A Better Way: Developing Leaders Who Can Ski on Both Skis (Part 5 of 5)

What sustainable leadership development looks like for small organizations—and the questions that change everything

Over the last four articles, we've covered the Two Skis framework, the over-reliance trap, the adaptability challenge, and the selection mistakes that set up leadership struggles before they start. This final installment is about what to do differently.

One caveat before I offer a model: I've been doing this work long enough to know something that doesn't show up on any assessment tool.

The Foundation That Predicts Everything

In my years leading nonprofits and coaching leaders, I learned something crucial: I can teach someone skills. I can't teach them to care.

Before both skis, there's a foundation—and it comes down to character:

•       Humility: "I don't know everything" → openness to learning. This is especially critical for external hires.

•       Integrity: Doing what you say. The EI ski is hollow without it.

•       Genuine care for people: Not performance care, but real investment in the humans you lead.

•       Mission commitment: In nonprofit work specifically, leaders without this run out of fuel.

When you promote or hire people with this foundation, you can teach them both skis. When the foundation is missing—especially the humility—no development program will overcome it. That's why character assessment matters as much as competency assessment in your selection process.

A Development Model That Works for Small Nonprofits

Large corporations can afford six-month individual coaching programs. Small nonprofits generally can't—and the standard approach of sending one person to a workshop and hoping for organizational change doesn't work anyway.

What works:

•       Develop your whole leadership team together (typically 3–8 people), not one person at a time. Shared language becomes team culture.

•       Condensed, focused timeline—four months, not endless. Respects the real constraints of nonprofit work.

•       Practical skill-building in both skis simultaneously, not just conceptual awareness.

•       Real accountability structures: not just "think about this," but commitments, check-ins, and integration into day-to-day leadership.

•       A trusted external perspective who can see the patterns inside your organization that you're too close to notice.

When a leadership team learns together, something different happens: shared language becomes culture. They support each other through the new tracks phase. The learning doesn't stay in the room—it changes how they lead every day.

The Questions That Change Everything

Whether you're an Executive Director, a leader in transition, or a board member overseeing leadership health in your organization—these are the questions worth sitting with:

•       Are you skiing on both skis, or over-relying on one while the other drags?

•       Are you reading the conditions and adapting your approach—or using the same "wax" regardless of terrain?

•       Are you willing to make new tracks even when it's uncomfortable?

•       You're delivering the mission (maybe)—but at what cost to you, your team, and your organization's long-term sustainability?

The leaders who answer these questions honestly, who are willing to make new tracks, who earn respect through relationship rather than demanding it through credentials—those are the leaders who build organizations that actually last. Who develop the next generation of leaders. Whose impact compounds over time.

Elite athletes make it look effortless because their technique matches the conditions. Elite leaders do the same.

The question is: Are you willing to do the work to get there?

The Mission Deserves Both Skis

The mission you're serving deserves better than burned-out leaders and churning teams. Your people deserve better. And honestly, so do you.

What's Next

If this series surfaced something important—a pattern you recognize in yourself or your organization—I'd welcome a conversation about what intentional development could look like for your leadership team.

I work with small nonprofit leadership teams (typically 3–8 people) through a focused four-month program built around emotional intelligence, adaptive leadership, and practical accountability. No six-figure budget required. Real results.

📣 Call to Action

If any part of this series resonated, I'd love to hear which one—and why. And if you're ready to explore what the Two Skis Leadership Development program could look like for your team, reach out directly or visit paceyconsulting.com. The conversation is always free.

About Jim Pacey

Jim Pacey runs Pacey Consulting & Coaching, specializing in emotional intelligence-based leadership development and executive coaching for nonprofit organizations. With 38+ years of nonprofit C-suite experience and certifications through Daniel Goleman's programs and the OptiMind Neuroscience Coaching & Training Institute, Jim understands nonprofit leadership because he's lived it.

paceyconsulting.com