South Dakota Lions Eye Bank

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Director's Corner

From the Desk of the Executive
Director Chris Belitz

Executive Director As you may know over the last year in my newsletter articles, I have been discussing a book titled Exposing the Elephants by Pamela J. Wilcox. I have introduced you to the Mission Impossible Elephant, the Earth to Board Elephant and the Board Fiddles, Rome Burns Elephant. The remaining and final 2 elephants deal with the Executive Director or CEO of a non-profit, The Smile, Not Skill Elephant and the Read My Lips Elephant.

First, The Smile, Not Skill Elephant is an Executive Director that has a beautiful smile and basically tells everyone that things are great, while the non-profit slowly disappears due to lack of funding or the inability of the organization to move away from old programs that no longer fit the mission or create new programs to further serve their constituents.

The Read My Lips Elephant is an Executive Director that runs the organization more like a dictatorship. The board or staff has little input into any of the operations of the non-profit organization.

Any Executive Director that is chosen to run a non-profit should be rewarded by the board for performance. They should be experienced line managers and have a passion for the mission of the organization. This book uses the same performance culture that I was introduced to at a training seminar in Boston.

PER for Performance
1. Managing people fairly is a Priority.
2. Sharing wisdom is Essential.
3. Achieving results is Rewarded.

I have used this culture with my staff since 2000 and have been rewarded with outstanding performance and staff retention many times over.

In summary I would like to quote Pamela Wilcox, “The elephant solutions are ideas whose time has come. In an era of unparalleled nonprofit growth and increasing economic importance, we need these truly exceptional non-profits to emerge. They are the non-profits that have the potential to create a different work place, a place where workers have a meaningful and balanced life and yet achieve a mission goal that positively benefits society.” The South Dakota Lions Eye Bank is and will continue to be one of these emerging non-profits that benefit’s society and its workers.