Strategy & Planning

Looking back and ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 23:03:00 +0000

For the past five years I have been looking at Critical Issues for nonprofits, both through my quarterly articles on strategy, planning, and organizational development, and through this blog, which has ranged a bit more broadly.

For the past four years I have directed and hosted nonprofit Webinars, offering weekly presentations on all matters related to professional development for nonprofit staff and trustees. Our 400 or so Webinars from over 100 presenters have been seen by over 30,000 people from every state, most Canadian provinces, and scores of countries around the world.

For the past 2 ½ years Nonprofit Webinars has been supported financially and logistically as a pro bono service of Good Done Great, which has more recently acquired Idea Encore and Nonprofit Direct. Now Good Done Great has packaged its collection of pro bono offerings into 4Good, a new resource sharing and capacity building site, launching tomorrow.

Looking ahead, while we’re learning about—and developing--the potential of 4Good, we’ll be using it also as the platform for several new offerings, including:

· A resource for RFPs & RFQs:
As noted in Critical Issues #10: Mind Your RFPs & Qs, there is expertise and preparation required to issue a good request for proposals. There is also a need to get it into the hands of the right service providers. In the coming weeks we will be launching a service for guidance in developing RFPs & RFQs, and a clearinghouse for issuing them.

· On-call advisory and referral services:
We have had a very positive response to our initiation of on-call services for executive directors and board chairs, so we will be expanding and broadening it.

Drawing on our expertise in planning (strategic, program, business, facilities), strategy, and organizational development and change, we have advised in-house strategic planning processes, coached board chairs in developing a more engaged and active board, and provided counsel to executive directors on a wide variety of management and governance issues.

Our on-call clients have used our services for a 15-minute telephone conversation, a half-hour edit of a strategic plan, or a 20-minute presentation by video to a board meeting, followed by Q&A. They have used an hour of consulting time over several days, or a day of consulting time over several weeks. This has offered affordable expertise in small, client-driven increments

We will expand these services by adding consultants with expertise in other fields (e.g. communications, fundraising, human resources), drawing on the broad array of experts we have invited to present webinars.

As we develop these services and others, we welcome suggestions about specific needs and priorities.

Happy new year.

Finalists in the Fourth Annual Mission Statement Competition

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 01:23:00 +0000

This year I invited four consultants who are excellent regular presenters for Nonprofit Webinars to join me in reviewing entries to the Great Mission Statement Competition:
Claire Axelrad, Clairification
Michele Levy, brand strategy consulting
Dalya Massachi, Writing for Community Success
Eyal Ronen, Spotlight Leadership

Last week we sifted through the entries and managed to pick six semi-finalists. I presented them last Wednesday in the webinar What’s a Mission Statement Worth?

Help us to pick the winner

Please take a look at the finalists (below) and help us to select the best of the best. To weigh in, submit comments to this blog. You’re welcome to make a case for your organization’s mission statement, but no anonymous comments please. We will consider only attributed comments, and post only ones that make a case for why the statement meets either the criteria for excellence summarized below or your own.

As described in What’s a Mission Statement Worth?, in various posts in this blog (search for “mission” to see prior year winners and makeovers), and in Critical Issues#7: On Mission, a good mission statement articulates the essence of why you exist. It can encompass what you are, but should avoid what you do and how. And it is:

Concise
Simply stated
Jargon-free

Differentiating
Memorable
Compelling

Specific
Sufficiently broad
Appropriately focused

The contenders

In selecting the semi-finalists for the competition this year, the judges have offered words of praise, and also suggestions for a few tweaks here and there. First the three impressive semifinalists that missed the final round by a hair:

The semi-finalists

Community Housing Partnership
Community Housing Partnership’s mission is to help homeless people secure housing and become self-sufficient.
Eyal: Simple, direct, descriptive.
Claire: It’s straightforward and hints at their underlying values—safety, lasting solution, not a bandaid.
Dalya asks whether it is perhaps a bit too simplified and dry.

Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Florida
The Ovarian Cancer Alliance aims to ignite the fight against ovarian and all gynecological cancers.
Michele: This is a short, bold declaration.
Eyal: The word "“ ignite” clearly marks your particular spot in this effort.
Claire: “Ignite the fight” is poetic and memorable. The statement indicates a change they’re working toward and the problem they want to eradicate.
Dalya also likes the energy of “Ignite the fight.”

Sun Valley Lodge
To provide affordable quality living choices for seniors in a trusting environment.
Claire: [This statement] give[s] a sense of values (affordable, high quality, trusted) and vision (a living option for seniors).
Michele asks whether “in a trusting environment” belongs in the mission statement.
Is there another phrase that could be used to give a more distinguishing or memorable characterization of your facility?

And here are the finalists.
What do you think?

Every Child's Music Fund
Our mission is to bring basic music education back to every child in our community.
Michele: It's a bold, simple statement of an admirable and audacious goal.
Eyal: This is a great mission statement (and a superb mission).
Claire asks why this mission is important—in other words, she’d like a hint of underlying values and vision.
Dalya finds this statement to be simple yet elegant.
Two judges think that “our community” is a bit vague; naming your target area could add vividness for prospective donors. Eyal asked whether the word “back” is accurate—whether every child once had that opportunity. I would ask whether “back” is too remedial a word, which might suggest a limited vision and aspiration. On the other hand, Dalya thinks the word “back” adds a sense of intensity to the statement.

Geneva Centre for Autism
Geneva Centre for Autism works to empower individuals with an autism spectrum disorder, and their families, to fully participate in their communities.
This is a straightforward statement that states why you exist. “empower”, “participate” and “communities” are the vivid words. “and their families” goes a bit further to suggest the disruptive effect of a family member of the spectrum.
Dalya finds this statement simple but powerful. She likes the inclusion of families and then the phrase “fully participate in their communities”

Nonprofit Association of Oregon
The mission of the Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO) is to strengthen the collective voice, leadership, and capacity of nonprofits to enrich the lives of all Oregonians.
Claire: The “collective voice” is a nice phrase. It gives me an idea that all members are pulling together to achieve a common vision.
Dalya: This is very much a “why” statement.

Please join the evaluation and selection process with a comment about any of these three finalists—or about mission statements in general. We’ll post the most substantive comments.

Nonprofit Webinars Fall 2013: The rest of the season

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 14:17:00 +0000

Nonprofit Webinars, the premiere venue for free professional development for nonprofit leaders, is offering some unusual topics in the second half of our fall season, from some great presenters. Next week (October 30) we’ll feature the always fascinating Gil Lazan on meaningful conversations and productive work environments, and newcomer Tom Ralser with a unique spin on fundraising techniques that work in today's economic environment. Then on November 6, Froswa’ Booker-Drew will be addressing barriers to change and Susan Black will discuss key leadership factors for fundraising success.

On November 13 we’ll present the semi-finalists in our fourth annual great mission statement competition during the webinar “What’s a Mission Statement Worth?” (Entries close on October 31; go to http://bit.ly/SyPmission for details) and Linda Lysakowski on involving volunteers in development. November 20 will feature Drew Tulchin on social enterprise and Michele Levy on building a nonprofit brand.

In December we’ll have newcomers Pam Williams on outsourcing accounting and Linda Crompton, former CEO of BoardSource, on “New Leadership.”

Fourth Annual Mission Statement Competition

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 23:04:00 +0000

A clear, concise, compelling, and memorable mission statement is the basis of a strong message, focused strategy, energized stakeholders and effective metrics. Is your nonprofit's mission statement a great one?

Enter the Fourth Annual What's Your Mission? Competition to win publicity and free consulting.
Or enter the Mission Statement Makeover category, and get help in creating a great statement.

There is just one more week before the deadline for entries—October 31.

Over the past three years we've had some great statements, interesting discussions, and very promising makeovers:
     Finalists in the 1st Annual Great Mission Statement Competition
     Finalists in the 2nd Annual Great Mission Statement Competition
     Finalists in the 3rd Annual Great Mission Statement Competition
     Mission Statement Makeover Discussion 2011: Part 1
     Mission Statement Makeover Discussion 2011: Part 2
     Mission Statement Makeover Discussion 2011: Part 3
     More thoughts about mission statements
     Zeroing in on a mission statement

For the entry form go to http://bit.ly/SyPmission

For some thoughts on what makes an effective mission statement, check out Critical Issues#7: On Mission or sign up for our free webinar, What's a Mission Statement Worth?, on November 13. During the webinar we'll announce the semi-finalists and get help from the participants in choosing the finalists.

Renew Enthusiasm

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 22:04:00 +0000

Corporations may not be people, but nonprofits fundamentally are. Everyone involved with your organization cares about your cause. But are you engaging them and focusing their time and talents as effectively as you possibly can? (Answer: No one does.) Here are some things you can do to enhance the satisfaction, morale and devotion of your stakeholders by increasing their effectiveness in furthering your mission.

Inspire

Everything starts with mission. Is your mission statement simple, memorable and inspirational? (If you have any doubts about your statement or its importance, read Critical Issues #7: On Mission)

You can capture the interest of prospective donors and volunteers (including board members) with your mission statement, and pre-dispose them to invest in the organization.
If your mission statement sticks in the minds of your stakeholders, it can shape the way they think and speak about the organization, enhancing their own efforts and the likelihood that they will be effective ambassadors to others.
By building a brand identity around your mission statement—see CI#9: Brand Identity for Nonprofits—you can project the inspirational effect of your mission further through programs, staff attitudes, communications and facilities.

Inform and Engage

If you can move all stakeholders into just a little more engagement with your organization—from wherever they are—you will get an enormous cumulative boost.

Nonprofit boards have been characterized as “ineffective groups of effective people.” Make sure that board members have full opportunity to contribute their strengths to the organization, through clarity (orientation and a board manual), structure (effectively designed and implemented committees and meetings), and an explicit annual commitment (individual service plan). See CI#4: On Boards.
Make use of the insights and the front-line experience of your staff by assuring that two-way communications are open and active with them. Empower them with ample opportunities to drive improvements, and to feel that the organization is theirs.
Communicate with all stakeholders regularly about issues that are important to them, without barraging them with so much information that they tune out. Monitor their email open and click rates and other indices to assure that they are receptive, and adjust as necessary.
Entice the least engaged stakeholders into marginally more engagement through regular surveys designed to be two-way communication on selected issues. It works. See CI #2: The Secret Life of Surveys.

Develop

Ongoing professional development for both staff and board is essential for the acquisition and maintenance of the knowledge and skills they need to support the organization.

Whether or not you have a budget for professional development, make use of the excellent free resources on the web, starting with the three weekly free offerings of Nonprofit Webinars and its extensive archive of past presentations.
The most effective vehicle for professional and organizational development is a strategic planning process. If the process is conceived and conducted well, it will also develop a new generation of leadership. See CI #1: Why Plan?.
Every board meeting should have some discussion at least partially directed toward professional development. See CI#4: On Boards.

Evaluate

“We manage what we measure” is not just a corporate adage,it addresses individual psychology as well. To that we could add, “We do what we commit to,” and “We feel good when we are working effectively with others.” A good evaluation system sets clear expectations and facilitates not only effectiveness, but satisfaction with one's own work and one's work environment. See CI #8: The Measure of Success (http://bit.ly/SyPci08)

Staff and staff departments, and board officers, committees, and members all need to:

have written job descriptions regularly updated to reflect the strategic priorities of the organization.
set annual goals based on job descriptions and coordinated with the goals and objectives of the strategic plan.
discuss their past performance as they set goals for the next year.

For more on the board version of this process, see:

Refresh

Nonprofit staff and volunteers are driven by a personal commitment to the organization's mission. And by a personal interpretation of it. This can make development of the consensus needed for change especially difficult. However, when successfully managed, needed changes can release enormous new energy from existing stakeholders and new ones. See CI #14: Managing Change.

In an organization that does advocacy, adaptation to the opportunities provided by social media will likely involve a generational shift of empowerment, and a relinquishment of some hierarchical prerogatives, but may offer vast new opportunities See one of the sidebars in CI #14: Managing Change.
In a smaller organization with unfulfilled promise, it can be more effective to develop a whole new approach to identifying, attracting and recruiting new board members, rather than trying to coax a new level of performance from existing members, who may not be ready to do more than they have been doing.
When a new CEO is needed, especially on the retirement of a founder, it is critical to know where you stand and to have a good strategic plan to guide the redefining of the job and the courtship of the right candidate. See “Succession”.

Tips for new initiatives

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 20:21:00 +0000

Nonprofit staffs and boards are mission-driven. It can be tempting, when encountering a compelling issue related to your cause, to take on a new program or service, demographic, geographic area, or approach (e.g., research, education, advocacy, direct service). How can you make the right decision in any given situation? Here are some questions to ask:

Does it really fit within your mission? “Mission creep” is a common problem among nonprofits. The new initiative may be very appealing, but does it further your core mission or diffuse your attention, energy and resources at the expense of more mission-critical activities? A clear mission statement (see Critical Issues #7: On Mission) and a well-articulated brand identity (see CI#9: Brand Identity for Nonprofits) should offer some guidance. Beyond that, a well-developed and structured organizational strategy will provide the best support for good decisions (see CI #1: Why Plan?, CI #5: The Structure of Planning, CI #11: The Case for Integrated Planning and CI #17: Fear & Loathing of Strategic Planning).
Has your board brought their experience to bear on a rigorous review of the initiative? An experienced board, well versed in the operations, aspirations, and capabilities of the organization, can be enormously valuable in this role. (See CI #4: On Boards CI#4: On Boards) If you don't see your board as being up to that task, it is time to develop the understanding of current board members and/or develop the identification, recruitment, and orientation of new members. (see blog post)
Do you have a well-developed business plan? It has been noted that “nonprofit” is a tax status, not a business model. If you have determined that there is an unmet need that you are in the best position to address, can you can get the financial support required to provide the program or service? If so, the next step is to develop the details of how you propose to do that—business strategy, operations, structure. (See CI #12: Business Planning)
If substantial resources are required for the new initiative, you may be well advised to construct a financial model (CI #6: Financial Modeling) to orchestrate and fine-tune the relationships between streams of revenue and expense.
If you will need new expertise to develop, launch or operate the new initiative, do you have the capability (on board or staff, or through an independent consultant) to define, acquire and oversee this new area of expertise? (CI#10: Mind Your RFPs & Qs).
Both to facilitate success and to appeal to funders, you’ll need to establish quantitative milestones to reach as the initiative unfolds. The initial focus will likely have to be on outputs, but these should translate, as quickly as possible, to outcomes. (See CI#8: The Measure of Success).
New initiatives change the dynamic of the existing organization, and may require further modifications of how you operate. Make sure that you are prepared to manage that change (CI #14: Managing Change).

Nine Essentials for Facility Planning

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 19:53:00 +0000

If you need to build a new facility, or renovate an existing one, early preparation can make the difference between glorious success and disastrous failure. What, precisely do you need? How will you make the case for it? How much will it cost? How can you avoid having to go back to the board for a budget increase?

Here are nine ways to reduce your costs, your risks and your stress, while enhancing the project. Many of these actions are not things that you’d know to consider if you don’t build regularly; some will very likely be overlooked even if you have a full-time facilities department:

Make sure your strategic, program and business planning are current.
Facilities are long-term investments. Before deciding whether and how to proceed, you should make sure you’ve done your best thinking about needs, resources and alternatives.
Articulate the requirements in a detailed architectural program.
Enormous benefits can be derived from describing a prospective facility in great detail very early in the process, in a document known as an architectural program. The architectural programs we create for clients run from 50 pages for a very simple building to over 100 for a complex one. In developing the program you will be faced with a broad range of decisions that you hadn’t thought about, and you’ll be able to think them through and develop consensus as needed, without urgent time pressure. If you wait until design is under way, you risk delay, unanticipated and hence hasty decisions, extra costs for change orders, and maybe even a design that does not fit your real needs.
Use the architectural program to develop a firm project budget.
A detailed architectural program provides a reliable basis for accurate budgeting of the project, so your board can know the full financial implications before incurring the costs of hiring an architect. And you won’t have to come back to them later for more money.
Project and evaluate the full impact of the new facility on the operating budget.
New buildings bring various kinds of new costs. To avoid nasty surprises later, it is important to identify them from the start and factor them into decision’making.
Make sure that there is the appropriate expertise on staff to maintain control of the project.
Someone must direct the project (focusing on fiduciary and programmatic decision making, and communications) and someone must manage it (working with and overseeing the contractor or construction manager, and evaluating requests for payment). Given the quite different skill sets required, these roles normally require two different people, though for smaller projects neither may need to be a full time job.
Put in place unambiguous decision-making processes for the project.
You will need to establish clear decision-making and communications protocols to avoid added costs, stress, and delays.
Develop a contract that fully protects the client’s interests.
Most often nonprofits use a standard contract developed by the American Institute of Architects. Unless it is heavily edited by an attorney experienced in construction, this contract will add significant costs and risks to your project. Handled properly, a customized and well-negotiated contract better serves the interests of both the nonprofit and the architect.
Follow a thorough and methodical process in selecting an architect and negotiating contract details.
A well-crafted process will result in a more suitable fit between the architect and client, a more successful design process, and a better building.
Get the right help.
Don’t assume that because you have an architect, developer or construction manager on your board, or a former contractor on staff, that you can get the most out of the above advice without outside help. Most organizations spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars more than they need to—on a small project—by going it on their own.

These steps will enable an organization to evaluate the feasibility of a project before committing to major expenses, and avoid pitfalls that could damage the finances not only of the project, but of the organization as a whole.

For more information on the facility planning process, see Critical Issues 13: Before you Hire an Architect, or contact me to discuss how Synthesis Partnership can help with any of the above suggestions.

Tools for Planning

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 03:12:00 +0000

Nonprofits can draw from a broad array of tools to help them connect the qualitative aspirations of their mission and goals to the measurable actions that will lead them there. Weve illustrated several numbers of Critical Issues in Noprofit Strategy, Planning and Organizational Development with some of these tools, but in Critical Issues #18 which will be out next week, well look at a broader spectrum of them and frame them in a larger context.

Context
Meaningful strategic planning requires an array of tools, skills, experience, judgment and authority.

The responsibility for planning lies with the board. The board can delegate its authority for planning, but unless it is fully committed to the overseeing both the planning and implementation processes, it is unlikely that a strategic plan can be successful.

While strategic planning is not rocket science, its also not so simple that you can read the instructions and do it right the first time. You need the judgment to design a process that will work for a specific organization, giving consideration to organizational structure, culture, needs, situation and resources. You need the experience to be able to guide the organization through its best strategic thinking to develop a plan that is ambitious, achievable, measurable and renewable. And you need the skills to manage the process efficiently, draw on the wisdom of all stakeholders, inspire enthusiasm, and develop leadership capacity.

Some rare organizations have all of these resources in-house; others need some assistance in designing or fine-tuning a process even if they can manage it themselves. The cost of not getting every possible advantage out of the planning process (see Critical Issues #1: Why Plan?)or worse (but not uncommon), having the process lose momentum and end up disappointing everyoneis too great to risk.

If you can do most of the planning work yourself, your organization may well strengthen its strategic focus and develop its leadership more effectively than by any other activity. But some limited advisory services from a consultant with the requisite judgment, experience and skills will likely make an enormous difference in the success of the enterprise.

Tools
Within this context, there are many different kinds of planning tools available, from the overall approach or framework, to process systems to individual instruments for specific purposes. When any one of these categories is slighted, the integrity and value of the planning process will likely be compromised. Critical Issues #18 will review frameworks, process systems, and individual instruments.

Capital Fiasco Postscript

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:36:00 +0000

Two years ago we noted the sad story of the American Folk Art Museum, a building rich with controversy (Capital Punishment, August 20, 2011). Now it’s about to be torn down—by the Museum of Modern Art, no less.

The museum building was highly praised by the architecture critic of the New York Times when it opened (Fireside Intimacy for Folk Art Museum), challenged by others as an example of the museum-building-as-work-of-art focused more on itself than on its ability to showcase the artwork intended to fill it (a depressingly long list). These are tensions inherent in the museum as a building type.

Some museums make do with a re-used factory building or an unassuming building as a simple container, but more often the cultural aspiration of the governing board encompasses the quality of the architectural environment as well as the art collections. Managing the tension in expectations for a musuem building requires an extraordinary amount of wisdom and knowledge on the part of the client, extensive preparation, and very careful selection and oversight of the architect. For more on that see CI #13: Before You Hire an Architect.

But the more fundamental issue in this story is the breach of fiduciary responsibility by the governing board of the American Folk Art Museum. As described in the New York Times, spending $32 million on a building that had to be sold ten years later and was scheduled for demolition two years after that suggests that not enough thought was invested in the fundamentals of stewardship at the outset.

We have seen nonprofit institutions that have been far too conservative in assuming modest risk and debt, thereby missing an opportunity to build a facility that would do great things for the furtherance of their mission. But we have not seen many go so spectacularly in the other direction.

Zeroing in on a Mission Statement

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 02:52:00 +0000

For the Mission Statement Makeover component of last fall’s Great Mission Statement competition, we invited a few of the entrants to explore a rewrite with us. Here is one of the discussions.

Existing Statement
Daddy’s Corner mission is to change the lives of low-income and disadvantaged youth by focusing on strengthening community and creating programs that encourage and aid the involvement of young fathers in their children’s lives.

Comment from Daddy’s Corner
This is actually our second attempt at our mission statement. We really feel like once we can get a mission statement that effectively describes our organizational purpose, it would really help us to build our organizational culture. We think this is so important as we are moving into our next phases of growth—we are still a relatively young nonprofit but have made tremendous gains in our short organizational history.

SyP
My initial question is what is your fundamental purpose?

to involve young fathers in their children’s lives?
to change the lives of low-income and disadvantaged youth ?
to strengthen community?

Not that you can’t do all three, but one of them may be the real reason you’re doing the other two. Once the primary focus is established, the rest will be easier.

DC
Our primary focus is young fathers—empowering them to make good decisions and accept the adult responsibilities of being a parent. We use a responsible fatherhood model—which includes knowing WHEN it is the right time to become a parent (many of our young men are at risk of becoming a young father but have not as of yet(.

However, the issues around young fathers are so extensive that much of our work is done around strengthening fragile families. This is why it has been a challenge to narrow down a mission statement.

We use food and nutrition as the cornerstone to all our programming. It permeates living a healthy lifestyle and fits within all of our initiatives. Our tagline is “redefining life on the corner” because we want our young men to know that being outside doesn’t have to mean being on the corner. (**associate a ‘corner lifestyle’ with someone who is under-educated, under-employed, may be gang-affiliated, may have a record, may be involved in street activities, spends time hanging out outside with negative influences).

SyP
Clearly you have a complex situation and multiple objectives. The fundamental question is “Why are you doing this? “ The answer may get you to a level that underlies both promoting responsible fatherhood and strengthening fragile families, both of them pretty powerful ideas, but maybe there is an even more fundamental one.

Then responsible fatherhood and strengthening fragile families might end up either as part of the mission statement or part of a vision statement that we can look at once we pin down the mission statement a bit more.

I like the fact that your tagline can lend another dimension to whatever ends up being the mission statement.

DC
In response to your question, ultimately, we are doing this for the kids. We work with fragile families where cycles of poverty are inter-generational. The model we use is “Growing a Responsible Father.“ Becoming a responsible father doesn’t happen overnight. It starts with young boys having good relationships with their fathers that serve as strong, positive role models. So by working with young men that are at risk of fathering kids or young fathers, we are hoping to change the trajectory of the next generation (and so forth).

We feel that kids today are missing the basics—solid functional relationships with their biological fathers, character traits such as perseverance and integrity, and an understanding of a healthy lifestyle based on a healthy self-esteem. Our young men are battered by dysfunctional relationships, stereotyped by media, and ingrained with these cycles of poverty. Without intervention, there isn’t hope to make a lasting legacy of change.

SyP
That’s helpful.

In a mission statement, using as few words as possible and letting as much as possible be implied by them is always best. The problem, of course, is deciding which those words are.

Here are two initial options:
Our mission is to change the lives of low-income and disadvantaged youth by strengthening community and encouraging the involvement of young fathers in their children’s lives.
or
By encouraging responsible fatherhood we will change the lives of low-income and disadvantaged youth and strengthen our community.

To me, in both cases the words I removed are implied by the ones that are left, but they still seem too wordy.

Cutting back even further to the essentials:
Our mission is to strengthen our community by encouraging responsible fatherhood.
This implies the role of youth in the (metaphorical) space between fatherhood and community.
Or to pick up on another aspect of what you mentioned:
Our mission is to change our community by strengthening fragile families.

But leaving out mention of fathers and children may be going too far.

In any case, the mission statement is only the core. It is the memorable, compelling statement, but when you put it on your website or in print it can have more detail beneath. How about this:

Our mission is to change the lives of low-income and disadvantaged youth.
We do this by:

encouraging the involvement of young fathers in their children’s lives
building character traits such as perseverance and integrity in children through solid functional relationships with their biological fathers
strengthening fragile familes
empowering young men to make good decisions and accept the adult responsibilities before becoming fathers
creating a healthier community

Our vision is to change the trajectory of the next generation

Stay tuned. There may be more to this discussion.

A Conversation about Mission Statements

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 01:34:00 +0000

In pulling together some material for a guest appearance with Dalya Massachi's Writing Wednesdays on March 20, I took a look at the finalists in the Great Mission Statement Competition for the past three years. These fine statements do not follow a single formula, but seem to fall into five categories:

Articulate Strategy
The approach I find most powerful is one that makes the mission statement a clear guide for framing the work of the organization. Any program or service can be measured against the mandate articulated in the statement:
FriendshipWorks:
Reduce social isolation, enhance the quality of life, and preserve the dignity of elders and adults with disabilities in the greater Boston area.
Centerpoint Institute for Life and Career Renewal:
offers lifelong tools to navigate uncertainty, build meaningful careers, and design courageous lives.

Frame Vision
Another option is rather than to offer a specific armature for action, to make a strong statement of purpose in more visionary terms:
Girls' LEAP Self-Defense:
Empowering girls and young women to value and champion their own safety and well-being.
Museum of Science and Industry:
Inspire and motivate our children to achieve their full potential in the fields of science, technology, medicine and engineering.
People for Parks: works for the day that all kids in Los Angeles are within walking distance of a safe park.

Tagline
By condensing the vision a little further, the mission statement can have the qualities of a tagline:
Literacy Advance of Houston:
Transforming lives and communities through the doorway of literacy.
EDGE Outreach:
Empowers ordinary people to provide safe, clean drinking water to the world.
HALO Trust:
Getting mines out of the ground, now.
While I would argue that a valuable tool is given up when the statement is as open-ended as those of EDGE and HALO, their pointed power is hard to resist.

Full Circle
The statement of the Mohonk Preserve is quite striking. While its mission is local, the means it uses is to inspire a larger, embracing set of values:
The mission of the Mohonk Preserve is to protect the Shawangunk Mountains by inspiring people to care for, enjoy, and explore the natural world.

Paint Description
A more common technique is to paint a vivid picture of what the organization is trying to achieve:
Cancer Connection:
is dedicated to encouraging and guiding people living with cancer and their loved ones along the cancer journey, from diagnosis through treatment and beyond.
Can Do Canines:
is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities by creating mutually beneficial partnerships with specially trained dogs.
The Humane Society of Flower Mound: is dedicated to promoting a respectful, responsible, and compassionate relationship between animals and people.
San Diego Coastkeeper:
aims to protect and restore fishable, swimmable and drinkable waters in San Diego County.

These statements are quite different from each other, and accomplish different things. One size doesn't fit all.

More Collaboration

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Earlier this month I published Critical Issues #16, “All About Collaboration.” In the spirit of the topic, I asked three other consultants (Sophie Parker, Deborah Pruitt and Kate Pugh) to join me in contributing material. Next week I’ve asked them, along with Tom Wolff, to join me in a panel discussion-based webinar, “Collaboration: What Works and Why,” the first time we’ve tried that format with Nonprofit Webinars.

I’ll be soliciting advance questions from early registrants for the webinar, and of course, we’ll take questions during the webinar as well. If the approach is well received, we’ll look for other panel discussion topics.

As I noted in Critical Issues #16, it could be argued that collaboration is the quintessential characteristic of the nonprofit sector. So now I invite all of the readers of this blog and of Critical Issues, and all of the attendees of our webinars, to suggest other innovations we might try to enhance our contributions to education and professional development in the nonprofit sector. Please let me know what you think.

Mission Statement Winners 2012... and More

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:14:00 +0000

It’s time to wrap up the Third Annual Great Mission Statement Competition.

The winner of the Great Mission Statement prize for 2012 is Literacy Advance of Houston with a mission of “Transforming lives and communities through the doorway of literacy.” As discussed in the previous post, this statement captures the essence of the organization in nine vivid and memorable words. Moreover, a level of mission-based engagement is indicated in the comments submitted to the posting of finalists. All of our finalists, and semifinalists, as well as many others, have excellent and effective statements, but the third annual prize goes to Literacy Advance of Houston.

We’ve also selected ten of the entries to the Mission Statement Makeover category to see if we can help them to reshape their mission statements to make them vivid, compelling and memorable. We’ll be sharing the before and after statements in a future post.

For others looking to improve their statements, here are some potentially useful resources:

Critical Issues #7: On Mission
Archived webinar: What’s a Mission Statement Worth?
Great Mission Competition:
- Third Annual Competition Finalists, 2012: 
- Finalists in the 2nd Annual Great Mission Statement Competition  
- Finalists in the 1st Annual Great Mission Statement Competition 
- Mission Statement Makeover Discussion 2011: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
An ongoing discussion/debate with Marlene Oliviera on her blog about the proper nature and use of mission statements :
- Mission statements as marketing: a mistake for non-profits? Part 1, Part 2
An upcoming guest appearance on Dalya Massachi’s monthly conference call program, Writing Wednesdays

Third Annual Mission Statement Competition Finalists

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 21:50:00 +0000

There was a big jump in the number of entries this year, both in the Great Mission Statement category and in the Mission Statement Makeover category. It will take us some time to work our way through the Makeover entries, so stay tuned for that.

To select the semifinalists, I invited three colleagues with nonprofit writing and editing expertise to join me. They were:

Claire Axelrad, Principal, Axelrad Social Benefit Consulting
Scott Bechtler-Levin, Vice President for Collective Impact, Good Done Great
Hillel Bromberg, Director of Grants Development and Administration, Families United in Educational Leadership

Early last week we sifted through a lot of mission statements from very diverse group of organizations that appear to be doing great work across the globe (see last Tuesday’s blog post), managed to pick six semi-finalists in the Great Statement category and presented them in our webinar What’s a Mission Statement Worth?

Help us to pick the winner

Please take a look at the finalists (below) and help us to select the best of the best. To weigh in, submit comments to this blog. You’re welcome to make a pitch for your organization’s mission statement, but no anonymous comments please. We will consider only attributed comments, and post only ones that make a case for why the statement meets either the criteria for excellence summarized below or your own.

During the webinar we described the role of a mission statement, noted its critical characteristics, and shared examples of different kinds of successful—and almost successful—ones.

Briefly summarized, a mission statement has external and internal functions.

Externally, a mission statement is a branding and positioning tool that gets and holds the attention of the public, and underpins the case for giving.
Internally, a mission statement should inspire stakeholders, provide clarity and focus for operations, fortify strategic thinking, structure planning, and point to metrics that will indicate successes.

Some mission statements are very close to taglines, primarily aimed at grabbing attention ; others are crafted more to differentiate one organization from others in the same field. Each nonprofit has its own set of issues, and somewhat different criteria for its mission statement. But in broad terms, a mission statement should articulate the essence of why your organization exists. It can encompass what you are, but should avoid explaining what you do and how. It should be accurate (specific, sufficiently broad, appropriately focused), accessible (concise, simply stated, jargon-free) and effective (differentiating, memorable, compelling).

For more detail on these points you can access the slides or a recording of the webinar and/or take a look at Critical Issues #7: On Mission.

We’ll announce the winner in mid-December.

The finalists:

Literacy Advance of Houston
Transforming lives and communities through the doorway of literacy.

This statement is succinct, compelling and memorable. The words are all well-chosen and vivid. It is very much a why statement, not a how. Scott said that he liked the word picture (’doorway of literacy’) and the focus on outcome. Claire thought the statement would make a great tagline. Hillel: “it’s evocative and inclusive, and implies the impact of literacy education. The wording offers a nice visual image.”

People for Parks, Los Angeles
People for Parks works for the day that all kids in Los Angeles are within walking distance of a safe park.

During the webinar I mentioned the overlap among mission statements, taglines and vision statements. Just as the previous statement could be a tagline, this statement could be a vision statement, but that does not make it any the less powerful as a mission statement. Claire: “Aspirational, simple, clear and direct. I can already picture the children being helped.” Scott “Their vision is compelling.”

San Diego Coastkeeper
San Diego Coastkeeper aims to protect and restore fishable, swimmable and drinkable waters in San Diego County.

The explanation submitted with this entry sums up my assessment: “In 17 words, San Diego Coastkeeper… provides the image of people actively fighting and protecting our waters for a better future…. Using descriptive words, it provides a picture of what we could have if we just work for it.”
Hillel: “The unusual usage of words grabs attention and makes their goals clear and memorable.” Scott: “I like that it humanizes the benefit of the work they do. Disclaimer: I live / work / surf / sail in San Diego County (but I have no direct relationship).”

Please comment below to help us select the winner.

The other semifinalists:

Can Do Canines
Can Do Canines is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities by creating mutually beneficial partnerships with specially trained dogs.
HALO Trust
Getting mines out of the ground, now.
Humane Society of Flower Mound
The Humane Society of Flower Mound is dedicated to promoting a respectful, responsible, and compassionate relationship between animals and people.

Mission Statement Competiton Entries and Judging

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 02:56:00 +0000

The Mission Statement Competition for 2012 will culminate tomorrow with the webinar What’s a Mission Statement Worth? During the webinar we will present the six semi-finalists selected by our review panel and ask for input from participants.

This year's entries in the mission statement competition represent a diverse group of inspiring causes, in both the Great Mission Statement and the Mission Statement Makeover categories. They include organizations concerned with:

veterans
women and families
young women
young fathers
abused and neglected children
children from troubled families
youth on the Autism spectrum
individuals with Down syndrome
people with disabilities

struggling schools in Third World Countries
shoes for children in need
growing food for neighbors in need
rebuilding impoverished communities
providing food and crisis assistance
development of young musicians
protecting and restoring waters in San Diego County
conservation of soil, water
bridging the digital divide

bicycle riding
symphonic music
literacy
education
mentoring
volunteerism
affordable transitional housing
public safety
poverty
adoption
pet overpopulation
sexual health
homelessness
polymicrogyria.
childhood obesity
breast cancer

professional theatre Canada
Mexican culture in Edmonton
landmines in Vietnam
liberty in North Korea
Pan-African people and their communities
communities in Africa
positive interaction between African and Afro-American communities
Central Florida Arab Americans
poverty and economic justice in Vermont

On our review panel this year are:

Claire Axelrad of Axelrad Social Benefit Consulting
Scott Bechtler-Levin, co-founder of IdeaEncore, now part of Good Done Great, where he is Vice President for Collective Impact
Hillel Bromberg, Director of Grants Development & Administration for Families United in Educational Leadership

Join us tomorrow and look for the list of finalists next week.

Third Annual What's Your Mission? Competition

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 23:48:00 +0000

The job of a mission statement is to articulate the essence of why the organization exists. If you don’t articulate it, then it’s very likely that there isn’t an essence at all, just a cloud of assumedly similar individual understandings. So when people advocate working on the mission statement, what they mean is, “Let’s sharpen what we say about our purpose so that we can work more effectively together to achieve it, and draw more people into our fold to support it.”

Externally, a mission statement is branding and positioning. It differentiates your organization from others that may do similar work. It captures most compellingly your case for support. It creates awareness for your cause, and it focuses that awareness on you. It unifies your communications so that when people hear about the organization from any source, the message is the same and reinforces what they heard before.

Internally, a mission statement is generative tool for clarity and focus. First, the work to create a mission statement itself will raise important questions of intention and priority. If the discussion is difficult, that may mean you need to resolve some differences of direction. If well orchestrated, the discussion will be neither interminable nor tedious, but contained, validating and invigorating.

Does your organization have a Great Mission Statement?

Or are you interested in getting some help with a Mission Statement Makeover?

Enter your nonprofit in the Third Annual What’s Your Mission? Competition. On the entry form you’ll find links to the winners and makeover comments from previous years.

Submit your entry by midnight on Thursday, October 25, 2012.

Selected Great Mission Statement entries will be publicized broadly and discussed in this blog. During our webinar What’s a Mission Statement Worth? on October 31, attendees will help to choose three finalists, followed by an open forum to help select a winner. The winner will receive extensive publicity and a free day of consulting on any aspect of nonprofit strategy, planning or organizational development.

Mission Statement Makeover finalists will receive assistance in creating a new draft mission statement. The winner will receive additional help to take it through internal approvals, and then publicity.

Tips? On Mission

Questions? Click here

Nonprofit Webinars Season 12

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 20:25:00 +0000

With the passing of Labor Day 2012 we'll be ready to launch the fall season of our free weekly professional development webinars for staff and trustees of nonprofits.

This time we'll be joined not only by 6 new and 18 returning presenters, but also by a new sibling, IdeaEncore, the premier resource sharing site for nonprofits, which was adopted over the summer by our parent organization Good Done Great. Together we'll be developing synergies in knowledge sharing for the benefit of nonprofits worldwide.

In the first time slot each Wednesday we address issues of governance, management and organizational development. The second slot is devoted to all aspects of institutional advancement

For more information on the complete season and the archive of past webinars go to http://bit.ly/SyPwebinars

To register for any of the webinars we've posted so far, click on a listing in the box in the right hand column.

September 5:
Top 10 Reactions to Performance Feedback (Jamie Resker, Employee Performance Solutions)
Video Event Checklist (Roberto Mighty, Celestial Media)

The rest of the fall:

Governance, Management & Organizational Development
Understanding Power Dynamics at Work (Claudette Rowley, Metavoice)
Nonprofit Boards and Effective Governance (Sam Frank, Synthesis Partnership)
Outputs vs. Outcomes: Measuring Progress (Natasha Golinsky, Next Level Nonprofits)
Financial Management for Mature Organizations (Anthony Reese, Olive Grove Consulting)
Adaptive Work Systems: The Power of Strength in Relationships (Bernard Mohr & Neil Samuels)
What's a Mission Statement Worth? (Sam Frank, Synthesis Partnership)
Facilitating Virtual Meetings (Rick Lent, Meeting for Results)
Empowered Conversations: From Debate to Dialogue (Gil Lazan, Amauta International)
Data-Driven Decision-Making (Rena Cheskis-Gold, Demographic Perspectives)
How to Read Nonprofit Financial Statements (Susan Hammond, scHammond Advisors)
Legal and Governance Issues for NGOs Worldwide (Jeff Hurwit, Hurwit & Associates)

Institutional Advancement
Auction Revenues for Nonprofits (Tom Weitbrecht, Strategic Auction Alliance)
Big Giving Results (Rod Miller, Rod Miller, ExecIAE)
Corporate Sponsorship (Lewis Flax, Flax Associates)
List Building (Kirsten M. Bullock, Growing Your Donors)
How to Get 100 New Donors in 90 Days (David Mersky, Mersky, Jaffe Associates)
Indie Publishing for the Nonprofit Leader (Dalya Massachi, Writing for Community Success)
Top Seven Fundraising Tips (Darian Heyman, Social Media for Nonprofits)
Guaranteed Simple Steps to Raise Planned Gifts (Viken Mikaelian, PlannedGiving.com)
Your 2013 Fundraising Plan (Tina Cincotti, Funding Change)
4 Simple Steps to Fundraising (Sandy Rees, GetFullyFunded)

Nonprofit Webinars is a pro bono service of Good Done Great and Synthesis Partnership. Since January 2010 we have offered free weekly professional development presentations for staff and trustees of nonprofits. Over that time we have had more than 35,000 registrations, including attendees from all 50 states and 6 continents. In their evaluations attendees frequently volunteer that the webinar was one of the best they have attended, free or not.

We are always looking for compelling topics, excellent presenters, added exposure, …and sponsors to cover our modest costs. Contact me or go to nonprofitwebinars.com for more information.

Working Together

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:15:00 +0000

In recent years there has been a lot of talk in the funding community about reducing overhead expenses of nonprofits by eliminating redundancies. Quite often this is intended to mean mergers. Setting aside the question in any given case of whether a merger really makes as much sense on close inspection as it does as an outside idea, there are at least two major hurdles for mergers: it is very difficult to get executive directors and boards interested in pursuing them (for all kinds of reasons), and if a merger were to be consummated, the operational, strategic and cultural integration is daunting (also for all kinds of reasons).

A much easier way to reduce wasted efforts and resources is some form or other of collaboration. Nonprofits can work together to extend their reach and increase their effectiveness in serving their mission at a number of different levels:

At the most basic level, separate organizations providing services for the same population may be able to serve their missions more effectively by coordination. This can be a matter of simply sharing calendars—soup kitchens serving meals on different days or times, independent schools consulting on snow days, organizations avoiding scheduling conflicts for fundraising events.

Beyond an arms-length scheduling relationship, organizations may be able to find common ground for cooperation. Performing arts groups or venues can jointly host a festival. Social service agencies have found it advantageous to discuss and agree on the array of services they provide—differentiating services, geographies or populations. Similar organizations gain valuable insights by pooling a wide variety of data in benchmarking consortia.

At the next level, nonprofits collaborate to achieve a goal that neither is capable of alone. Some advocacy organizations routinely form coalitions to integrate strategy in publicity, lobbying, or other action. Cultural organizations come together to create joint exhibitions and performances on a timely theme.

When a collaboration seems like a good long-term idea, organizations may enter into a more formal joint venture arrangement. This degree of integration shares some of the pitfalls of a merger, however, and should be examined very carefully before entering into contractual arrangements. One example from our work of a joint venture is Heritage Harbor Museum. Nineteen or so small organizations joined forces to form a collective museum. This was an inspiring idea that turned out to be much more difficult to realize than any of the participating organizations realized.

More on working together in a future post.

Good Tension

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:51:00 +0000

An informed consensus around mission and the strategic pursuit of it is essential to the effectiveness of a nonprofit. In some areas, however, an easy consensus is not a sign of health, at all, but rather of insufficient diversity of perspectives.

A dynamic tension between opposing perceptions is fundamental to healthy governance. A board that accepts recommendations with little discussion and then accepts them unanimously is doing no better service to its fiduciary responsibilities than one that is unable to agree at all to a course of action.

Some differences can’t—and shouldn’t—be resolved, they can only be managed. In many nonprofits some trustees serve out of deep commitment to a cause, but with little concern for the details of management or finance. Others may have been recruited specifically to bring financial, legal or other professional expertise to the board. These trustees are also devoted to the mission. Why else would they devote their time, energy and financial support to the organization?

When it comes time to discuss the budget, or to prioritize the strategic plan, or to distribute committee assignments, the board may find itself at an impasse. Those whose focus is financial sustainability or the importance of strengthening management resources may be unable to communicate effectively with those who see only the urgent need to apply all possible resources to programs and services. Those who see an urgent need to maintain or enhance facilities may be frustrated trying to discuss the budget with those for whom insufficient staff salaries and benefits, or financial aid, are the critical priorities.

In these situations, an exercise that allows all parties to see the virtues and drawbacks of their position along with the benefits of the opposing position can set up a much more productive discussion of issues.

A polarity exercise uses a matrix with columns for two opposing priorities and rows for positive and negative characteristics of each position in isolation. The matrix can be filled out in a group discussion, or subgroups can consider in turn each of the quadrants. If there are multiple polarities to consider, they can be addressed by separate breakout groups, but it is best if each participant has the opportunity to contribute to each quadrant of each polarity.

The result of this exercise is that reflexive conflict is diffused in favor of reflective discussions. By taking the issues out of their usual decision-making context and examining them dispassionately, all participants are enabled to see the necessity for balance.

Succession

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:40:00 +0000

Critical Issues #14: Managing Change will be out tomorrow. One important moment of change in a nonprofit is the transition of an organization from dominance by a founder (or other individually dominant leader) to a more mature organization with different needs and multiple roles.

In its simplest construct, the issue is one of succession. Succession planning is typically about identifying and developing people internally to be able to step up to leadership.

In a small to medium sized nonprofit there may not be staff candidates with the requisite executive skill set. Often the board's discussion focuses on how to identify an external candidate. This simply perpetuates the reliance on an individual rather than an institutional infrastructure. It may work, but it's not moving the organization to the next level.

A more meaningful change toward sustainability involves engaging stakeholders (board, volunteers, staff) in developing the organization more broadly, and clearly articulating its mission, values, and operations. The biggest components of this effort are usually board development and governance work, and strategic planning. Doing this work will

prepare the organization to guide its next CEO to build on accumulated experience and wisdom
serve to attract the best candidates for the position by assuring them that there is a solid base to work from
provide an initial trajectory for the new CEO to follow while getting to know the organization

I have been asked quite frequently whether a nonprofit facing the retirement of a long-term CEO should put off strategic planning until after the new person is hired, to give her the opportunity to shape the strategy to fit her vision.

The answer, for the three reasons bulleted above, is to do the planning —and governance work —now. The candidate you want to hire is one who will see any of this preparation as an asset, both in evaluating the opportunity and in starting the job. It's a better bet to have to redirect a moving ship than to wonder what it will take to get it moving at all. This is true for a founder transition, or for a later one.

SWOT

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 19:15:00 +0000

The SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) exercise is a stock feature of strategic planning processes. Over 100 comments in a recent LinkedIn group discussion testify to a wealth of opinion on the subject.

I have often used the technique with nonprofit clients, and have found that a few tweaks can make it much less confusing and more effective.

One challenge in a SWOT exercise is maintaining participant focus on the distinctions among the categories. Depending on how a suggestion is phrased, there can be ambiguity about which category it should go into. Either the facilitator stifles the energy by wielding too much control or one idea suggests another, and the discussion wanders around, losing coherence. Here are two tips for keeping focused:

In structuring the exercise, I start with external factors, outside of the organization’s control, the Opportunities and Threats. These are the easiest to isolate.

Once we go through external factors, I break the internal factors (Strengths and Weaknesses) down into three subcategories:

Inputs (eg. human resources, funding, facilities)
Processes (e.g. programs, operations, governance)
Outputs (e.g. quality and impact of programs and services)

By proceeding through the topics in that order, participants’ thinking is channeled more effectively. Of course, ideas come up outside of the specific category discussions, but much less so than would happen without this structure, and they can be plugged into the right areas along the way.

Another technique can help with SWOT exercises at a large retreat with the board, senior staff and others.

Starting with a blank slate in these settings is overrated. Trustees’ judgment is often best exercised with some prior framing of issues. I have had the staff go through their own SWOT exercise first. I then take the notes from that session and shape them into crisp entries in the appropriate categories. Posting the results of the staff SWOT as a starting point for the retreat saves the board from the frustration of rehashing basic issues from scratch, and allows them to apply their judgment to build on, and perhaps challenge, the preparatory work.

Learning from This Week's Webinars: Managing Change

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:09:00 +0000

Now that I'm thinking about change management for the next number of Critical Issues, I've begun to see a lot of good ideas through that lens.

In Wednesday's webinar on Managing Disruptive Employee Behaviors, Jamie Resker described patterns of substandard or disruptive performance and how to understand and address them. She was talking about normal times, but it was easy to see how the behaviors she described would not only be more of a problem during times of change, but would be exacerbated by the stress of change.

When expectations change (new elements in a job description, new metrics, new requirements for taking initiative, new management styles,… ) staff are likely to experience stress, which will bring out the best in some, but will elicit negative reactions, decreased productivity, and/or disruptive behaviors from others.

Kristen Bullock, talking about How to Get Out of the Muck and Back Into Your Mission, discussed the life cycle of an organization and the variety of psychological/emotional reactions to change. She talked about motivating others and ourselves to reconnect with the sense of purpose that inspired us initially.

Two excellent presentations that happened to build very nicely on each other.

Learning from This Week's Webinars: Building Teams and Managing Change

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Thu, 03 May 2012 02:10:00 +0000

Bob Greene's webinar on today in the Nonprofit Webinars Wednesday series on Building Real Teams touched on some ideas that I've been mulling over about managing change.

Bob talked about how groups become teams, and how an organization can support—or undermine—the process. As Bob described it, team success requires shared intentions, shared effort, clear communication, and leadership. Organizational leaders need to ensure that the environment supports team performance and that expectations are clear, and they need to model the behavior they are trying to foster. He talked about systems thinking and used the metaphor of ecology.

This is what I consider the essence of successfully managing change, most particularly in the strategy development and implementation phases (see previous post).

Of course there are major differences between a small, focused work team and the aggregate staff and disparate functions of a large or even mid-sized nonprofit. But the characteristics of effectiveness are not so different. It's just that much more difficult to shape strategy and implement new behaviors at a larger scale.

Managing Change

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Tue, 01 May 2012 03:28:00 +0000

I describe my consulting practice as advising nonprofit organizations “facing or creating change.” This phrase captures some of the compelling reasons for strategic planning (Critical Issues #1: Why Plan?), but it doesn’t really address the usual outcome of it, the need to manage change.

Organizational development is a primary characteristic of a good strategic planning process—by way of engagement, transparency and learning—and this is a good start to managing the change that emerges from it.

But whether or not change emerges from strategic planning, its arrival is disruptive. Change management is the art of helping people to adapt to change—a founder who needs to be repositioned, a board that needs to take on a different role, managers who need to develop different styles of leadership, staff who need to accept changes in their responsibilities.

In all of these cases, successful management of change requires five things:

Identify (or recognize) the need for change
Define the change that’s needed
Develop a strategy for change
Implement the change
Assess effectiveness

Details and examples to follow.

Action!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Frank) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:36:00 +0000

Currently I am advising a client on how to do a strategic plan internally, with only the most minimal involvement from me, the external consultant. It’s an approach that I greatly enjoy, because it is an especially good way to transfer of knowledge and experience, leaving the client in a much better position to work strategically on their own in the future. Yesterday we got to the point of discussing how to develop measurable action items for the plan. Here's the overview of my response:

Once you have agreed on Mission-Based Goals and Supporting Objectives, it’s time to develop measurable action items.

Since you want the implementation of the plan to be the work of everyone in the organization, the best way to assemble a preliminary list of action items is to ask everyone working within in the organization to participate in identifying what need to be done. This involves the people who actually know what is and isn’t being done already, and what might be most effective. Beyond this purely operational dimension, an inclusive process also focuses everyone’s attention on the strategic goals and objectives. Getting people’s attention is the first step in breaking old habits and thinking strategically about new possibilities.

All staff groups and board committees (and other volunteer categories, if they exist) should be asked to come up with action items not only for the objectives that are clearly theirs, but for all of the objectives they think they can contribute to. By ignoring narrow definitions of direct responsibility, this approach strengthens both the plan and the organization directly with a sense of common purpose.

There are different ways to handle this request for action items from staff. Each department could get together and brainstorm, or the manager responsible could start a list and ask for elaboration, or cross-departmental discussion groups could be assembled so that staff can stimulate, encourage and challenge each other.

Of course, the planning committee and/or senior staff, and perhaps the board (for their own action items, not the staff’s), need to review and edit the action items for relevance and effectiveness. They will also likely have to add in some action items; confirm the timing, assign responsibility and project resource requirements; and prioritize them to reflect affordability and achievability.

Whatever method is used to gather ideas from staff, it is important to convey to the participants that they shouldn’t worry that anything they mention will simply be added to their responsibilities. At the end of the process, once the action items are finalized, job descriptions should be reviewed to make sure that they reflect strategic priorities, both by including new tasks and by eliminating less important things. In most nonprofits staff is already working to capacity. The idea is to work smarter, not harder.

Typically a strategic plan is thought of as having a three- to five-year life span. That should be true of the goals and objectives; in fact many of them may endure much longer than that. The action items, however, need to be reviewed every year, as part of annual planning. Once a full year of actions has been accomplished, the situation and needs of the organizations may have changed. The remaining actions may no longer be the top priority. A clear process of renewal through annual planning should be articulated as part of the implementation plan.

Finally, it is often valuable to assemble a plan in two versions, one with the action items, for internal use; the other with just descriptions of the goals and objectives, for public consumption. An extra benefit of this approach is that each version can be refined with reference to the other. Are the action items necessary and sufficient to accomplish the objective as described? Does the description of the objective correspond to the action items identified? This can be a very effective check on the completeness plan.