How Do We Regain Our Lost Momentum?

One of the things I’m hearing from leaders is a concern about the loss of momentum: prior to the COVID crisis you were making progress toward your programmatic goals, on fundraising, with developing your team. And then the world both shut down and spun out of control all at the same time. The momentum you had seems lost, or at least brought to a crawl.

This concern was raised again recently in a board retreat I was facilitating. Data showed they had been moving the needle on their impact measurements when the crisis hit. Now their data shows a backslide on outcomes due to the pandemic, not due to their efforts. Board members were concerned about being able to show results at the tail end of a 5-year strategy – would that effect fundraising and community support? How can they regain a positive trajectory to prove the value of their work?

The concern has been raised from leaders of several organizations in terms of slowing or regression on outcomes, fundraising progress taking a turn, disconnects among the team they’d been building after everyone went virtual…. And more. This year of crisis did change your trajectory. And it likely trashed some proof points of progress in your measurements.

That is the most visible side of the coin. However, there’s also another way to view this disruption and its impact on your momentum if we flip the coin on its head. The crisis caused you to do things differently and deliver new programs or services you may not have had time to measure. It forced you to shift how you work, which has possibly made you more efficient. You may have been brought closer to the community you serve, helping you respond to the need more effectively making you more relevant and impactful than before.

During the retreat I mentioned, this same organization told me they were proud of how much more efficient they became out of necessity in the past year. They’ve strengthened their partnerships in the community they serve. They delivered new programs for crisis relief and raised money from new sources to provide those much-needed services. They strengthened their position as leaders in the local community and region by serving an administrative function to support other nonprofits during the crisis.

All told, while they “lost momentum” as reflected in their established impact measurements, they built momentum in vital areas that create an even stronger foundation for their organization long-term. In many ways, they are better positioned to be more resilient, more relevant, and more impactful looking ahead: they are now a more sustainable, more vibrant organization (despite the clear exhaustion of the entire team).

This organization, like many others I’ve spoken with since the new year, leveraged the foundation and momentum they had already established and built on it in a new way. In my opinion, the objective now is less about regaining “lost momentum” and more about identifying and building on the new momentum you’ve built in response to the crisis.

Perhaps your team has bonded. Perhaps you’ve gotten closer to the voices of those you serve and how to best meet their needs. Perhaps you’ve had to partner to expand or deliver vital services and now have richer ties to other organizations. Perhaps you’ve become an influencer in social justice and have generated more visibility for your organization and mission. Whatever you have created in response to 2020 is not a loss of momentum – even though you have likely faced great losses and had to navigate great distractions – it’s a gain in areas you may have already needed to adjust or innovation inspired by the need to do things differently.

At your next team meeting, ask “what have we gained in this last 12 months?” And “how will we leverage those gains to create impact, to be more relevant, to serve more, to raise the resources we need, to tell our story, to be a stronger organization?”

Don’t lose sight of all you’ve built a lot this past year by focusing on what you’ve “lost.” Flip that coin and see the other side.