1. What You Actually Reward (Not Just What You Say You Value)
Here is a common one. A leader says, "We value work-life balance here." But then someone stays late every night and gets praised publicly. Someone else leaves on time, and no one says anything.
What does the team learn? That overwork is what is actually valued.
Your team is always watching what gets recognized. Who gets called out in meetings? Who gets promoted? What behaviors get celebrated? Those signals communicate your organization's real values far more loudly than any handbook or policy ever will. When people feel like the stated values don't match reality, trust quietly erodes and disengagement follows.
(PS - this can easily apply to volunteers and board members too – even if your nonprofit doesn’t have staff just yet.)
💡 Try this: Think about who or what you have celebrated in the last month. Does it match the values you say matter most?
2. What People Feel Safe Saying Out Loud
Do board members, volunteers, or staff feel comfortable raising concerns? Disagreeing with a decision? Admitting they are overwhelmed?
This is psychological safety, and it is one of the most important indicators of a healthy team culture. When people feel safe speaking up, you get honest feedback and early warning signs of problems before they become crises. When people DON’T feel safe speaking up, they hold their concerns in - leading to potentially negative consequences, like quitting, feeling resentful, or contributing to organization conflict.
The encouraging thing is that psychological safety can be built, and it starts with how leaders respond when someone speaks up.
💡 Try this: In your next team meeting, ask a genuine question and sit with the silence a little longer than feels comfortable—notice who speaks and who stays quiet.
3. How Decisions Get Made
Who was involved in your last big decision? Who found out after the fact?
The way decisions get made sends a powerful signal about how much your team is trusted. When decisions are consistently made behind closed doors with little explanation, it creates confusion and erodes morale, even when the decision itself is the right one. When people feel left out of the process, they stop offering ideas and start to disengage.
💡 Try this: The next time you make a decision that affects your team, take two minutes to share the why behind it. That small step builds more trust than you might expect.
4. The Pace of Urgency
So much of nonprofit work feels urgent because it genuinely is. People are depending on you. The need is real.
But when everything feels urgent all the time, it stops being a signal and becomes the default. That constant pressure wears people down in ways that are hard to see until someone burns out or walks out the door.
The organizations that sustain their impact aren't necessarily the ones that move the fastest. They're the ones who intentionally set priorities and create space for strategic thinking instead of constant reaction.
💡 Try this: At the start of your next volunteer or team meeting, name the top three priorities for the week – and give explicit permission to de-prioritize everything else. Not everything on the list. Just three. It is a small shift that can meaningfully change the pace and energy of your team.
5. The Stories People Tell About Your Organization
Every organization has them. The quiet narratives that circulate among your lead volunteers, board members, or staff when leaders aren't in the room.
"The board never listens."
"Around here, you just have to figure things out yourself."
"Nothing ever really changes."
These internal stories shape how people feel about their work every single day and whether they stay or start looking for the door. The tricky part is that leaders are often the last ones to hear them.
The first step is simply listening. Not defensively, but curiously. What are the recurring themes, and what do they tell you about where trust or clarity might be missing?
💡 Try this: In your next one-on-one, ask: "What is one thing you wish people talked more openly about here?" Then just listen.
Try it this week 🚀
Pick just one of these five forces to notice this week. You do not have to fix everything at once. Awareness is where change begins.
