January 27, 2012 | Tom Suddes
Only 14% of people are FULLY ENGAGED at work!!!
Talk about back-up/real research to support ‘WRONG PEOPLE OFF THE BUS’!!
HR Consultant Towers Perrin surveyed 85,000 workers at large and mid-size companies in 16 countries.
THE SURVEY RESULTS: VERY FEW PEOPLE GO THE EXTRA MILE!!!
- • 14% (!) of workers are FULLY ENGAGED on the job (willing to go the extra mile for their employers, doing more than their job description requires, etc.)
- • 62% (!!) are ‘MODERATELY’ ENGAGED.
- • 24% (!!!!) (the remainder) are DISENGAGED!
That’s 86% of ‘employees’ moderately engaged or totally disengaged.
The leader of the Towers Perrin practice in the Chicago office said the following:
“ENGAGEMENT requires a worker’s HEART as well as MIND. It involves not just an EMOTIONAL attachment to the company but also a RATIONALE way to channel those EMOTIONS to elevate a company’s performance.”
Remember: Making Progress in Meaningful Work.
Special Note: They went on to say that “ENGAGEMENT levels vary from industry to industry, but the most striking variance involves NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. NOT-FOR-PROFIT (FOR IMPACT) WORKERS TEND TO BE MORE COMMITTED THAN EMPLOYEES AT FOR-PROFIT CONCERNS BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE IN THEIR EMPLOYER’S MISSION.” (My caps)
DUH?! Really?! Of course!
In the For Impact world, we already know this. We didn’t need a survey. Our PEOPLE/TALENT are, for the most part, deeply committed and fully engaged which is why we can achieve so much, with so little.
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January 26, 2012 | Tom Suddes
Every organization I know is struggling with ‘HIRING’ issues.
The Big Idea: INTERVIEWS are a worthless waste of time when it comes to decisions on TALENT.
I extrapolated this idea from an article, Why It May Be Wiser to Hire People without Meeting Them, by Dan and Chip Heath (authors of MADE TO STICK) in a June, 2009 FAST COMPANY.
The real nugget for me in this was the idea of the ‘SIMPLE JOB TEST’.
*The Heath’s even use a ‘nonprofit‘ as an example!
BOTTOM LINE:
- • If you’re hiring somebody to write… ask them to write something!
- • If you’re hiring somebody to solve problems… ask them to solve a problem!
- • If you’re hiring somebody to SELL something… ask them to SELL YOU SOMETHING!!!
This last one is terribly important when it comes to Development Officers, Major Gift Officers, and (would strongly suggest) when it comes to CEO’s, Executive Directors and Leaders in the For Impact World. If these people can’t SELL, you shouldn’t hire them.
Special, Special Note: I urge you to take this ‘TEST’ and IDEA even further.
I’m a huge proponent of bringing people on as ‘Independent Contractors‘… for 30 to 90 days… to see if they can actually do the job!!!
This makes it really easy to see if they’re the right fit… and that they can actually do the job.
***Here’s a great example from a university:
Terrific candidate. Exceptional resume. A perfect fit ‘on paper’. Wowed everybody during the ‘interviews’.
However, still hired as Independent Contractor. Given a ‘three-month test period‘.
Result: The guy is still terrific; but… it wasn’t the right fit! He found out that this wasn’t something that he really wanted to do. We found out he really couldn’t do what we wanted. (Present Opportunities to Qualified Prospects… and Close.)
He will continue to work hard for the university, but as a volunteer not as staff.
Everybody ended up winning using this ‘TEST’ model.
Something to think about.
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January 25, 2012 | Tom Suddes
Just finished one of the best ‘work’ weeks of my (long) life.
I wanted to share what’s going on in Ireland with the For Impact Community… as much of what we’re doing over there is a direct result of the work we’ve done with many of you!
I was with 25 different organizations over the course of the week and I wanted to share 3 big (common) takeaways:
- 1. Change Your Vocabulary! I’m still amazed every time we do this. The change in words is not semantic gymnastics. It helps people change the way they think… and talk… and then act.
- 2. Do The Math. Over and over and over again… this concept of Doing The Math has contributed to more impact and more change than just about anything else. ‘Blue’ Math around the Impact and ‘Red’ Math around your Staff & Team and ‘Green’ Math around your Cost of Delivery, Funding Model, etc. is HUGE!
- Note: “People buy on EMOTION and justify with LOGIC.” Zig Ziglar
- The ‘Math’ and the ‘Numbers’ is where you can provide the LOGIC, the justification within your Case for Support, the Return-on-Investment, the Value Proposition, Where the Money Goes, what you need to Fund Your Vision and much more.
- 3. 1,000-Day Plans. We are building 1,000-Day Plans for almost every organization we are working with in Ireland. 2012 + 2013 + 2014 = (VISION) 2015! These 1,000-Day Action Plans and 1,000-Day Funding Plans are 1,000 X (times) more powerful than 5-Year Strategic Plans!
- ***Email me if you want some more information or detail on these 1,000-Day Plans.
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January 25, 2012 | Tom Suddes
Success Magazine, February 2012, has a truly great article about Darell Hammond and his organization KaBOOM!
To grab your attention, since 1995, KaBOOM has built 2,000 community playgrounds, raised over $200 Million and enlisted major corporate sponsors like Home Depot and Ben & Jerry’s, and rallied one million volunteers… with 5.5 Million children now having safe places to play!
Read more here on this great social entrepreneur’s thoughts on setting goals, visualization, motivating team members, innovation and more.
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January 24, 2012 | Tom Suddes
While in Ireland two weeks ago, I got to sit in on the actual taping Dragon’s Den hosted by my new friend and entrepreneurial role model, Gavin Duffy. Gavin and his much, much, much better half, Orlaith, are both amazing and talented people having huge impact in Ireland.
On my way home, I was reading the new issue of SUCCESS MAGAZINE featuring a great article on the U.S. version of Dragon’s Den called INSIDE THE SHARK TANK.
Here’s a quick summary of ‘Shark Bites’ (quotes) from the article:
On Message: “100% of the entrepreneurs who got deals were able to articulate the opportunity in 90 seconds or less showing you why if I were an investor I would make money!” Kevin O’Leary Read more
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January 24, 2012 | Nick Fellers
A Master Prospect List is a list of your most important prospects rated and ranked in descending order of importance (DOI).
This is a very important part of our sales system. Rarely, do we see an organization with a TRUE Master Prospect List when we start working with it.
This is a tough concept for most organizations to embrace but it’s a simple concept:
- MASTER = ONE LIST. Not ‘one list for the gala’ and ‘one list for annual fund’. And, certainly not ‘fifteen reports from Razor’s Edge’.
- Most Important Prospects. If you receive half your funding from the government then the government is ALWAYS your most important prospect.
- Re: Individuals, Corporations, Foundations… a gift received yesterday does not remove the ranking of relationship.
- Smaller organizations should focus on their top 33 prospects. Larger organizations (e.g. Colleges) should maintain the same focus but take the ranking out to 100+ prospects.
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January 17, 2012 | Tom Suddes
Making Progress in Meaningful Work
In my last post on THE PROGRESS PRINCIPLE, I suggested that this could be life/organization/team changing.
I hope you had a chance to read the article and notice that the biggest ‘epiphany’ for both the authors and everyone engaged in this study was the #1 most potent force that impacts Work Life:
MAKING PROGRESS IN MEANINGFUL WORK.
Not money. Not titles. Not bonuses. Not country club perks.
“PROGRESS… in MEANINGFUL WORK!”
We in the For Impact World have the best opportunity of any organizations to provide MEANINGFUL WORK!
It’s up to us if we are helping people make PROGRESS.
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January 13, 2012 | Tom Suddes
Pay attention. What follows could be life/organization/team CHANGING.
On an all-night flight to Ireland, I read one of my favorite ‘magazines’, ROTMAN, cover to cover.
I love this quarterly publication from the University of Toronto and Roger Martin, design-thinker to the best leaders in the world.
THE PROGRESS PRINCIPLE: Optimizing Inner Work Life to Create Value.
*“Inner work life is the constant stream of emotions, perceptions and motivations that people experience (during) the work day.”
‘Inner Work Life‘ is (obviously) a huge part of a team member’s (aka associate, employee, staff, Googler, or whatever) contribution to success.
Here are the 3 biggest forces identified by the authors as the most potent forces that support ‘Inner Work Life’:
- 1. PROGRESS. Making progress in meaningful work.
- 2. CATALYSTS. Receiving catalysts, things that directly help get the work done.
- 3. NOURISHMENT. Benefiting from interpersonal (nourishing) events that uplift people at work.
Authors Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer have put together a compelling case on the benefits of understanding, and impacting, your team’s ‘Inner Work Life‘!
*Article adapted from THE PROGRESS PRINCIPLE.
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January 12, 2012 | Kerry Suddes
For Impact Live: Custom Training Sessions 2012
Happy New Year to the For Impact Community! The new year brings new opportunities to connect with us live and in person via For Impact Training, Workshops, Teleseminars and Office Hours.
In 2011, we launched a special Custom Training opportunity for organizations that need help with their message and funding plan. This special session is a valuable and affordable way to get customized help from For Impact. Each 1.5 day session (with Nick Fellers/Tom Suddes) involves simplifying your message, building your funding plan and training around a true sales process. We bring together up to five small organizations to provide group training exercises that have been proven to generate funding results.
Key Deliverables:
- Strategy to help customize:
- Message
- Funding Rationale
- Help with Prospect Strategy
- A Funding Plan
- Sales (Engagement) Tools
- Draft Engagement Tool completed by our Design Team.
- Three months of strategic support in the form of a coaching call check-in at 30, 60 and 90 days after the training.
- One year of continued online training and support ($2500 value)
We are excited to announce initial dates and locations for this Custom Training session in 2012:
- February 23 – 24, 2012: Phoenix, AZ
- April 17 – 18, 2012: Columbus, OH
- May 15 – 16, 2012: Columbus, OH
Interested? Please contact me to learn more, kerry@forimpact.org.
P.S. We use each training opportunity to help our community apply the frameworks that we’ve used in the field to raise $2Billion – Including the entrepreneurial thinking shared in our W.O.W. emails, tools to frame your message, a sales process for funding, and a relationship-based funding model. Check back often for training, teleseminar and workshop updates on our event calendar. Or better yet, send me message with an invitation to visit your community!
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January 10, 2012 | Tom Suddes
All of us have probably come across Jim Collins’ eponymous quote:
“Get the RIGHT PEOPLE on the BUS.
Get the WRONG PEOPLE off the BUS.
Get the RIGHT PEOPLE in the RIGHT SEATS.”
Regardless of how many times you’ve heard this, it’s a very powerful way to begin this New Year! It applies to your staff and your board.
NOW is the best time to sit down with all of your current people and have a BUS conversation!
- • Are they on the right bus?
• Are they in the right seats?
• Do they know what direction the bus is going?
***In a 24-hour period last week, I spent three hours each with two wonderful super-women advancement leaders going over the ‘organization structure‘ and their ‘bus‘. Here are 10 big things that we talked about:
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1. Who, Not How
2. If the Job Could Talk
3. Ideal Profile
4. Heart, Head & Heads
5. Screw the Interview
6. Focus on Strengths
7. Eagles & Ducks
8. The Talent Spectrum
9. Mavericks & Crazy People
10. Circles vs. Boxes
I’m in Ireland this week but I’m going to try to write up the support on each of these nuggets.
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About For Impact
We help "nonprofits" fund their visions through training, coaching and consulting based on 25+ years of experience and $1Billion+ raised directly and $1Billion via coaching/training. For Impact is also our message, our commitment and a movement.
