Strategic Planning

Meeting Emotional Needs






Did you have a different split-second reaction to each of the previous photos?

Do you understand the emotions of your clients, donors, volunteers, board members, staff? The Gallup Organization created a measurement tool to determine if an employee was engaged in the a job that best supported their individual talents. In the book First, Break All The Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman they outline the Measuring Stick instrument that was developed by Gallup. At least three questions relate directly to emotional investment at work:

  1. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
  2. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
  3. Do I have a best friend at work?


Just thinking about all those individuals you interact with both within and outside of your enterprise? Think about the role that emotions play. What does your organization do to recognize and support the emotions of your key constituents? How do you measure success and emotional engagement?

Blame Storming

A bit of humor to start the week and a reminder that strategic planning can go wrong. I have participated in planning sessions that verged on ‘blame storming.’ One of the techniques that seems to be effective in altering the blaming process comes from Tony Robbins. I ask three questions, when I see a group focusing on a micro details that are not going to be the cornerstone in establishing a strategic vision. First, what outcome is the group trying to achieve (describe what success looks like)? Next, describe why reaching this outcome important (get clarity about the emotional investment in achieving success)? Third, what are the key action steps that need to be taken (now I am seeking more detail)? This technique seems to help raise the conversation to an altitude of 30,000 feet (outcome) and then work back down to the ground-level (key details). Now enjoy a short video of what comes easiest to many people when frustrations run high.

History Repeating Itself


“Don’t worry, everybody has three mortgages these days” Ghostbusters

Funny throw-away line twenty-five years ago has a different meaning today. Our response to the line today has an edge in our laughter (if there is any). With change constantly upon us, predicting the future is best left to those possessing clairvoyant skills. But there are reliable patterns and cycles during which we can prepare our organizations to thrive.

What are you anticipating? What trends do you anticipating returning? How are you positioned to succeed?

The People in the Room

Listened to a Fresh Air interview with Adam Liptak. Adam was asked for his observations while covering the Supreme Court for the past year on behalf of the NY Times. He had some interesting perspectives of the recent year and the decisions rendered by the justices. Perhaps most revealing to me was his comment about how the cultural and gender make-up of the justices in the room has changed the conversations that take place in the court. Having an African-American, woman, or minority as a justice changed the tone, tenor, and process of deliberation. Adam argues that just by their presence, even before you get to their intellectual and legal input, the decision-making process was altered by the make-up of the people in the room.

“Diverse inputs make for better outputs” is one quote Adam Liptak sites during the interview.

This is perhaps a great reminder to be intentional about who we include on our boards, strategic planning sessions, decision-making moments. Diversity has power, especially when it comes to deliberating about tough decisions.

Taking Ownership of Planning

My children created a list of all the summer activities they want to complete during summer vacation. Their list is ambitious, creative, and humorous. As we accomplish different adventures they take turns taking the post-it notes off our ‘Summer Adventure’ poster board. It has been a rewarding experience to see them take ownership of what we do this summer. They have planned the events, prioritized, participated, and celebrated each event’s successful conclusion.

How does your organization create a culture where the board and staff have appropriate influence over the planning, execution, and celebration? What if you had post-its that you removed after the big milestones were passed? How do you create a shared experience?

Now how to get to Paris, France (as requested by my son)?

Spokesperson


Attended the Jonas Brothers concert with my daughter the other night. It was loud, mostly the screaming and then the music. It clearly met the expectations of the young pre-teen and teenage audience judging by the shrieking, texting, photographing, dancing and swinging of glow sticks. This was my first venture into the teenage concert scene and it was memorable.

Nick Jonas (as I was informed by my daughter) took a moment in the middle of the concert to give a personal account of his struggle with diabetes. He played the piano in the middle of the elaborate stage set-up and recounted his journey. For a few minutes the crowd was quiet and listened to his story. The brothers are selling a dog tag at their concerts (http://www.daily-diabetic.com/50226711/nick_jonas_diabetes_dog_tags_to_raise_funds_for_jonas_brothers_foundation.php) as a fundraiser for diabetes support. The dog tags are the equivalent of the LIVESTRONG wristband.

By giving a personal account of his struggles the concert goers seem to take the story as genuine. I believe if Nick had been representing a cause that had not touched him personally his fans would have been less attentive and not as willing to invest in the dog tags.

Who can best communicate the cause your organization is meeting? Are they authentic? Are they passionate? Does the audience trust them?

Outsourcing


Packing the large camping cooler this morning and I realized that the plug for the drain was missing. I looked around for the missing piece and then quickly realized I needed to create a substitute. My children had just spent the last week at a summer invention camp so I figured that I would tap their inspired minds for a solution. Before I could finish showing them my problem, one produced leftover foam earplugs from the Jonas Brothers concert the evening before, the other one was grabbing some plastic and a rubber band. They handed me their contributions, recommend adding some tape and then went back to whatever they had been playing prior to my interruption.

Sometimes outsourcing works and saves a lot of time. Which outside resources do you engage?

A Fine Bottle of Wine

I was a presenter at a conference focused on nonprofits and foundations yesterday. My good friend Mark at ClearRock Capital has been a great advocate to the nonprofit sector and hosted this event for years. I always learn something from the other presenters and appreciate the opportunity to create a fun and dynamic presentation (at least my perception).

As I drove home from the conference I started thinking about how to enhance my presentation. I started thinking about the challenge of creating a mission statement, I reflected on how challenging this process is for most organizations. How does an organization state what cause it meets and yet make it inspiring? I started thinking about the marketing on a bottle of wine. If you read the label on many bottles of wine they tell you that it not only contains a specific varietal of wine but also goes to lengths to describe the wine in unique and juicy adjectives. Some labels also add descriptions about the vineyard, proprietor and wine maker. The rich details makes you want to uncork and sample the ‘art’ inside (because the description has made you realized that it is far more than just grape juice).

What language do you have to describe your organization’s work? Is it as appealing as a good bottle of wine? Do people naturally ask you to tell them more? Have you engaged the right people to tell your story?

Cheers!

Bringing in the Expert

I spent the last two days facilitating a strategic planning retreat with an educational client. There was lots of the dynamic conversation about the organization’s future. By chance, the president of the regional association representing educational institutions was in-town and attended the wrap-up session.

To gain a fresh perspective from an expert in the field has been transformative for the school’s planning efforts. To have an individual who could help focus the planning process was remarkable. One of the keys for the school in the planning effort was to be intentional in establishing its initiatives and not just select a goals that served as placeholders. The language that was being proposed for one of the outcomes bordered on cliche and the association president quickly helped us define the true intention.

Who could you invite to your planning sessions who can ask the critical questions? Who tests if you are being intentional? How do you avoid cliche language in your goals?

A Beltway Observation

I have been in DC the past couple of days. Acting as a tourist, seeing the sights, and walking everywhere. It has been a great vacation with the family and now is time to head home. In spending a few days down the street from the White House I have noticed the few unique DC characteristics:

  • Everyone drives like they are in the Presidential motorcade. Lots of fast accelerations, lane switching, and horn honking (public substitution for sirens).
  • Black suburbans and SUVs are the ubiquitous. It appears to be the vehicle of power.
  • Suits and ties are everywhere. Sitting in the airport right now, I see more people dressed in business attire than just about any other airport I have traveled from recently.
  • Power lunches/dinners still exist. Every meal we ate in a restaurant seem to leave us eves-dropping on some discussion about legislation, the administration, or political gossip.
  • The presence of work ID badges: everyone seem to have a credential. From tourist sights to hotels to government. I was waiting to see a vendor who sold a fake version.
  • Blackberry’s seem to rule DC. The ratio of Blackberrys vs. iPhone is noticeable in the capital.

Interesting how one’s region has its own culture, habits, icons, and narratives. It was palpable.

What attributes does your community support (even at a sub-conscious level)?