Inertia
Most organizational planning sessions have the noblest of intentions. I frequently hear the following phrases in the preparation stage for a retreat.

Let’s really get our hands around the future of the organization.
We want to solve the big problems.
Everyone will know exactly what to do when we leave.
We can do this in a day.

I noticeably shutter when I hear those words. I am the first to champion enthusiasm and passion. An energetic group is usually a positive when facilitating as I do not have to spend lots of time getting the participant’s energy to somewhere above consciousness. As you enter and depart the retreat, the delta between an organization’s expected outcomes and that which was accomplished during the retreat is often sobering. Sometimes the list of expected outcomes looks like the paint the house, clean the garage, and mow the lawn in a Sunday afternoon schedule. A fact that has become increasingly clear to me is that the organization are going forward down their respective highways at 65 or 70 MPH. Nobody is going to pull off the road for a retreat. There is no motivation to come to a full and proper stop. The inertia of the organization’s speed is rarely taken into account when the planning process commences.

American Public Media’s Markeplace radio show had a facinating interview with K.C. Cole. She gave the following example,
“We all know that it takes energy to get started on something, whether it’s propelling yourself out of bed or propelling a rocket to Mars. What we don’t tend to appreciate is how hard it is to stop what you’re already doing. In fact, it’s relatively easy to blast your way to a distant planet compared to what it takes to slow down your spacecraft once you get there.”

Many organizations never calculate the force required to slow or alter their organization’s current path. The end result after the planning retreat is that the enterprise plots a path for the moon but remains in its current orbit with a few adjustments. It is not cyncial, it is science. Few people in the room consider the enormous amount of energy and time required to get people to act or move in a different direction.

Our current economic times have put tremendous pressures for change on financial institutions and yet the resistance to change has been extraordinary. Few calculated how difficult it would be to help banks dramatically alter what they had always done.

How do you account for your organization’s momentum when you commence planning? Which forward motion can serve you organization? Who is going to monitor the changes you wish to make? Do they have the power necessary to alter the organization’s course? How much energy is it going to take?

The K.C. Cole Marketplace interview can be listened to here: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/popup.php?name=marketplace/pm/2010/01/21/marketplace_cast1_20100121_64&starttime=00:18:36.0&endtime=00:21:29.500


Absence

No entries, a dying blog, abandoned, left for another to do list, no more ideas, new projects, time crunch, no readers, new medium, got a book deal, asked to stop, forgot to post, traveling, working, lost…..


Although many of these could have been true, the reason for the long stretch of no activity was simply a holiday sickness that turned into a medical adventure.  Recovered now and finally able to speak and type slightly more coherently than the daze of meningitis and other fun, I resume with a sense of appreciation for sharing, a hope of adding value and living in balance…

Martin Luther King Jr Day

Yesterday, I caught an NPR radio interview of a class of primary school children.  The radio journalist was asking the students what question they would ask Martin Luther King Jr. if they had the opportunity.  The clip played a succession of the student’s responses.  The last response caught me as remarkable, “what are you going to do next?”  I first I thought it was cute.  Then I found it profound.  An civil-rights leader who dies in 1968 has a living legacy that continues to be molded and adapted to the current times.  So much so that an elementary student today can ask “what next.”  Where is your legacy going to take us tomorrow, will it lead the way?  To me, that sense of presence and context is remarkable.  Unlike a fading sports stars who finds their statistics frozen in time and re-count their best years at trading card shows, a movement transported Martin Luther King Jr. like a bookmark through a novel.  As we read the pages it appears that his presence was able to follow along in real time.  The cute question made me ponder.  Who in our respective lives has moved along with us and not been left as a time stamp in a history book.  My father who died suddenly and unexpectedly when I was in my twenty’s has certainly been as present today as when he passed away in the mid 90’s.  What makes these individuals and their impact so transportable?  Do we carry them forward or were they so remarkable that some force sweeps them along?  Is it legacy or do they continue forward because their work is not done?

Content vs Process

I attended a meeting recently where the chair of the meeting was doing their best to manage the agenda but also be the most active conversationalist during each discussion. They got so wrapped-up in sharing their point-of-view that they failed to recognize that many of the attendees were distracted, working on their Blackberries, or simply day dreaming. Even those who remained engaged in the dialogue were demonstrating obvious signs of frustration. It was a great reminder of the two roles of content and process that are critical to any meeting. As a consultant and facilitator I constantly remind myself which of these responsibilities I am managing. When I facilitate a retreat or meeting, I am process focused. I want to know each step that needs to be completed in advance of the session. I am focused on keeping time, generating written notes reflecting each comment, managing the agenda. What I do not do is participate in the discussions. When I am consulting, I am usually involved in the content. I have been hired for my expertise and professional knowledge. If required, I can bring in a facilitator to help manage the process role.

If you attempt to wear both hats, it is a bit like being the dealer and chip leader at a poker tournament. You cannot effectively focus on the fulfilling your duties to deal and manage the deck while playing your hand. Be clear what role you are managing. A good Board Chair is often managing the process at at a board meeting. If they feel strongly about being deeply involved in the deliberations (content), they should have a Vice-President or another board member take over the process role which afford the Board Chair a chance to participate in the discussion. Many board meeting dysfunctions can trace themselves back to the lack of clarity around the two responsibilities of process and content.

Do you consider process and content when running a meeting? Can you ask others to manage the process if you input is required on the content? When electing a Board Chair or Committee Chair do you consider their ability to manage these two roles?

Authentic Moments

End of the year solicitations from nonprofit and charitable organizations have flooded the mailbox. Some are amazingly well crafted. Others try and create a moment or message that appears forced. Thinking of authentic moments I remember two that I just rediscovered on YouTube.


1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid, two literal giants of the sport are battling for the gold medal. The result of this race changed the way future races were scored with the races only timed to the tenth of a second in the future.

Or this epic battle that had all of Norway screaming and a finish that is remarkable.

You cannot fake the passion and intensity of an authentic moment. Remember to celebrate the moment and be honest in your message.

Tolerance


I have learned many of the most important lesssons from people who initially said things that annoyed me. Consider how tolerance of outliers has changed our relationship with icons today. A few quick examples:

  • The Cabinet of Abraham Lincoln
  • Helen Keller
  • Jackie Robinson
  • Bill Gates
  • Lance Armstrong
  • Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

Sometimes you do not grasp that you are following an outlier. As a kid I celebrated the success of Bill Koch, the only US Olympic medalist in cross-country skiing and winner of the season long World Cup. In 1976 he raced on waxless skis to win a Silver medal. Waxless skis would be like driving a Ford Taurus in a NASCAR race. He later adopted the technique of skating and revolutionized the way cross-country skiing was contested. He was so successful that the former powerhouse countries protested and eventually divided cross-country skiing into two techniques for racing, traditional technique and free technique (skating).

Are you allowing those who do not represent the conventional view to have a voice in your organization? Do you allow them to speak and does your organization really listen and consider their message? Do you seek out individuals with different view points? Would a unique perspective change your deliberations and decision-making?

Master Craftsmen and Outliers

A friend commented to me that they work in the nonprofit sector because they can see the cathedral they are building daily. When they worked in the corporate sector they felt like a stone mason that never had the joy of seeing their work’s contribution to the greater good. If you consider this for a moment, one of the competitive advantages for a social sector employee is that they have a chance to change the face of a community and witness the impact of their work everyday. Staff members are often associated with the nonprofit that employees them when in public in much the same way that a community member might recognize a fire fighter or police officer out of uniform. The sense of contribution is a powerful force. I believe that there is plenty of opportunities for many enterprise to maximizes the emotional resonance that a sense of contribution brings to a workplace.

The Gallup organization has a great evaluation instrument outlined in Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman’s book First, Break All The Rules. There thirteen statements. As an example, number 9 reads, “The mission/purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.” When evaluated along with answers to the other statements inquiring about having the right tools, understanding the expectations and receiving recognition, the Gallup organization found a correlation between remarkable teams and those that failed to meet expectations.

Do you find opportunities for the staff to be recognized for their professional talents? Does the staff get a chance to see the cathedral they are building and understand how their effort contribute to the structure? Is the mission of your organization making their job feel important?

Opportunity: Storm Warnings

Severe weather warning seems to captivate us. You can be going about your day and suddenly the threat of an impending meteorological event changes your perception of the moment. When I lived near a ski resort in Idaho, the joke was that the Weather Channel’s red screen was a guarantee that the forecast of 1-2 feet of snow would equate to a micro-inch. The storm warnings were often regarded as a jinx. Yet the excitement about an impending storm was palpable in the community. For some of us, a weather alert is an opportunity. Surfers race to the ocean to catch the increasing swell on the front side of an approaching hurricane. Skiers anticipate feet of powder to blanket the slopes. Others react in fear. Approaching storms require emergency actions. Flood preparations might require sand bags to be filled. Windows are shuttered, shovels are purchased, food is horded, travel is delayed.

Much of what happened during the end of 2008 and 2009 had the impact of a tsunami. Budgets were devastated, donors appealed for more time or greater understanding in fulfilling pledge payments, the number of users sky-rocketed or plummeted depending on the program. Social service organizations were swamped. Higher education and the arts were left wondering what happened to their endowments and how to offset the lost value.

There was no Weather Channel red screen flashed in front of the nonprofit sector warning of impending chaos. A year later, many organizations have right-sized, evaluated budgets, merged, dipped into reserves, or ceased to exist. Questions that were never really taken seriously when done in the comfort of a generative approach prior to the recession now have the Board’s attention. The memory of these events will slowly drift away and the scars will be heal. I have been encouraging many nonprofits to use this unique moment in time to address issues that may not resonate for another generation.

What questions need to be answered to best position your organization to succeed and sustain itself in an uncertain future? Said differently, what one one thing does your board need to accomplish to secure the organization’s future? Who do you need to engage to succeed? Are you still uniquely positioned to be a leader in the sector or are you still the ‘best kept secret’ in your community? Are you surviving or thriving?

Fans vs. Donors

Fans

  • Pay money to attend their team’s games and events.
  • Central focus is on the game on the field.
  • Purchase and wear clothing with the team’s logo.
  • Follow their team on any availible media (cable television, internet, talk radio).
  • Frequent chat rooms.
  • Wake-up at midnight to welcome home their newly crowned champions at the airport.
  • Hold season tickets. Often passing the tickets down to younger generations.
  • Take their friends, business associates and kids to the game.
  • Fans can almost always find somebody to give away their tickets.
  • Pay to sponsor the team- want to have their business associated with the team’s brand.

Donors

  • Pay money to attend events- may receive a reduced price as a donor or member.
  • Wear clothing with your organization’s logo in appreciation for a donation.
  • Nonprofits use social media more effectively than any other sector- the question is anyone listening, are donors following?
  • Bring family and friends to events from time-to-time.
  • Donors are typically passive.
  • Frequent social events that may also highlight an organization’s programs.
  • Donor Recognition ranges from wanting prominent naming opportunities to complete anonymity.

Nonprofit organizations spend so much time cultivating donors but we do not always think of making them fans of our organizations. What would change if your donors were fans first and donors second?