Private vs. Not for Profit Organizations

I'm a bit bias here because I ran an independent private dance studio for six years. Making decisions can be hard and having guidelines and even a Charter to make decisions really helps move things. Ultimately, it does come down to one or two persons. Here are a few articles that help guide me through the process.

https://hbr.org/2006/11/how-well-run-boards-make-decisions

Committee vs. Final Decision Maker

Design by committee can work. However, you often need a group of like-minded individuals that do not differ in opinion too drastically for this succeed. In the extreme circumstances, if there are wildly divergent opinions, the group must be willing to forego their egos and accept the decisions that are made even when the decision is the polar opposite of what they believe to be the best decision. When all else fails, there is a final decision-maker at the top.

Thus enters the architect. They are after all, responsible for the product that is ultimately designed and built. They will help the team make decisions that are aligned with the macro-scale goals for the organization. While the development team themselves focus on the design decisions that are most beneficial at the micro-scale of the feature or system for which they are responsible.

On Being a Data Skeptic

After reading the book "On Being a Data Skeptic", I determined that evidence based data collected should allow most people to reach a similar conclusion when working on creating strategic plans for their dance communities.

http://www.oreilly.com/data/free/being-a-data-skeptic.csp

In the modern digital economy, data is a critical asset. Just like capital, credit and talent. Having the best data and the tools to use it gives you a distinct competitive advantage. It allows you to find and pursue opportunities and manage risks better than others. And frankly, I'm concerned when community leaders use just intuitive based decision and execute, and cannot back it up with facts. If growth in a sustainable scene is disproportionately shared by those who have a data edge versus an intuitive edge for sustainability. Obviously, collecting and managing data has a high overhead, but this is a marathon folks and not a sprint.

So, start making good decisions based on data and intuition. Like in high school when the science teacher says, make a hypothesis and test it to see if it is true or not. That is the innovative and scientific process in play and I encourage leaders to explore these ideas.