Not Everyone Needs to Be on the Board

I served for ten-years as paid-on-call firefighter in a resort community.  As you spend more time on the department you become more proficient at handling assignments.  As your skills advance you are recommended for additional training and eventually you assume a leadership position.  With enough training you can find yourself on the outside of a working structure fire in a oversight role instead of inside performing the duties ones imagines for firefighter.  The untold secret was that the further you advanced up the chain-of-command the less likely you were ever to see the nozzle and axe handle.  Yet most of us joined to be on the front line and be inside the burning building.

I believe the fire service experience transfers to the social sector.  Not everyone needs or aspires to be in leadership.  Every major donor to your organization does not wish to be on a board member.  The networking king or queen of your community may be ideally suited in their role as a social connector.  A volunteer may just want to assist with reading development.  If we sincerely wish to maximize people’s talents we need to understand their purpose and motivations.  They may be happiest on a ridge with a shovel in their hands and smoke all around them.

Sometimes Average is Enough

An exchange between two guests on WHYY’s Radio Times caught my attention this morning.  In acknowledging WalMart’s increased presence in the super market sector a guest essentially proposed that WalMart does not need to be better, they just need to be as good as their competitors.


That comment struck a deep cord with me.  Many businesses model themselves on the commodity approach.  If they can be as good as the name brand competitor but offer the product at a lower price or with some attached feature then they get the sale.  They win.

It reminds me of the philosophy proposed in Seth Godin’s book, The Dip.  If you do not create a deep enough dip between your product and service then there is no barrier to slow your competitors from matching your features. Products are easy to replicate in this global marketplace so suddenly we are left with a few variables.  Personalized service, an emotional connection, a belief in the organization’s purpose, a desire to make a statement, an individualized experience.  When we analyze what distinguishes us from our competitors there is very little on the commodity side.  It is usually the intangibles that tip the scale in our favor.  


Philanthropically minded individuals who has submitted an organizational grant request to a foundation that seems perfectly aligned to fund one’s cause can often be disappointed to see they were passed-over for a less obvious choice.  Many times the personal relationships between the foundation and the successful grantee are the golden key that provided success.


What features and benefits provide your cause with the greatest return on investment.  It may be the intangible items that are the hardest to measure.

The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

Recognition

“There is no public park in the land with a statue erected to a committee”

Some of the greatest accomplishments have come from a committee.  A well organized group containing a clear purpose can reach great heights.  Strategic plans are developed, new Executive Directors are selected, financial sustainability is mapped out, fundraising galas are run, transformational capital campaigns are executed by committees.  Committees can also be some of the least recognized and appreciated work centers for an organization.  The chair of the committee may receive the appropriate commendation for guiding the committee to a well received result.  But rarely is each member of the committee honored for their contribution.  Appreciation for a high level of performance builds organizational momentum and inspires others to extend themselves.
A couple recent examples of recognition:
  • A mention of the committee members by name on the enterprise’s website, newsletter, social media
  • Host a lunch where the committee members can gather in social setting to share their accomplishment
  • Provided members with a small pin- a Boy/Girl Scout type of approach to recognizing service
  •  Providing a complimentary ticket to the event the committee members organized so they might invite a guest to enjoy the festivities
  • A thank you note from a Board Chair
  • Simple personalized gift such as a sleeve of golf balls with the organizational logo

There are many opportunities to serve on a committee but often the enthusiasm to join is colored by the experience of the last committee. 

Autonomy

Getting people to follow a predetermined path is not easy nor rewarding task.  We have come to value autonomy.  Daniel Pink speaks about the important of autonomy as a critical component of motivation in his book, Drive.  How do we allow those that want us to succeed to do so in a manner that is consistent with their values and talents?  Retweeting, forwarding emails, liking, and voting in online contests remains compelling to a few and perhaps for a limited amount of time.  Some of the greatest movements have provided the parameters and allowed the fans to form their own tribes.  You may be able to orchestrate the wave during a football game when everyone is sitting in the stadium but it is much more challenging when people are remote to the event.

Consider the Surfrider Foundation.  This is an organization that Beth Kanter highlights in her book, The Networked Nonprofit.  This advocacy group allows each chapter to customize the national logo to represent its local topography and seas scape.  Risky proposition perhaps from a branding aspect and developing continuity but the membership’s allegiance to their local chapter outweighs the possible drawbacks. 
    
Are you empowering or constraining your strongest advocates?

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change

Mastermind

How many of our key organizational activities resemble the game Mastermind?  We are constantly striving to find the right sequence of actions and feedback to solve the puzzle.

  • Foundations: identify, letter of inquiry, personal connections, grant request, expense grant, report back, reapply
  • Board Members: identify prospects, cultivate, elect, orient, engage, evaluate, train, celebrate
  • Donors: identify, cultivate, ask advice, engage, ask, celebrate
  • Programs:propose, budget, fund, execute, evaluate

We are constantly seeking feedback on our progress. We put forward our best guess and hope it matches the sequence of our funders, community, and customers.  It is easy to get so focused on the next step that we forget the outcome.  Simon Sinek offered the following thought:

“Focus on where you’re going and you’ll know what steps to take. Focus on the steps you’re taking and you won’t know where you’re going.”


Same Seats!

Walking through the parking lot today I encounter group of students returning to their van from a school field trip.  From the back of the loosely formed pack I distinctly heard the shout, ‘same seats!’  Another student chimed in with a similar response and so it was decided by a voice vote that the motion for same seats carried.

The mentality of same seats is easy to embrace.  It preserves the known and controls the immediate future.  If I like my seat then I am lucky.  If I was neutral on my seating options then I am probably part of the silent majority.  Only the few who were slammed in the seat by the wheel well or next to a less than appreciated seatmate are the vocal minority. 

The ‘same seat’ flashback reminded me how young I was when I learned how to manage change.  How much of this elementary school organizing strategy has carried over to my work and that of enterprises I serve?  Do we literally sit in the same seats at board meetings?  I worked with one organization that placed a customized tea or coffee mug at each person’s seat prior to the meeting and it was clear where the power resided (just watch whose tea was brewed first).  Are meeting agendas as structured and preserved in tradition as the coronation ceremony for a monarch?  Does our budget look the same every year with just a few adjusted numbers?  Are the same faces tackling the same conversations?  Has our mission statement stayed the same since it is etched into stone?  Do we continue forward with the same programs because our founders established them?

I wonder how many causes carry forward with the ‘same seat’ mentality because it leads to a sense of certainty.  What if we yelled, ‘everyone off the bus’ and took stock of who and what we had on-board.  Happy travels. 


Looking for some innovative ways to manage change, check out the Heath brothers latest book, Switch.
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

Putting the Band Together

If you were asked to put together a garage band- simply to hold jam sessions, who would you invite?  If you were asked to assemble a group to play at a sold-out stadium would you change who you include in the band?

Do you find it interesting that some of the legendary musical groups split-up for no apparent reason?  Perhaps money, women/men, fame, travel becomes the distraction.  Then some acts book a reunion tour.  Do you think it is for the fame and money or have they reconnected to their purpose?

I would suggest that if you assemble a garage band because you have a shared purpose- a love of music, a message to send, a common platform, or any other number of reasons, the purpose should carry you forward.  If you never play a cord for a person outside of the garage or if you are making a living from iTunes payments the purpose does not change, however the results certainly look different.  

When we began planning based on the results we risk losing a direct connection to our purpose.  The results start to control us.  One of the great attributes of the human existence is that we recalibrate quickly to a new reality.  We can jump from poverty to lottery winner.  It take little time for a person to consider their new wealth the benchmark from which they exist.

Why do you want to play music (or whatever activity inspires you)?  Who shares your vision?  Write it down.  Invite those specific individuals who ‘get it’.  Exclude those who do not get it- there are plenty of garages for other bands.  Be certain.  It will amplify your experience, no matter what stage you play on.

Quality of Your Relationship

What type of relationship does your enterprise have with its customers, donors, volunteers, staff, board, and community?  Is it authentic and built on trust?  Do you attract people who are committed to your purpose and vision?  Do you take everyone who raises their hand or are you selective?

Consider the following images that are associated with appeals for funding.

What reaction does this image bring forward for you?  Some international hunger organizations prefer this or more graphic models.

Or this sign, does it make you feel inspired?  How about guilty?  What story do you tell yourself when you face this type of requests for assistance?

Does your reaction change when the message is reframed?  Does a new perspective or context alter your perception?

Does your reaction change when the image focuses on hope and opportunity?  Heifer International leads with pictures like the one above.

Perhaps this approach (via Simon Sinek) reverses the classic approach to the homeless person sign.  The message on this sign actually generated $40 in two hours for a homeless person in New York City when the traditional approach brought in $20 a day.

A quick way to create a temporary relationship is to lead with guilt or fear.  It tends to make us uncomfortable.  We are willing to take immediate action to alleviate the discomfort.  In a fundraising environment an easy way to standout in a crowded field of appeals is to shock.

What if you build a relationship on a foundation of inspiration.  What if you are selective about who you attract to your cause.  Would it change the quality of your interactions if people were considering their purpose in the context of your cause?

What type of relationships is your cause cultivating?
 

The Importance of Momentum

Achieve released an article that highlighted the importance of momentum in a fundraising campaign.  

Organizations will often lose momentum when there is a singular focus on the short term.  Organizations will also lose momentum when they are not clear about direction or the ability to express that direction with donors.  As a donor, it is very hard to support potential growth, new opportunities, or even bigger impact if you don’t understand where the organization is going.

I also came across a passage in The Soul of Leadership: Unlocking Your Potential For Greatness by Deepak Chopra.

A successful visionary makes his or her manifest in the world.  Invisible seeds planted in the silence of your deepest awareness become tangible, visible realities.  As they unfold, you will manage their growth with passion and energy.  Your purpose will be apparent to all.

The alignment of purpose and action allows us to generate a whole host of attributes, many of which are impossible to manufacture under false pretense.  If I asked you to show me more authenticity right now, could you?  I have yet to see this trick performed.  The formula for authenticity might be expressed as:

My purposed + My daily actions matching purpose = authenticity
The same formula can also be applied to the concepts of trust and charisma.  These are ideals are hollow when listed on a resume or in a fundraising pitch.  But when demonstrated daily and repeatedly and held against the Rosetta Stone of organizational purpose, then they generate a different type of relationship.  As Simon Sinek would state, when people start interacting with you because they believe what you believe instead of doing business with your enterprise because they need what you have, a paradigm shift has taken place.  Momentum is doing business with individuals that share your purpose and then building a tribe that is connected by this shared vision.  Momentum is having clarity of purpose and then living it daily.  Momentum is lost when our vision gets fuzzy or derailed by other interests.  Momentum is a result not a purpose.