I recently came across this article on the secret to landing a job at Google. Applicants go through rounds of interviews with a variety of seemingly odd questions. Yet while the questions may appear unconnected, Google is really trying to gauge the following:

(1) whether you know your field of expertise;
(2) whether you can apply what you know in an unfamiliar context; and
(3) whether you can make “creative” leaps to arrive at a solution.

These three characteristics of their ideal employee struck me as characteristics we all should be developing as we navigate our careers and lead in the nonprofit sector.

1. Do you know your field?

Who are the key people and organizations? What are some big issues or policies on the table that affect your cause? How do the people you serve understand your cause? Beyond your cause there is also your profession. What are some best practices in fundraising? What key texts are useful in designing curriculum?

However, developing expertise isnt just a matter of reading and learning (which are important). It is also about connecting with others, exposing yourself to new opportunities, and putting what you learn into practice. Which brings us to the next question:

2. Can you apply what you know in different contexts?

I’ve recommended working on projects outside of work to keep your skills sharp. This is because knowledge isnt just developed in a vacuum; it is affected by the environments we work in as well. Exposing yourself to new challenges exposes the gaps in skill set while allowing you to hone in on what you’re really good at.

3. Can you make decisions without all of the information at hand?

As I assume more responsibility at my current organization, I find myself in this situation quite a bit. However, I find that rarely am I completely in the dark: I have my experiences and expertise to help guide me as well as an understanding of the context. This is often enough to help me make thoughtful decisions.  So the question really is how do you leverage what you DO know to solve a problem?

What I love about these questions is that in reflecting on them I get a better sense of where I am professionally: what skills and knowledge I have and what I need to build on.

What do you think of these questions from Google?

For most of us, the working day isn’t working for us. From what I hear from many of my educator friends, the school day isn’t working for students, either (I’m guessing many people don’t do their best work at 7:30 AM, like we ask teenagers to do; seriously – whose idea is/was that?). Because of tradition and convention, it seems like many of us are spending our creative hours not creating and our productive hours not being productive. And this is a shame.

If you have job that demands creating, then you need to do the hard work of figuring out when you’re at your creative best and then protect that time fiercely. If there are certain times when you’re in “the zone,” then block off that amount of time and work on your biggest problems.

In fact, go read this by Sarah Peck. Right now. She shares how she works and why the 9-to-5 doesn’t suit her. Rest assured, she’s putting in her 40 hours (or more), but those hours don’t fit nicely within our normal mindset of when someone should be at “work.”

Or, check out this post on the 37 Signals blog about how a remote worker in Spain was able to get more done because of the time difference. You don’t need to move to Madrid or Paris to get the same effect, but the idea has to make you wonder.

Remember, the goal of our work – especially as entrepreneurs or business owners or leaders – isn’t to work a schedule. It’s to create. To take risks, innovate, or be bold. It’s about forward motion, as Matt Cheuvront emphasizes here. If we’re stuck in work or life, it may be because we need to shake up our schedule.

Some jobs don’t make this easy. Based upon who our boss is or where we work (like in regimented shifts), this may not be feasible. Yet.

The world of work is changing and I think you’d be surprised about how flexible a place may be. With a little finesse and a compelling case of numbers, you may get to come in and stay an hour later. If you worked for me and could show that a shifted schedule makes you a better worker (meaning I get more value out of you), then I’m all ears.

Many companies are understanding this in terms of location and are seeing the benefits of letting people work from home (or the coffee shop or the beach or Spain). It’s only a matter of time before we see the same with time.

What do you think?

Do you work an unconventional schedule in order to get more done? What does that look like? And did you have to sell anyone above you on it? 

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Whether or not you’ve found the sweet spot where your passion is used to meet one of the world’s great needs, I think you may find this video helpful.

I had the chance to chat for 30 minutes with Rémy Chaussé recently as part of her online video series.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• How one can determine and articulate his or her passion(s)
• Once determined how one can then go about living out these passions to the fullest
• Helpful reminders about passion, particularly about how we don’t all need to build a career around it

Enjoy!

Rémy Chaussé interviews Sam Davidson from Remy Chausse on Vimeo.

Continue reading »]]> http://www.andrewolsen.net/does-your-newsletter-make-these-4-fatal-mistakes/feed/ 0 http://www.andrewolsen.net/does-your-newsletter-make-these-4-fatal-mistakes/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/npmillennials/~3/N92sqCnGBuE/ http://nonprofitnate.com/2012/02/20/capitalizing-on-capital-campaigns/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:57:53 +0000 Nathan Hand http://nonprofitnate.com/?p=1024 ]]> Last week I hosted a special live Fundchat with Ian Adair on capital campaigns.  There were some fantastic questions and great discussion. Here are the highlights.

How do you know when your organization is ready for a capital campaign?

Here are my top ‘absolutes’…

1. Strong base of sustainable, annual support
2. Strong volunteer engagement in fundraising at the leadership levels
3. A clearly defined and compelling need

Ian shared…

“I think an organization’s knows when it is time to expand when programs and facility space have reached their capacity and other alternatives like remodeling and renovations have been exhausted. “

How should organizations prepare?

You need a strong case statement for support. See these downloadable examples from Tom Ahern.  Feasibility studies are also crucially important. Here are 5 Questions a Feasibility Study should answer and Ian’s 7 goals of a feasibility study.

Where/how do you recruit volunteer help?

Once you have a strong case study and confidence from a feasibility study, you need to recruit your campaign chair. As Ian shared “The feasibility study really sets you up for how the campaign is going to be run and by whom. The chair needs to be some that most cannot not say “no” to. A real influencer in the community who can open doors for others on the committee to make an ask.”

He/she should must have…

1. Ability to make a significant gift
2. Well known/respected in the community (ask around first!)
3. The interest in your mission to engage their closest friends/colleagues
4. Experience fundraising (other campaigns, other boards, etc.)
5. Accessibility
6. The understanding that they will be making asks and recruiting a campaign committee – who will be making asks

For more, learn from the Boy Scouts – who conduct capital campaigns regularly.

When/how do you go public?

Conventional wisdom is that you must have at least 50% committed prior to going public. In a difficult economy, the later the better. You should be confident that the campaign will succeed before even starting, let alone going public.  Ian shared that many foundations won’t consider a proposal until 50%+ is committed and “others, like matching foundation grants, like to be the ones that cross the finish line for you. So if you open up to the public and gets some real head way, once you reach that level where you are almost done a foundation can get you to the finish.”

When you go public, make supporters proud of their help – give them buttons, pins and swag to brag. It builds excitement, interest and ambassadors sharing about the need with other community members.

For the rest of the conversation including how to get a derailed campaign back on track, post-campaign stewardship and major pitfalls to avoid, replay the conversation and follow Fundchat on Twitter.

I was giving a lunchtime talk to a company about some of the core concepts in Simplify Your Life. It was an interesting discussion, because some of the ideas in the book hint at leaving your job once you’ve figured out what it is you’re meant to do in the world. If word gets out that you speak somewhere and everyone quits their job the next day, you’re not likely to get many future bookings.

Ultimately, then, what I highlighted was the notion that for some, our passion needs to become our day job, that there is no truer expression for it. But for some of us, we need to keep our passion a nights-and-weekend pursuit because it’s unrealistic it can become a career or it’s so delicate that spending 40 hours or more a week with it would strain the relationship.

Passion is becoming an oft overused or misunderstood word, and many times I try to reframe the discussion around it. And this is why I like this piece in Harvard Business Review by Oliver Segovia. He challenges readers to abandon the quest for selfish passions in favor of solving problems that affect lots of people the world over.

For many, this is a great idea. Passions tend to look inward: what makes you happy, what you enjoy doing, what gives you the most energy, how you feel most alive. Problems put your focus out there so that you can see what the immediate and future needs of the world are and figure out how to respond.

Better yet, as Segovia notes, problems pay. This may not always be the case with a passion. One of the attendees at my talk that day said his passion was for rugby. He asked how he could build a career around that passion.

I was honest with him. I told him he probably couldn’t. While several jobs exist in the field other than as a rugby player, they’re not in the U.S. So unless he was willing to make a pretty drastic life change and move to New Zealand and work his way up, he may be out of luck. But, his passion could still be fully lived by playing the game with friends on the weekend or keeping up a blog on the subject.

Problems – rather, their solutions – usually come with some kind of way to earn a living. As long as a solution is tied to a funding model (donations or sales) and you can locate a customer base, the pursuit of a problem can be financially sustainable.

The real sweet spot, of course, is to find that job or calling where your deepest passion meets one of the world’s greatest needs (defined as “vocation” by Frederick Buechner). These spots are few and far between, but they’re out there, especially if you chase after your passion with an eye to the horizon looking for problems.

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