Social Sector

Your Experience or Mine

I just received an email from our local car dealership imploring me to complete an online survey from the national auto manufacture and give the highest scores for my service experience.  I received a follow-up call asking what scores I might give on the survey.  All this energy being invested in coaching me to award the highest scores because this is the metric that the auto dealership is assessed.

How about taking the same resources and energy to enhance my experience?  The Four Seasons Hotel does not call me asking how I might complete their surveys, they just offer the best experience and let their actions serve as their calling card.  What are you measuring and how?  Is it in the best interest of your customers?

Check Engine Light

How do you know when your organization needs some maintenance?  What are the warning signs?  How can you be proactive?  How often do you assess the health of your cause?  Do you use self-assessments?  Do you engage professionals to review your enterprise’s standing?  Which metric are important?  Do you discuss the organizational health at board meetings?  Do you perform exit interviews of your board members, staff and volunteers?

What is most important to your organization?

What-if

What if you had a wait list of potential board members to join your organization?  What attributes would be most important?  How would you screen the candidates?  Would you consider chemistry and collegiality?  How would you prioritize?  How would you engage those who you could not find space for on the board?  What changes do you need to make to your current recruiting process to develop a wait list?  Is you organization inspiring community members to seek you out?

Preheating

Quick experiment in the kitchen.  Prepare to bake some cookies.  Preheat one oven and leave one off.  Try baking a tray of cookies in the oven that was not preheated.  In the preheated oven bake the cookies as instructed.

Which oven turned out the better cookies?  Which was easier to monitor when it was done?  How much longer did the cold oven take?

If you confirmed that there is some advantage to preheating an oven, then how do you bring the concept to your organization.  How do you get board members energized to attend a board meeting in advance? How do you get new board members prepared to participate meaningfully at the first meeting they attend?  How do you get volunteers enthusiastic before they reach their first assignment?  How do you energize staff about a new program or project?  How do you prime donors before you arrive to ask them for a contribution?  How do you create anticipation before your causes big gala fundraiser?

Preparing the environment to be receptive to a positive outcomes produces extraordinary results.  How are you preheating your enterprise to succeed during it most important moments?

Hope

At a nonprofit and foundation conference hosted by ClearRock Capital the idea of the social sector being a source of ‘hope’ was raised by fundraising consultant Clare Swanger.  She suggested that the nonprofit sector should be building missions and visions that inspire and build hope.

Does your organization focus on hope?  How is it received?  Does it empower your conversations?  How does it impact your guiding principals?

Hammock

Marketplace on American Public Media introduced an interesting concept today.  Speaking about the transition of Larry King’s time slot on CNN, media consultant Michael Castengera discussed the hammock theory.  Recent ratings demonstrate Larry King’s show started with more viewers than stayed with him throughout the duration of the program show.  As the next time slot began the number of viewers increased.  Larry King’s decline after so many successful years of owning the time slot is not germane to the concept.  What may be applicable to your enterprise is the idea of measuring the retention of an audience during and between programs.  How do you measure success?  Is retention a meaningful metric?  Do you have programs that produces a hammock shape?

Disguise

If your cause is the best kept secret in town, are you creating the secrecy?  I passed a bookstore in the airport last night and wondered what was the point of this marketing campaign.

Is the point to sell a book?  Then what it the title and who is the author?  Is the intention to hook a customer into a frequent buyer program?  Is the concept that creating a veil will encourage a potential buyer to pick-up the book and remove the temporary jacket?

I am not sure what the outcome of this campaign will be but I felt more confused than inspired.  How do you remain certain that your efforts are creating transparent communications?

Summer Wish List

I put a poster sized piece of post-it note paper on the dinning room table in May and I asked the members of our family to write down the activities or events they wished to experience during the summer.  Using smaller post-it notes everyone wrote, drew, or created symbols of their dream summer activities.  At the end of the evening we hung it on the wall in our office.  As we have accomplished each one we take the representative post-it down.  We know that due to time, budget, schedules and other contingencies that not all of them would be achievable but it inspires us daily.  It is hard to say we are bored when there are many dynamic ideas sitting on our dream list.


What would this look like if you had your board members, volunteers, and staff post their goals?  It might reveal some unique and surprising opportunities.  It also presents some tremendous insights and group accomplishments.

Climbing Wall

My two kids scampered up an 18 foot tall climbing boulder in Telluride, Colorado the other day.  There was no ladder or easy way down.  They had to down climb the same way they had ascended.  I stood below and tried to help coach them suggesting where their next foot or handhold could be found.  It was a bit nervous from my perspective as they were high enough that I was uncertain if I could cushion there fall if they were unable to stay attached to the rock.  It was a moment of parental trust and a bit of faith that the kids were having an experiential moment.  I took solace that there was a bit of cushion to the landing surface.  In my mind I figured it was better for the kids to have a trial and error moment on the climbing wall than some rocky boulder field.

It made me consider where we go to learn and practice.  If true mastery takes numerous hours of focused training, where does a social sector board member, professional staff, or volunteer find their climbing wall?  What success have you discovered?

Free

Outside of a church in Milan, Italy a young man came-up and introduced himself.  He said he was working to build peace in Africa.  He wanted to give each member of my family a friendship bracelet.  I tired to politely refrain from his assistance to grab my wrist and place the simple woven bracelet.  He kept saying, ‘peace in Africa and it is free.’  My wife became his target and finally relented while confirming that the bracelet was free.  He quickly secured one on each wrist of our party and then started guiding me away from the group.  I managed to spin back and continue with my family but then he started laughing and asking for ‘one million dollars.’  I looked at my wife and said, ‘you know that these were never going to be free, right?’  She shrugged.  The man then started the asking for ten Euros for each bracelet.  I suggested that he had offered them for free.  He persisted and finally I reached into my pocket and produced a couple Euro coins and said, ‘this is all but I do not feel so good about how you are building peace in Africa now.’

The incident reminded me of the Quid pro quo that takes place throughout the social sector.  Donors give and ask for no recognition but then call-in a favor at a key moment, perhaps asking for tickets to a sold out event.  Board members use their position to influence the organization towards a friend’s business.  Organization’s ask individuals to attend an event and promise not to fundraise only to follow-up with a solicitation right after the event.

I am reminded that honesty builds trust and long-term relationships.  Being asked to perform one duty and then to discover that there is another agenda can be an unpleasant experience.

What steps has your organization taken to be transparent about its motives?  Do you often surprise people with your requests?  Is your organization known for its honesty?