How We Built a More Intentional Team Culture

Over the last few months, we’ve implemented something new across our leadership team: an organizational scorecard. It’s a simple idea, but it’s already changing how we operate.

Each week, our department VPs and I review and update a simple matrix of the organization’s most important metrics – the drivers that tell us whether we’re on track or not. We look at things like membership growth, events, fundraising, employee happiness, and a few other criteria. Nothing too complicated. Just a single, living scorecard that we update every week and apply an “on track” or “off track” label.

The purpose of a scorecard isn’t to add more reporting. It’s to keep the most vital indicators front and center. When you track these weekly, you can effectively predict the future. You start to see problems before they happen.

Imagine you’re in a race with competitors flanking you on both sides.

After the starting pistol goes off, there’s a strong temptation to keep an eye on them. You want to see how fast they’re going, whether they’re gaining ground on you. But the more you look, the more you lose your own rhythm and risk stumbling behind.

I’ve seen the same thing happen to organizations and individuals alike. They have competitors – or peers – that they can’t stop keeping an eye on. Maybe it’s FOMO, or just traditional fear, but with every bit of ground a competitor seems to gain, there’s a risk of losing focus on your own lane.

Competitors exist, of course. Awareness is smart, but constant reaction is not.

You need to know your space and who’s in it, but you also need to establish your lane and own it. Someone else’s path is not the path for you. Comparison often disguises itself as clarity, but it usually leads to distraction, loss of direction, and even resentment

Run your own race in your own lane.

That $5 donor can become one of your biggest donors.

That new follower can become your future business partner.

The shy intern may run the organization one day.

I’ve been amazed in my career at what the small moments can turn into with some cultivation and patience.

One of the reasons I struggled in Spanish class was that I often confused the past tense with the imperfect tense. They looked similar, sounded similar, and both referred to the past… but they weren’t interchangeable.

Strategy and tactics are like that. Easy to confuse, but they play very different roles. It’s a common mistake, and I experience it often.

Think of strategy as the destination and tactics as the directions.

A good strategic goal should be simple and brief:

Increase brand saliency with Gen Z
Diversify donor base across three new geographic regions
Create a strong culture with above-average retention rates

The tactics are in the weeds: partner with Gen Z influencers, host fundraising events in X, Y, and Z cities, launch monthly employee surveys.

A quick gut check to help differentiate the two:

• If changing it would shift the overall goal, it’s the strategy
• If changing it would leave the goal intact but change how you get there, it’s a tactic

Strategy sets the direction, and tactics are the steps. If you and your team aren’t clear on the difference, you’ll end up debating details when you should be defining goals.

Greetings from day one of my week of PTO. Seemed like a fitting time to talk about one of my favorite benefits: unlimited time off.

A lot of people say unlimited PTO is a scam. And in many companies, it is. But that’s not a failure of the policy; it’s a failure of leadership.

I stand behind unlimited PTO 100%. We use it at my organization, and we make an effort to ensure it gets used. And that’s the key: leaders have to take responsibility for making it work.

You have to build a culture that respects time off. Make it clear people aren’t to be bothered when they’re out. Do a regular inventory of who hasn’t taken time and ask why. Then fix those barriers.

Most of the time, what stops someone from taking PTO isn’t laziness or neglect; it’s guilt. They don’t want to burden their team. Or maybe they’re in the middle of a big project. Or they treat PTO like a golf score, where the lower the number, the more impressive it looks.

Those are all management issues. If someone feels like they can’t step away, that’s often on leadership. Do you have a contingency plan so people can unplug? Are your timelines so inflexible that a few days off will derail everything? What message are you sending – directly or indirectly – about time off?

Your team is too valuable to screw up with a poorly executed unlimited PTO program. Build the systems to make it work.

There’s probably something big you’re avoiding right now.

I’ve been there too: Staying in a job I no longer liked because starting a new one felt like a pain in the ass. Keeping a toxic employee around because I didn’t want to have the awkward 20-minute conversation to let them go. Waiting until the last minute to start a big project because I didn’t know how to get started.

In Traction, Gino Wickman calls this the “36 hours of pain.” He tells the story of a manager who knew one of his longtime employees was no longer the right fit for the role as the company grew. The thought of letting them go was agonizing. But after the 36 hours leading up to the termination, once he finally did it, the work environment changed overnight. His team even thanked him for making the tough decision.

We trade long-term peace for short-term comfort all the time. Over time, these constant tradeoffs deteriorate our motivation, mental state, confidence, and even our physical health.

A tough moment today – a decision, a conversation, a confrontation with reality – can save you from months or years of frustration.