I always joke that when I start writing and producing Nonprofit The Musical, one of the characters would be a consulting robot. It’s a robot that is a consultant, and it repeats exactly what the staff says, but the board actually listens to it! If you’re a consultant, you might be offended by that joke. But let’s be honest, this is one of the reasons we hire consultants, and effective consultants recognize that this is a necessary role they play.

This is because we have a rampant belief in our sector that people from outside our organization/community/geographic area are somehow more knowledgeable and effective than the people in it. I am calling it the Outsider Efficacy Bias (OEB), unless there’s a better name for it. Here are some ways it manifests:

  • Board members insisting on hiring an external candidate to be the ED instead of promoting a qualified person within the organization
  • EDs/CEOs doing the same thing, hiring a staff from outside, often neglecting internal candidates
  • Foundations hiring people from academia or the corporate world, who have no experience in nonprofit, to be the CEO
  • Organizations hiring consultants from outside the geographic area instead of contracting with local consultants who live and work there
  • Organizations hiring local consultants instead of just listening to their staff
  • Conferences booking national and international speakers instead of working with local speakers

All of us have probably experienced this phenomenon in some form.

It’s not always bad to bring in an outsider. It can be a necessary and effective approach. Sometimes, the organization does not have the expertise internally. On other occasions, having a new voice deliver the same message can jolt people into seeing things in a new light. Or, because of existing dynamics, an external presence can be a helpful and needed element, as that person is not yet caught up in those dynamics; for example, an outside mediator to help address conflict.

However, we need to get a handle on OEB, because it can be harmful, for several reasons:

  • It causes anger and resentment
  • It costs time and money
  • It can be counterproductive
  • It is often inequitable

Read the full article about Outsider Efficacy Bias by Vu Le at Nonprofit AF.