ASI is now well positioned to communicate its activities as an independent verification services provider. The new website provides pertinent, comprehensive and timely information about ASI’s activities, accredited certification bodies and assessments. – Sam Ponder, Managing Director, Accreditation Services International

Behind the scenes, accreditation bodies ensure that labels like FSC, MSC and Rainforest Alliance are regularly verified by competent, unbiased, independent certification bodies. This work gives them an unmatched insight into the global realities of sustainability standards systems. What a pity then if this knowledge remains inaccessible!

Throughout 2011, ON:SUBJECT worked with Accreditation Services International to transition their previous static website to a dynamic information hub driven by the open source content management system WordPress.

www.accreditation-services.com

Once more I would like to express that I am extremely happy with the launch of your new website. It is great!!! Good job! – Supply Chain Manager, Marine Stewardship Council

Monday, 19 March, 12:30-14:00
Brussels, Location tbc

Theme: Enable, Encourage, Engage, Exemplify – Strategies towards Transition

Behaviour change is all the rage these days. But how can we make it happen? Jan Feijen from Cofely Services introduces the 4E model and the work of the Belgian researcher Peter Tom Jones on transitions towards sustainability.

Sign up here to reserve your seat (and book your food).

An excellent chance to meet new people and old acquaintances from across the nonprofit, public and the private sector.

Monday, 20 February, 12:30-14:00
The Hub, Rue du Prince Royal 37, 1050 Brussels

Theme: How to build your web strategy around the 5 W (Who? What? Where? When? Why?)

Everybody having to deal with communication knows these five little words and how powerful they can be with storytelling. But how can we use them when thinking about the web? Jérôme Coupé, Web Wizard for the International Polar Foundation, will lead a conversation around the article Context First: Web Strategy in Four Handy Ws.

Sign up here to reserve your seat (and book your food).

An excellent chance to meet new people and old acquaintances from across the nonprofit, public and the private sector.

Moodle Camp’s task was to create ten innovative e-learning courses on sustainability and leadership within 2.5 days. Impossible, you say? Well, I thought so, too – until I met the rest of the team. No less than thirteen nationalities were represented in our group of twenty-six, all of them engaging leaders and experts in their fields.

We’re not completely done yet, but lo and behold: We presented our ten modules to an expert panel yesterday afternoon and received a very positive and constructive response.

How do you make such magic happen, you ask? Here are a few things that certainly helped:

1. Create Accountability. The organizers of Moodle Camp dared to take a leap of faith by making appointments with a group of external experts to review the modules after only 2.5 days of work. By setting themselves up for failure, they gained the trust of the group – and everybody stepped up their game to deliver.
2. Crosspollinate. I worked in three different teams in parallel during Moodle Camp. This way, ideas and innovation could travel more easily between groups – and we quickly picked up the importance of using mixed media and interaction in elearning.
3. Diversify. Especially for a global training program like LEAD, the diversity of
   experiences and approaches in the room enriched the design of the modules, not only in the choice of case studies, but also in making sure that we take different cultural viewpoints into account.
4. Distort Reality. Apparently, Steve Jobs had a habit to tell his engineers “It can be done. Don’t be afraid” whenever they claimed that projects and timeframes were impossible. This story became a meme during Moodle Camp.
5. Check in and Celebrate. When heads started smoking, chocolate appeared out of nowhere. When people started working through the night, an excursion to a nearby pub was at hand. While breaks hardly happened, Moodle Camp’s premise was that pressure and exhaustion wouldn’t help us to reach our goals.

I’m excited about seeing these modules taking shape – and ultimately about seeing more and more people benefit from the insight and approaches that LEAD has to offer. Personally, I’ve learned tons about good strategies for e-learning design (and the software system Moodle), and am looking forward to applying that knowledge in other contexts.

Over to you: Have you ever achieved an impossible task with a group? How?

Still, your meetings are important, and you need to be sure that you get the best possible results. You and your participants have better things to do than sit in yet another unfocused and unproductive workshop.

What can you do?

1. Be clear about the purpose of the meeting. Where do you want to stand by the end of the day? Do you want to brainstorm options, take a decision, generate momentum? Then work backwards: How can you get there?
2. Prepare a facilitator’s agenda. In addition to the overview agenda for participants, prepare a detailed agenda and flow of the meeting. I usually take notes of: time and duration, description and purpose, additional facilitation instructions, material and preparation. I also note roles and responsibilities. Here’s an example of a meeting I led in May: Before the event is starting, do a dry run with all people involved in staging the event.
   Download the template.
3. Think through the participant’s experience. Which questions do they have at various points in the process? When are you going to communicate what in the run-up to the meeting? Do you have an answer for all logistical questions? What is going to happen after the meeting? How are you going to document it and report from it?
4. Assign a Master of Ceremonies. Even when you have clear responsibilities for each session, you’ll benefit from having someone who keeps an eye on the overall timing and atmosphere of the event. This person is then also the first point of call for programme related questions (and possibly logistics).
5. Involve your participants. By definition, your participants are smart and have something to contribute to your meeting (why else would you invite them?). It’s a wasted opportunity to only allow them to speak during the coffee breaks. Use questions to lead the discussion and be clear about the time constraints: Sometimes, 2-3 statements are enough to answer a question.
6. Invest in facilitation training. It’s a lot cheaper to train your staff in the art of facilitation than to rely on outside experts forever. I can recommend the ICA’s Technology of Participation or the Art of Hosting.

What else has helped you to make the best of your meetings?

Update: Apparently counting isn’t my forte. Merging related points is. And suddenly, there were only six steps when seven were promised. Here’s now a bonus point:

7. Honor time. Every single topic on your agenda is important and would probably deserve its own day-long workshop, but alas, that is not what your participants have signed up for. Keeping an event on time means keeping it focused – and more likely to produce results.

Many of the assembled environmentalists and campaigners had mentioned their reliance on organic, fairtrade and other certified products in their attempts to live a responsible lifestyle – and were glad when Sönke and I offered to answer some questions.

Which labels are good, which ones should I avoid?

I like to look at two aspects of a certification scheme:

1. Who is behind the label? Is it endorsed both by renowned nonprofits and by business representatives? Industry-only labels often set a very low bar for entry. Governments sometimes do good work, but not always.
2. How is the label verified? Ideally, the standard setter appoints independent verification bodies to avoid bias. Self-declarations and peer reviews only give a low level of guarantee.

The ISEAL Alliance is an association of ecolabels with ambitious entry criteria on the above two aspects (and some more). Their list of full members only contains the very best labels. A good source for overview information for all kinds of ecolabels is The Ecolabel Index.

At the same time, no label is perfect. All certification schemes rely on indicators that need to be both practical and meaningful at the same time. They mainly work with spot checks, i.e. regular audits.

In today’s globalized and complex supply chains, that alone is a lot better than in most (non-certified) situations. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that every gardener now needs to apply for organic certification: In small, local markets she can provide information and build trust directly with her customers.

How can I get more information about a labeled product?

Most standards systems require two levels of certification: When the product is made (to verify whether the production criteria are met), and finally when it is packaged (to verify whether it is still the same product). The label on the packaging usually contains a small code identifying the responsible certification body (see picture). If you are suspicious that something could be wrong with the product, you can always contact the certification body for confirmation. Standard setters also increasingly provide information on their certificate holders on their websites – have a look at the FSC database for example.

What are your questions about ecolabels?

Did it work? Well, I’ll leave this assessment to my clients – they look pretty happy to me (and they pay their bills without complaint). In total, my seventeen clients gave me a bit more than 25.000 EUR for consulting work, facilitation and one-on-one advice. My ambition for 2012 is to go higher, but I’m quite happy with this figure as a start.

I’m also really amazed when looking at my list of clients. I set out to work with worldchanging organizations, and boy, do these folks change the world:

I’m so happy to be working with you!

Nobody tells you what a learning journey it is to start your own business. My inner learning junkie is happy to have discovered that:

• my French is good enough to teach a class – and Dutch now officially survives a conversation.
• I thrive when I’m working with directly with people – and training as a coach is a good complement to my work as a facilitator and consultant.
• I now know how to navigate the Belgian bureaucracy to start a business.
• working for yourself needs constant experiments with time management.
• there are people around me that support ON:SUBJECT. Special thanks go to:
• Frits Hesselink for the invitation to the CBD Capacity Building workshop in Vilm,
• Christina Jordan for the invitation to the Ashoka Changemakers’ Week in Paris,
• Marcello Palazzi for the invitation to the Tällberg Leader Programme in Sigtuna,
• Edward Kellow for the collaboration on the LEAD Europe Session in Brussels,
• Debuut for keeping my back free, the Hub for the office away from home,
• and the Kitchen Table Program for guilt-free accountability and goofing off.

What next year will bring? We shall see it then. For now:

What did you learn last year? What did you appreciate about ON:SUBJECT?
Do you have any wishes for 2012?

I can hear your frustration in your letter. You’ve served on the board, you’ve done the work and you’ve given the best you can – and still your association fails to change, you write.

You’d like to help them overcome this stuckness as a neutral party, as a facilitator. I applaud your stance. This world needs more people who have the courage to say: “Things aren’t working so well around here. I want to help to improve them.” I also appreciate that you don’t claim to have all the answers or insist on your solutions. You want to help them get moving again – whatever shape that might take.

Here’s one thing you need to know when engaging in this an organizational change process: Even if you know you are right, telling people that they are wrong will only increase their resistance. They will mount a fight as long as you fail to acknowledge their efforts, praise their achievements and bring in some positive spirit. It’s about the shared  vision and purpose, in the end.

As you embark on this adventure of infusing your association with new momentum, keep these steps in mind. They have helped me more than once.

1. Identify the owner of the change, the person that really wants this to happen and is willing to invest some time. You might find that this person is not at the top of the hierarchy. That is okay. You might find more than one person. That is good, too. If you can’t find anyone – then there’s either no need for change or YOU are the owner. That’s also okay, but it’s important for you to know it.
2. Convene a conversation. You will know whether it is most appropriate to speak with people individually or in a group setting. Keep it informal and explorative, but don’t forget to take notes. You might want to ask: How does our association look like when the problem doesn’t exist anymore? In which moments do we already do well? How important is this issue to you and why?
3. Identify the smallest possible next step and use it to generate momentum. Maybe you need to find an official venue for a discussion. As you want to make improvements to organizational policies: Which one is up for review anyway? Is there one that is so obviously outdated that everybody agrees on the needs? Maybe you could look at some other organizations as examples or run a workshop at your annual conference.
4. While you work on this step, apply the qualities, principles and values that you want to bring into the organization to the way you work. That way you can demonstrate that it is possible to create momentum, listen well, build community. Small changes will make way for big changes. Make sure that you keep the focus of your work away from blame and broken structures, and instead talk about interactions, systems and a future where the problem is solved.
5. Take good care of yourself and your mates. Organizational change is difficult and takes time. If you want to go far, go slowly. Take time to connect personally with your companions on this journey, cheer them on and support them. Listen to your own body and your own needs, and make sure that you don’t forget why you’ve embarked on this project.
6. Embrace not-knowing and the groan zone. Every big, meaningful project comes to a point where some people are losing faith in it while others want to get over with it and implement it already. It can feel like nothing is moving – while actually, on an unconscious level, the project is nearing a breakthrough. It’s okay to not always have an answer – but do trust the process, especially when things get hard.

You asked me for pointers and resources, and I noticed that I cannot give you a single guidebook to lead your way. Things that have inspired me include:

• The Solutions Focus (Jackson/McKergow 2002)
• Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making (Kaner 1998)
• The Art of Hosting Workbook (various authors 2010)
• Presence (Senge/Scharmer/Jaworski/Flowers 2004)

I hope these thoughts are useful in some way, and I wish you courage and grounding as you embark on this project.

Love,

* W.

Your fans are the people who really get what you are up to. The donor that will jump through loops to find money for you in his budget. The member that will renew his membership no matter what. The expert who says ‘yes’ the instant you invite her to your event. The guy who responds to every newsletter. Your staff. Your friends. Maybe even your mom.

The best news: you already know their names and email addresses.
All you need to do is to collect them.

Fans are great: They love hearing from you, they want to stay connected and help you out. Because they align with your mission, you’re doing them a favour if you do your best work, tell them about it and ask them to pitch in.

Want ideas and advice? Ask your fans.
Want your new report to be read widely? Ask them to help you circulate it.
Need a volunteer to pitch in? Ask them for recommendations.

The more you adore your fan club, the more they adore you back.

How are you giving your fans a special role in your communications strategy?

Theme: Visual Storytelling for Sustainability with Arlene Birt, Visual Storyteller & Info Designer, Background Stories.

Monday, 23 January, 12:30-14:00
Kamilou, Mundo B, Rue d’Edimbourg 26, Brussels

Sign up here to reserve your seat (and book your food).

An excellent chance to meet new people and old acquaintances from across the nonprofit, public and the private sector.

Update – 24 Jan: Arlene’s slides are below.