The Five Moments

Last week we talked about the Leadership Alignment Method™ and the Five Moments where alignment and misalignment gain traction.

Meetings. Decisions. Mission. Conflict. Projects.

These are not occasional events.
They are a functional part of every day in your organization.

Which means we have a potentially overwhelming number of moments to take stock.

But before we get pulled into the very real urge to manage each one, let’s take a step back.

I had the opportunity to speak at the State of Nonprofits in Fargo last week. Across panel discussions on funding, staffing, and event planning, a common thread kept surfacing:

The further we drift from our governing principles, the more acutely we feel the challenges everywhere else.

Strong governance is the foundation of a strong organization.

Not because it controls the work.
But because it keeps the work connected.

Connected to purpose.
Connected to priorities.
Connected to the decisions that actually move things forward.

When that foundation is steady, everything built on top of it has a place to land.

When it starts to shift, the cracks don’t show up in governance first.
They show up everywhere else.

Now, rewind to when your organization started.

Governance is often treated like a milestone.
You set the strategy.
You align the board.
You clarify roles and expectations.

And then you move forward as if those decisions will hold.

But governance is not a “set it and forget it” system.

It is often pushed into the background while we focus on the daily work of managing staff, volunteers, and donors.

Over time, we start to treat governance as separate from the work.
When in reality, it is what makes the work sustainable.

When drift starts to show up in the Five Moments, the instinct is immediate.

Grab the reins. Tighten control.

And if we’re being honest, there are days when it feels like if we ease up even a little, everything will start to slip.

In environments shaped by funding uncertainty and staffing challenges, control can start to feel like the safest option.

But that’s not what strong governance is designed to do.

Governance is not meant to hover over every decision or slow down the work.
The bylaws are not the boogeyman.

The role of leadership is to find the balance.

You don’t need to hover.
But you do need to monitor.

Because alignment doesn’t stay fixed just because it was once achieved.

It shifts in small ways.

A meeting that runs a little off track.
A decision made without full context.
A project that starts to drift from its original intent.

None of these are failures on their own.

But without visibility, they compound.
And over time, that’s where drift takes hold.

The Five Moments exist to make that visibility possible.

What I’ve learned over time is that recognizing these moments is only the first step.

The real shift happens when leaders develop the awareness to stay connected to what those moments are telling them in real time.

That’s where the next layer of this work comes in.

I call it GRAVITY.

Not as a replacement for the Five Moments,
but as the way leadership shows up within them.

Same moments.
Different level of awareness.

You’ll start to see that idea take shape in the coming weeks.

For now, I want to give you a visual to anchor what we’ve been talking about.

Not by asking you to manage everything.
But by helping you recognize where alignment is either being reinforced or quietly lost.

You don’t need to analyze every moment.

But you do need a way to notice patterns.

Because drift doesn’t happen all at once.
It builds through repetition.

And once you can see those patterns, you can respond to them before they become problems.

That’s where the next layer of this work begins.