Effective leaders are decisive and confident—and almost always surrounded by a strong team of advisors. Their ability to call on specialized expertise and multiple perspectives helps to shape more effective decisions and manage their consequences. More recently, though, many nonprofits have become acutely aware that their leaders and advisors—the decision makers—don’t fully reflect the rest of their organizations or their communities. More inclusive decision making could better factor identity and lived experience into decisions, and also entrust decision making to a broader set of leaders. It would ultimately drive more equitable progress toward nonprofits’ missions.

When decision-making authority and roles are distributed more broadly across an organization, and decision processes are well understood, it can sharpen decisions, improve follow through, and spur learning and growth. Inclusive decision making done right is essential to decision making done well. A growing body of research from the business world also shows that more diverse perspectives can result in better decisions. It brings relevant information to the table and better guards against the biases that can lead decision makers astray. But it hasn’t always been a priority for nonprofits.

Until 2020. That’s when the social sector stepped up to respond to COVID-19—and the racial disparities in the pandemic’s health outcomes and economic impacts—as well as to the nationwide protests against police violence and a broader awareness of racial injustice in the United States. The reckoning echoed an ongoing shift in mindsets globally to lift up the voices and power of the communities most directly experiencing inequities across a broad swathe of social issues.

We need to think about how we get better as an organization so that those closest to the effect of the decision have voice and are involved.
ELIZABETH WHITFORD, CEO, SCHOOL’S OUT WASHINGTON

In our conversations with nonprofit leaders and their teams, the desire to turn reflection into action came through. Many nonprofits are seeking ways to open up their decision processes to better reflect the racial diversity within the organization, and among those they serve. “We need to think about how we get better as an organization so that those closest to the effect of the decision have voice and are involved,” says Elizabeth Whitford, CEO of School’s Out Washington, which works to ensure equitable access to high-quality, expanded learning programs in all the state’s communities.

Others are seeking to improve decision making as their organizations grow or change. Social sector leaders like Ananda Valenzuela and Vu Le have strongly criticized top- down processes in the nonprofit world, arguing that decisions should be made by the person most closely linked to the decision, or by the person with the most energy, skill, and experience to make it. “When I started here, I was running the organization with one other employee,” says Julie Cordua, CEO of the nonprofit Thorn, which builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse. “Now it’s a $25 million organization with lots of employees and stakeholders around the world. So my job as a leader is different. You want more people making decisions, and you want why and how they’re making these decisions to be transparent.”

Having more voices at the table can be vital to hearing a diversity of perspectives. However, when we talk about inclusive decision making, we’re also talking about decision power and roles being distributed more broadly across the organization. This article, based on The Bridgespan Group’s work with scores of local, national, and global nonprofits and NGOs around decision making, looks at five promising approaches for making decisions in ways that are both inclusive and effective, leading to more equitable outcomes.

  1. Map roles for key decisions and make sure you’re hearing the full range of perspectives
  2. Push the decision to the right level of the organization
  3. Set up new decision makers for success
  4. Up your game on authentic input
  5. Explicitly consider the equity implications of the decision

Read the full article about more inclusive decision making by Mike Ciccarone, Preeta Nayak, Yonatan Araia, Bradley Seeman at The Bridgespan Group.