upside down. But those challenges can also provide fresh perspective for creating new strategies that weren’t thought to be needed or provide inspiration to go back to the fundamentals that made a business great to begin with.
Many nonprofits are run like a for-profit, just with skinnier margins. And like so many businesses, they build themselves up from a collection of opposites. This not only promotes an organizational mindset ready to learn from anyone, but also ensures there’s a seat available at the particular table for anyone with an interest.
How can organizations begin to navigate the situation and achieve their desired results?
Human resources, financial resources and the scarcity of enough hours in the day constantly put leaders’ backs against the wall. But that’s factored-in. This is where past realizations and successes impact what’s going to work moving forward. Economies of scale, multiple revenue streams and controlling expenses are all moves known chapter and verse. But occasionally, leaders have to be flexible enough to get from Point A to Point B without a GPS. That could mean:
- Creating revenue streams that give the customer an extra reason to say ‘yes’ and stay with the business for the long run.
- Planning ahead and being agile enough to build the car while it’s being driven.
- Using tried-and-true institutional knowledge as muscle memory and utilizing it as the foundation that catapults new strategies into successes.
What should business leaders keep in mind as they think about their next steps?
Pressure hits us all, but it’s navigating the opposites that makes it all work. Using the knowledge of what can’t be done to move onto what can be done — understanding, changing and adapting — that’s how to get to the next right move.
For those in a similar position, look at the entire game board, respect how it’s set, and then after identifying every opportunity for the people who are being supported or the customers being served, make your move. ●
INSIGHTS Thought Leadership is brought to you by Our Lady of the Wayside.
