Mostly "What Works" focuses on either Why Organizations Thrive  or Why Organizations Go Off Course, both of which detail lessons I learned while growing the Oregon League of Conservation Voters (OLCV), buttressed by my observations of dozens of other groups both in Oregon and across the country.

Why Organizations Go Off Course Lesson Eleven is:  Focus on the Team.  

This lesson is best begun via a story.

An Executive Director I knew was launching a new fundraising event for a small organization that had been around quite a few years.  I asked: "Are you using an Event Committee to recruit event and table sponsors?"  The reply: "I discussed it with my event consultant and we decided that it would take more work calling and arranging meetings of the committee, so we'll instead just work with individual volunteers one-on-one to enlist their help."

Two months later the same Executive Director was complaining that they're doing all the work recruiting sponsors.  The volunteers just weren't coming through.

I wasn't surprised.

Too often, new Executive Directors calculate that easiest way to do something is to "just do it."  "I can do it myself in a day, so why should I spend a day recruiting and training and cajoling others to do it, and then maybe they won't."