The complexity of the nonprofit world demands adaptability

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Adaptability isn’t optional to excel in this kind of complex, holistic, high-stakes work. In my own work leading the Atlassian Foundation over the last eight years, I’ve had a front-row seat to many nonprofit teams remaining highly dynamic and innovative throughout volatile times – and CareerVillage is one of them. “Organizations that successfully navigate that complexity are the ones investing time in being intentional about how they work, about developing skills and processes that leverage all the competencies and backgrounds on their teams,” Jared says. He’s exemplified the kind of consistent effort and dedication it takes.

Based on the 13 years he’s spent growing CareerVillage, Jared shares four ways nonprofits can use prioritization and innovation to build more adaptable, resilient ways of working that have helped his team better serve their beneficiaries and missions.

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4 principles of nonprofit resilience

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1. Find a North Star to guide your priorities

According to Jared, prioritization – that is, identifying or ranking the most important work to be done in service of your mission – is easy. Maintaining that focus is the hard part. “Anyone can sit down with a list of goals and prioritize it,” he says. “What’s extremely difficult is to keep it up, to keep going so you don’t just prioritize once and then not question that work for six months.”

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2. Commit to your mission; stay flexible on execution

According to Jared, prioritization – that is, identifying or ranking the most important work to be done in service of your mission – is easy. Maintaining that focus is the hard part. “Anyone can sit down with a list of goals and prioritize it,” he says. “What’s extremely difficult is to keep it up, to keep going so you don’t just prioritize once and then not question that work for six months.”

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3. Find a North Star to guide your priorities

According to Jared, prioritization – that is, identifying or ranking the most important work to be done in service of your mission – is easy. Maintaining that focus is the hard part. “Anyone can sit down with a list of goals and prioritize it,” he says. “What’s extremely difficult is to keep it up, to keep going so you don’t just prioritize once and then not question that work for six months.”

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4. Commit to your mission; stay flexible on execution

According to Jared, prioritization – that is, identifying or ranking the most important work to be done in service of your mission – is easy. Maintaining that focus is the hard part. “Anyone can sit down with a list of goals and prioritize it,” he says. “What’s extremely difficult is to keep it up, to keep going so you don’t just prioritize once and then not question that work for six months.”

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Based on the 13 years he’s spent growing CareerVillage, Jared shares four ways nonprofits can use prioritization and innovation to build more adaptable, resilient ways of working that have helped his team better serve their beneficiaries and missions.

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