The pressure of a crisis comes in many forms for those who lead.
Sometimes it arrives out of the blue, and you must react quickly – an earthquake disrupts a vital overseas supplier, you lose a large account with no warning, or a key employee unexpectedly resigns.
At other times, the buildup happens slowly and then bears down on you like a freight train. You see it coming slowly for months or even years, but none of your efforts to deal with it are working out. Then it’s about to hit, and you can’t seem to stop it or get out of its way.
That’s the type of stress the leadership team at Colorado UpLift recently endured, and thankfully it didn’t end with a collision! In fact, everything worked out great.
I’ve mentioned Colorado UpLift through the years because of my role as chairman of the nonprofit’s board. And now that we’re on the other side of this challenge, I’ve been thinking about a few lessons we learned that other leaders would do well to remember.
The train we faced rode on the rails of growth. Around 5,000 students in Denver are now involved in UpLift’s mentoring and character development classes and programs. UpLift has grown so much, in fact, that about four years ago we began looking for new headquarters.
At the time, we had more than three years left on our lease. And while that seemed like a long runway, we began a pretty aggressive search for a place that could serve as a community center for our existing and new programs.
Our wish list included a location more easily accessible to the students we serve, offices for our team, meeting and training rooms for our programs, and options for activities like basketball, pickleball, and soccer.
I suspect you’ve figured out where this is going but let me hit the highlights:
- First, we looked at a former school. It seemed perfect, but just after we put in an offer, the city pulled it from the market.
- Next, we found a distressed office building that needed lots of work. Given the low asking price, we felt we could afford the renovations, however, the timing wasn’t right for the owner and his bank and that deal fell through.
- Then we found an industrial building. We would have to raise the roof for a basketball court and there was no outdoor space for a soccer field, but we decided we might have to sacrifice a few items on the wish list. That option, however, also fell through, and by now we were feeling some pressure.
- Early in 2025, with less than a year remaining on our lease, we made an offer for another office building. It had previously been converted into a school, so it had classrooms, office space, and a basketball court. But before we could close the deal, the owner changed his mind about selling.
We were 0 for 4, and the freight train looked very large as it closed in. If nothing changed, we’d have to renew our lease and stay put. Then a board member heard about an inner-city church in distress. Perhaps we could rescue each other, the board member suggested.
This turned out to be the campus we’d been praying for – classrooms, administrative offices, a gym, plenty of parking, and land for the soccer fields. Everything on our wish list!
The church needed to raise several million dollars to pay off a bank loan by early January 2026. If nothing changed, it looked like they’d have to sell their building and land to a commercial developer who planned to tear everything down. That would leave the congregation homeless, so they, like us, faced a looming freight train of a deadline.
We agreed to pay the church’s bank note in exchange for the buildings and land, while giving the congregation free rent for seven years to use the worship center and a few offices. Then we raised the money just in time to close the deal before both organizations were hit by that train!
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So, here are a few quick lessons you might consider if – or when – you see that freight train coming at your organization.
Invite discussion and diverse voices.
UpLift has a diverse board that not only steered us to the best solution but also helped us sort through options and deal with challenges and disappointments. Keeping them informed and engaged was critical to a positive outcome.
Define your goals and your limits.
We knew what we needed, why, and what we could afford. We were willing to work with an option that wasn’t perfect, but we weren’t willing to settle for something that wouldn’t work or overpay for something out of desperation.
Adopt a “something better” attitude.
When a deal didn’t work out, we figured something better awaited us. We kept working (and, frankly, praying) with faith that we were going about the search in the right way and that we would either get the facilities we needed or that we weren’t supposed to move in the first place.
Frankly, the deal with the church was manna from heaven for both organizations, and more importantly to the communities we serve. They still have a home, and we have more and better space for our current operations and opportunities to expand in new areas.
In fact, one thing that excites me the most is that this campus allows Colorado UpLift to offer new services, including one program that’s particularly close to my heart. I’ll share about it in a future article, so stay tuned. In the meantime, watch out for those trains!
