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Real Strategic Partners

Posted by: Tom Suddes April 23, 2008

Nick did a terrific role play at Training Camp last week using the ‘LCB OPPORTUNITY (CLOSE)’.

That’s when we do LEADERSHIP CONSENSUS BUILDING… right there on the visit!

Nick did a wonderful job of bringing a ‘Community Bank’ in as a TRUE/REAL STRATEGIC PARTNER!

There was a YMCA Executive Director in attendance. It struck me that groups like the YMCA and YWCA (and many other For Impact orgs) can make incredible use of this word STRATEGIC PARTNER .

It’s more than a “BIG GIFT “. It’s about a REAL… STRATEGIC… PARTNERSHIP… with a REAL… STRATEGIC… RETURN!

Think about it. You’re the YMCA. You already have “CORPORATE MEMBERSHIPS”. A company pays to “join” the Y and position it as an “Employee Benefit” .

Take that a huge step forward. (THINK BIG.)

WHAT IF… a corporation became a REAL STRATEGIC PARTNER???

They made a HUGE INVESTMENT… with a HUGE RETURN. The Y provided the BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP… as part of their Strategic Partnership! The Y sent health professionals and trainers to the company!

The corporation as STRATEGIC PARTNER would treat this as an INVESTMENT… IN THE COMMUNITY! IN THEIR EMPLOYEES’ HEALTH! And, in their BOTTOM LINE!!!

This is not just about YMCA’s. It’s about ALL For Impact Organizations that can think differently and think big about the potential of STRATEGIC (COMMMUNITY) PARTNERSHIPS.

3 Tips For Board Engagement

Posted by: Tom Suddes April 3, 2008

Here is a SIMPLE way to deal with one of the biggest issues facing FOR IMPACT
(Not-For-Profit) ORGANIZATIONS:

HOW TO DEAL WITH YOUR BOARD.

We have been involved in hundreds of Board Meetings, Board Retreats and Board Planning Sessions. And, we’ve had hundreds and hundreds of our training participants ask for more help with How to Deal with Their Board.

We hope this helps.

We have found the best way to look at your Board is based upon 3 A’s:

ALTITUDE. ATTITUDE. ACTION.

1. ALTITUDE.
   • Where (at what ‘ALTITUDE’) are the majority of your Board Members focused at the moment?*Where should they be focused?*We’ve heard so many horror stories of Board members actually dropping down to 3″! (Yes, inches!) They’re concerned about the brand of cola you’re using in your vending machines!Try sharing this ALTITUDE FRAMEWORK with your Board to facilitate a discussion about their role, responsibility and engagement.For what it’s worth, we believe:
     • Your Board, as a collective whole, should be engaged only at 30,000′ around the Vision and the Message and Goals… all at the highest level.
     • Individual Board Members should be engaged as individuals and part of a smaller group to help at the 14,000′ STRATEGY level. They should be engaged based upon their own particular talents and strengths. (Left brain, financial, ‘numbers’ people should be helping with budgets, etc. Right brained, creative entrepreneurial types should be working on strategic partnerships, new delivery mechanisms, etc.)
     • No one should be involved in the ‘details’ of the EXECUTION.***This does not mean that some of your Board will not actually be engaged in some of the work that you do (around both your IMPACT and your INCOME). They’re doing that as part of the team, not as MICRO-MANAGERS!

Here is a very simple ALTITUDE FRAMEWORK that we use in all of our discussions with Boards. We also incorporate it into our presentation design, in meetings and in our planning process.

30,000′	The WHY	VISION
14,000′	The WHAT	STRATEGY
33′	The HOW	EXECUTION

Think about this as it relates to your Board.

2. ATTITUDE. ‘ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING’… and the Attitude of your Board, as well as your Attitude towards your Board, are, literally, everything!
   • If you feed your Board every detail and reams of minutiae at Board Meetings… then that will be their ‘ATTITUDE’.
   • When you have the incredibly outdated ATTITUDE of “Every Board members need to GIVE or GET…” Or, “My Board is responsible for fundraising. They’re supposed to be getting me money…” Then they believe the only reason you want them engaged is for ‘MONEY’!
   • If your ATTITUDE re: helping with the fundraising is “Give us names,” then, Nick would say, “How’s that working for you?”Special Note: Here are our 3 ROLES for your Board:
     1. CHAMPION… your CAUSE.
     2. INVITE… others to get ENGAGED.
     3. INVEST… with a COMMENSURATE COMMITMENT.
3. ACTION.
   • Get the ‘right people on the bus’ (Board)…
     and wrong people off the bus (Board).
   • Change the way you run your meetings! (Use Altitude Framework.)
   • Visit with each Board Member and go over their 3 roles!!!

Here are 3 ideas for immediate action:

Special Note: Here’s a great list of QUESTIONS to engage your Board at the highest level (vs. handing out multi-page, smallest text possible ‘committee reports’).

I Have A Dream

Posted by: Tom Suddes January 21, 2008

Today celebrates Martin Luther King’s legacy. Notice that King did not say “I have a plan.” It was about a BIG DREAM: RACIAL EQUALITY.

King’s contemporaries - John Kennedy and Gandhi - also had BIG DREAMS. Kennedy’s was a Man on the Moon… Gandhi’s was Peace…

Today’s a great day to remember the power of BIG DREAMS!

If Effective Then Plenty of Money Available

Posted by: Nick Fellers January 14, 2008

BusinessWeek featured a story about the world’s top philanthropists in November. The most striking line of the story:

“Most philanthropists, even experienced ones, say that it’s harder to give money away effectively than it is to make it.”
- Beth Cohen, director of the Global Philanthropists Circle (GPG) - an organization created by David Rockefeller’s great granddaughter.

A few thoughts on that point:

1. You should be asking whether or not your org is an effective use of funds.
   
   The answer is yes or no.
   • If NO - then you don’t deserve the money (pretty simple).
   • If YES - then the issue is that you’re not able to communicate your effectiveness.

This goes back to one of our principle message points: Impact drives Income.

I think this is encouraging.

2. Think much bigger about your Impact and Income Tom always shares a great line from his sales mentor who came from the life insurance business, “It’s easier to sell a million dollar policy to a qualified prospect than it is to sell a $10,000 policy to a family member.” Thing big about your qualified prospects. The greater the capacity and philanthropic interest the more difficult it is for that person to be effective (evidence in the BusinessWeek article).

   I recall another BuisnessWeek article from two years (Bill Gates Gets Schooled) ago in which the Gateses communicated thier challenges in giving away money effectively. Specifically, Bill and Melinda were talking about schools and how the Gates Foundation continues to face a lot of challenges in dealing with the ‘education issue’. For the Gateses (and many others), money is not the issue… the solution is.

   This means there is an entire network of investors out there looking for you (if you are an effective investment).

   This is also encouraging.

3. Trust me, most organizations are not out communicating their impact.
   1. Get a visit with a qualified prospects
   2. Share the story around your impact (communicating your effectiveness)
   3. Present the opportunity to make an investment that will change lives, save lives or transform lives
   • Most people don’t go visit with the prospect; they send a letter, don’t hear back, call it a rejection and chalk it up to the idea that he prospect is “getting hit up by everybody.” Or, “It’s a competitive environment.”
   • When they do visit, they ‘ask for money’ (instead of ‘presenting the opportunity’). They don’t communicate the impact. What the prospect hears is, “We want your money.” Instead of, “This is how the investment will change lives, save lives or impact lives.”
   • Or, worse yet, they visit, talk about the NEED for money, share no impact and make no real ask.

So don’t base your assumptions about prospects (people, foundations or corporations) based on what you’ve heard on the street.

While we all know there are plenty of people that have ’short arms and deep pockets’, I have a tough time accepting that judgment about somebody before going to see them — primarily because

Try this.

It makes all the difference in the world. You will be successful and the word on the street will be that you walk on water.

9 Big Board Questions

Posted by: Nick Fellers January 11, 2008

I’ve been a part of dozens of board retreats (leader/observer/participant), meetings and planning sessions in the lasts few years. A traditional strategic planning session lays out goals and actions but often fails to ask some really big driving questions.

What if we asked these questions?

1. What is our purpose or raison d’etre? This is different from mission - which should be the same thing but usually ends up being more about ‘place in the world’ vs. purpose. Raison d’etre literally means REASON FOR EXISTENCE. It’s the WHY question. If you can’t answer WHY then WHAT and HOW are irrelevant.
2. How can we (intentionally) go out of business? As this for the short term (1000 days) or long term (50+ years). You exist to change lives, save lives or transform lives. How often do we re-examine our activities and ask, “Can we find a SOLUTION?”I started to qualify this question - to say that it might not apply to some organizations such as schools. Then, I withdrew my qualification. Ask it anyway; see where the conversation takes you. Education is changing.
3. What would you do with $100M? Or pick a number that is a factor of 10x higher than anything you’re thinking about now. I attended a board retreat last weekend as a board member for Road of Life Cancer Prevention for Kids. With $100M one board member said she would get laws changed to make health education mandatory at an earlier age and another said we should invest in longitudinal studies to understand how health prevention impacts kids. Those are two VERY DIFFERENT priorities and we aren’t doing either right now. Ultimately, the question helped to build consensus around focusing on EDUCATION.Until the question was asked, every debate was about incremental tactics, not vision or even, I would argue, strategy.
4. What strategic partnerships can we pursue? You have finance committees, development committees, marketing committees, campaign committees. If anything, I would like to see a partnership committee. Better yet, just a commitment to partnerships as a core priority (DNA) of the organization.I haven’t seen the numbers in a while but we’re somewhere in excess of 2million nonprofits and many more socially focused businesses (all For Impact). Current structures and strategic planning questions focus on bloat, not partnerships. We’re all trying to make a difference so let’s make a commitment (financial resources) to exploring this full time.
5. How can we maximize our impact? Simple and open-ended… but not asked enough.
6. What are we best in the world at? Jim Collins has made this conversation prevalent in the last few years (revisiting the Hedgehog Concept). It’s ultimately a question of priorities and focus. Consider finding the one thing you do very well and FOCUS on that.I can’t tell you how important this discussion is for your staff. It helps them make decisions about grants, programs, staffing, etc. Equally important is identifying those things that you’re not good at.Side note: I am a big Marcus Buckingham believer. He tells you to focus on your strengths. Our strength at For Impact is in-person training, facilitating and coaching. We’re focusing on ways to do more of that in 2008 (live, via web and on-demand).
7. Should we grow ‘wider’ or ‘deeper’? It’s a scope of services question. Ultimately a lot of ’strategic planning’ comes down to this question. Do we add more depth to our current programs (make them longer, more available, etc)? Or, do we expand our scope of services (diverse offerings, expanded continuum, etc.)? Refer back to question six to help you frame this debate.
8. How much money do we need to achieve our vision? What usually happens: we spend time tweaking funding goals based on last year’s results. It would be of huge value [to everyone] if we knew how much money we really needed to accomplish our vision (annually or over time via a campaign initiative).Reflecting on this, I would say that this question is often asked in preparation for a campaign but it is not asked in relation to our operation (annual). Why not? Instead, we set a number and then allocate it (budget)… every year.
9. What is our business model? Or, what business are we in?
   
   I think this goes along with several other questions and relates to strengths, focus and priorities. It also adds clarity and could even become part of your message.

I think these questions would also SOLVE a lot of the problems I hear about every day:

1. Board engagement / Staff communication: Iit works both ways.
2. Board meetings: If we’re on board about the big stuff it raises the level of the conversation. I think a lot of the comments I hear about board members being too detail focused or staff members seeming unfocused is resolved when we can communicate about and focus on the big picture.
3. The proverbial rat race: Incremental thinking gets incremental results (some times).

Stop Cultivating and Start Communicating

Posted by: Nick Fellers September 28, 2007

“Why do we cultivate people?” As Tom always reminds me, “Cultivation is that thing you do with plants and manure.”

I really, truly don’t understand ‘cultivation’. We are in the business of saving, changing and impacting lives. If you can help someone understand your impact then it’s really not about cultivation; it’s about asking whether or not they want to help you with your cause.

I always reduce this to a simple story in order to emphasize my point. Imagine that you and your prospect were walking around a lake and came upon a drowning child. What would that prospect do? It’s likely she would jump in with full commitment to save the life of the child (so would you). I can’t imagine a scenario where you would first try to spend years getting this person interested in saving children (read: cultivation).

So… if you’re saving or changing lives then you can’t really argue that we need more cultivation. I would propose that the issue at hand is really much more about communication. That is, how you communicate your impact in such a way that is clear, concise and compelling. So clear, in fact, the prospect jumps on board (read: into the lake) to make a major investment in your vision.

If you can communicate the impact, the income will follow. If you can communicate the impact, you can ask for any amount of money on the first (sometimes second) visit. The challenge, again, is that we struggle with our message. Or, we might even have the message, but we’re not out visiting with people, one-on-one, to share the message and present the opportunity for them to help (save the child - as it were).

Your job is to communicate the impact, not spread manure. I know that’s blunt but I want to motivate you to action with this idea. You’re doing great things… so present the opportunity for someone to help… now.

People come from all over the world to training camp because they need more money (Final Training Camp of 2007: October 18-19). This email helps me communicate why we spend the first third of the camp helping organizations with communication and why attendees have success when leaving. They have the ability to communicate their impact in such a way that it is as clear as saving a drowning child.

Note: Many of you don’t need training camp you just need to show the people you’re with how you’re saving lives, changing lives or impacting lives.

PS - If you think my example is too simplistic or unrealistic please know that this same example is what set into motion the greatest philanthropist of our era - I’ve altered the lake example somewhat but stole that from noted philosopher and ethicist Peter Singer who wrote an amazing article last year in the New York Times: What Should a Billionaire Give - and What Should You? In that article he also explains Bill Gates’ moment of clarity around impact that moved him to action.

The Three Big (Business) Questions

Posted by: Tom Suddes September 10, 2007

Here are three big questions for you think about this week.

1. WHAT BUSINESS ARE YOU IN?
2. WHY ARE YOU IN BUSINESS?
3. HOW DOES YOUR BUSINESS WORK?

Nick and I have been working with a lot of wonderful organizations in the last 60 days… especially helping them with their MESSAGE, PRIORITIES and FUNDING PLAN.

It struck me this morning that IF every one of us and our organizations could answer ‘THE THREE BIG QUESTIONS‘… it would help us:

• COMMUNICATE OUR MESSAGE.
• FOCUS ON OUR PRIORITIES.
• MAKE BUSINESS DECISIONS/CHOICES.

I know that somewhere in the back of my (old) brain… these questions are driven by Peter Drucker, Jim Collins, Tom Peters and others.

However, I don’t know that I’ve ever stated them this clearly.

My CHALLENGE for you this week:

ANSWER THESE THREE BUSINESS QUESTIONS (as best you can)!!!

Three Quick Notes:

1. WHAT business are you in… should be answered at the HIGHEST LEVEL!!! (Drucker’s old line about being in the ‘RAILROAD’ business or in the ‘TRANSPORTATION’ business might help.)
2. WHY are you in business… is all about your VISION and your IMPACT and your RAISON D’ETRE.
3. HOW does your business work… is all about your BUSINESS MODEL and your BUSINESS PLAN and your FUNDING/REVENUE STREAMS.

P.S. Collins uses three CIRCLES.

I think this also works.

Let me know if this helps CHANGE THE GAME!

Altitude: For visits, business and board meetings

Posted by: Nick Fellers July 17, 2007

Altitude - for your board meetings, business, presentations and, well… everything!

We want to remind you of one great framework that will change the way you run meetings, provide coaching/counsel and order your presentations. It may even change the way you do business.

As this applies to your MESSAGE:

You are so immersed in your programs that you want to talk about the HOW (programs) at 33′. You need to stop! Go back up to 30,000′ and start with the WHY (your purpose, cause, message, etc.). If someone doesn’t understand or buy-in at the 30,000′ level then there is NO POINT in dropping down to 14,000′ (or 33′!).

As this applies to your PRESENTATION FLOW (on a visit):

Use this to create call flow. Start at 30,000′, then continue to 14,000′ and then 33′.

As this applies to your BUSINESS or ORGANIZATION:

WHY are you in business? WHY are you in this funding campaign? Answer this at the 30,000′ level. We challenge you to take five minutes and answer this question right now. To make a point: 50% of those reading this email cannot answer the WHY question. 98% can’t answer it clearly and concisely. If you have no clue, then drop everything and call a time-out.

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

- Peter Drucker

As this applies to BOARD MEETINGS:

Run these at 30,000′… occasionally dipping down to 14,000′. A board meeting should never get to 33′ (even though many run at three inches!!!).

There are literally so many WOW ideas as you start applying the altitude framework.

Let us know how this applies to you, your plan, or your organization.

Board Roles and Responsibilities

Posted by: Nick Fellers May 4, 2007

I just gave two sessions on COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP at the Franklin University Symposium on Leadership.

Almost every ‘COMMUNITY LEADER’ I know is engaged on some BOARD for their church, school, United Way, social service agency, whatever.

Special Note: I led off my session on COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP by simply writing this on a flip chart:

“LEADERS LEAD.” (Any questions?)Here’s what I shared with them.

I am always AMAZED… STUNNED… OVERWHELMED… that there does not seem to be a SINGLE ‘NOT FOR PROFIT‘ that has figured out the ROLE and RESPONSIBILITY of the BOARD!!!

I have done a considerable amount of work with colleges, large national associations, almost every Catholic secondary school in America (at least that’s what it seems like), the leaders and national models in cancer research, international education, homelessness, healthcare, museums and much more.

Every single one of these groups… along with pretty much every organization who has attended our workshops or training camps… has a HUGE PROBLEM with this whole BOARD ROLE & RESPONSIBILITY.

ACTION:

You can share this WOW E-Mail with your team, board members and other community leaders.

I’ve also provided stand-alone one-pagers to go deeper on each of these.

• BOARD RESPONSIBILITY
• BOARDING (FUNDING) ROLE
• ALTITUDE / ATTITUDE

New Sources of Ideas and Inspiration

Posted by: Tom Suddes February 27, 2006

One of the things I learned a long, long time ago (from really smart, creative and innovative people) was that you need to READ and SEE “OUTSIDE” your SECTOR/ SUBJECT AREA.

If you only read things within your “industry” (nonprofit world) or specialty (finance, social service, education or development), you will just be reviewing a lot of STATIC, STAGNANT THINKING.

Here are some recommendations:

1. 3 MANDATORY Reads: Magazines
   • FAST COMPANY (Great ’stuff’ to spur creativity and innovation!)
   • INC. (Valuable, relevant ideas to help your run your FIO.)
   • Any magazine you can find at Barnes & Noble on DESIGN.
2. 3 MANDATORY READS: Newspapers
   • USA Today (A very ‘fast’ read with a much broader perspective, with some terrific, positive articles.)
   • A SUNDAY PAPER from OUTSIDE your city.
   • Your Local ‘Business’ Paper. Great articles. Great leads.
3. 3 ‘VISITS’ with your TEAM
   • A DESIGN Place (IKEA, Crate & Barrel, A Museum)
   • An ‘EXPERIENCE’. Take the team to Cirque du Soleil, the next Pixar movie (Cars), whatever. (If they can come up with this imaginative fun movie about CARS … think what you can do!) Or, even go into Starbucks and view the ‘EXPERIENCE’ together.
   • The OUTDOORS. Nothing beats the mountains, the desert or a beach to get your creative juices flowing.

P.S. When you TRAVEL, you should always try:

• A walk/run to explore the city … looking for ads, signs, marketing ideas, new billboards, innovative delivery and service practices, etc.
• Always check out a museum or some other DESIGN space … for ideas.
• Restaurant/Food … but instead of going there just to “eat”, try going there for the “experience” and see how they treat customers, present the menu and the food, follow-up, “sell”, etc.

• Recent Posts

  • Storytelling & The Power of Story
  • You Will Never Have Enough Information
  • Casting and Funding a Vision
  • Real Strategic Partners
  • To Campaign Or Not To Campaign: That Is The Question

• Just Added

  Tom Suddes Video sharing the For Impact Point of View
  
  

• Ideas to help you...

  • Apply other For Impact ideas
  • Build a funding model and funding plan
  • Change the way you think, operate and fund
  • Engage your board and volunteer leaders
  • Raise money (execute on sales process)
  • Set goals and measure progress
  • Simplify and communicate your case
  • Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.
  • Start, run or jumpstart a campaign
  • Think bigger about your impact, vision and funding
  • With personal productivity