The Hidden Cost of Wearing Too Many Hats

Hint: The High Price is No Growth and Lower Sustainability

 [Nonprofit leaders, this one’s for you.]
 
Are your employees showing signs of burnout?
Have you and/or your organization hit a plateau?
Do you hold the same events, with the same sponsors, every year?
Have you lost sight of strategy?
 
Sometimes, it’s difficult to identify when your organization is stagnant. You still feel like you’re running a mile a minute. Your day could look like this: Coffee. Email. Staff meeting. Donor presentation. Lunch (hopefully). Blogging. Email. Networking. On and on and on.
 
When your organization gets stuck on a plateau, reactivity sets in. Innovation slows. You spin your wheels and go nowhere. It’s an endless loop that flings your ability to shore up a sustainable financial position right out the window.
 
What is the problem? How can you climb up and off the plateau?
 
THIS PART’S IMPORTANT
 
(1) Fast pace does not equal growth. When you move at light speed, it’s nearly impossible to focus on capacity building and economies of scale.
(2) Ridiculously low overhead is the opposite of growth. In this hilarious and on-point blog post, our friends over at Nonprofit AF explain why so many nonprofit leaders are “overheadholes.”
 
MULTITASKING IS NOT HELPING YOU
 
One of the inevitable effects of wearing too many hats in your organization is the dreaded multitasking syndrome. Remember that open door policy you boast? It may be getting you in trouble!
 
Check out these negative effects of multitasking:

• Shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40 percent of someone's productive time. (Source)
• Multitasking with electronic media can lower your IQ more than smoking pot (Source)
• After only 20 minutes of interrupted performance people reported significantly higher stress, frustration, workload, effort, and pressure. (Study)
• Heavy multitaskers cannot filter out irrelevant information (Source)

 
THE BIG PICTURE CHALLENGE
 
Truly sustainable nonprofit organizations look for ways to leverage their resources so leadership has time and capacity to be strategic and build long-term growth plans.
 
Here’s a great example: In one of my favorite case studies on the matter, CEO Zac Carmen explains what happened when he vowed to remove a few hats and start working on his business rather than in his business. The results are astonishing.
 
Likewise, our CEO at Blue Fox, Chantal Sheehan is a big proponent of the same notion. My first week at the company, I asked her how Blue Fox was different from other virtual accounting firms. She said, “When it comes to building sustainability at a nonprofit or social enterprise, it’s not about penny pinching. It’s about a full understanding of the leverage and power in every dollar.”
 
SO, STOP WEARING SO MANY HATS
 
They are simply weighing you down. Hire. Outsource. Delegate. Empower volunteers (here are some tips). Whatever it takes! Allow yourself to be proactive. Allow your team to take a breath and strategize. Spend time on the big picture.
 
Today’s cloud-based technology and virtual services providers (like us) offer cost-effective alternatives to outsource some of your hats. You don’t have to do EVERYTHING anymore!
 
Blue Fox can manage your back office in the most effective way possible. That’s all we do and our team is stacked with nonprofit gurus to get the job done. We also go the extra mile to provide your team with actionable insights from the work we do. This helps you make smart and data-driven decisions. What could be better?
 
Give us a call at (321) 233-3311 or request a free consultation when you’re ready to ditch the baseball cap (bookkeeping), sombrero (payroll), fedora (tax prep) and sun visor (financial consulting). We’ll wear those hats for you and look good doing it.
 
Author: Chelsea Clementi, MBA, Director of Marketing & Business Development, Blue Fox
 
Resources:

• 4 Ways To Empower Volunteers To Be Champions For Your Cause
• Are you an overheadhole? Why we need to just stop talking about overhead
• Media multitaskers pay mental price, Stanford study shows
• Multitasking: Switching costs
• Stop Wearing So Many Hats and Watch Your Productivity Soar
• The Cost of Interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress
• Why Multi-tasking is Worse Than Marijuana for Your IQ

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