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Performance P m e Nonprofit Professional WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED! Vol. 1 No. 1 $12.95 Magazine 360
ENLARGE T hose A round Y ou The Architecture of Engagement John Maxwell
From Scarcity Thinking to Focused Impact 21 Experts Share Ways Nonprofits Work
Cheryl Snapp Con ner
Cal Turner, Jr.
Kevin Williams
Hugh Ballou
Desmond Tutu
Sherita Herring
Jeff Magee
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Contents
Performance P m e SynerVision's Nonprofit Professional WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED! Magazine
Vol. 1, No. 1 $12.95
Featured personality Enlarge Those Around You
contributing Writers Lessons from a Legend
26
12
Jeffrey Magee Co-Publisher Jeff@ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com Hugh Ballou Co-Publisher Hugh@SynerVisionLeadership.org Todd Greer Managing Editor Todd@SynerVisionLeadership.org Sandy Birkenmaier Acquisitions Editor Sandy@SynerVisionLeadership.org Kim Cousins Creative Designer Kim@KCousins.com Brett Archer Director of Business Development Brett@JeffreyMagee.com Single Copy Order or Online Digital Subscriptions ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com Advertising info@SynerVisionLeadership.org SynerVisionLeadership.org ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com
John Maxwell
Desmond Tutu
Nonprofit Winning Berny Dohrmann
16
Member Engagement Engaging Members for Excellence 9 Get ‘Em and Keep ‘Em Hugh Ballou
Leaders, Emotionally Speaking 17 Mature or Immature Roberta Gilbert Why Nonprofits Can’t Afford to Deprive Themselves of Business Psychology Training David Gruder for Organizational Success in the Marketplace Four Interconnected Elements Influence How You Engage Your Members, Board & Volunteers Jeffrey Magee 20 Maintaining Individual Relevance 24
Planning Planning and Creativity
10
An Interview with Marcia McFee
Design Corner Your Design Road Map
13
Elliot Jones
Nonprofits that work Sustain Floyd The Authentic Pursuit of Community Growth The Case of SustainFloyd Woody Crenshaw
14
15
Point & Counterpoint Dialogues on Leadership Hugh Ballou & Jeffrey Magee Business Communications on Social Responsibility Goals Cheryl Snapp Conner
28
30
academic desk Lessons on Organizational Learning 19 from Dead Poets Society Todd Greer
The Irony of Leadership
33
Follow us...
Leaders Follow Cal Turner, Jr.
strategy Moving from Scarcity Thinking
Feelings are Only Indicators
34
22
The Four Steps to a Low-Drama Team Bill Stierle
Nonprofit Professional Performance Magazine and Professional Performance Magazine are quarterly magazines. Each is published as a digital subscription publication and as a hard copy edition. The views expressed in the ar- ticles and advertisements are those of the con- tributing writers and advertisers, and may not be the views of the management and staff of the publication. The magazine assumes no li- ability for the contributions in this magazine and all content is intended as developmental in nature. SynerVisionisa501(c)(3)nonprofitorganization, and this publication serves its mission.
to Focused Impact Ed Bogle
board development The Architecture of Governance 27 Andrew Morikawa
Motivation
35
What is It, How to Get It and How to Keep It Kevin Williams
executive Office Nonprofit
32
The Stepchild of Business Sherita Herring
© 2014 Professional Performance Magazine. All rights reserved
SynerVision’s Nonprofit Performance Magazine is an affiliated publication of ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com.
4 I Nonprofit Professional Performance Magazine
The Official Guide to All Things Nonprofit Nonprofit Performance Magazine brings impact which spreads hope and direction to those who are changing their communities and the world. This magazine is a great resource for nonprofit executives and religious leaders. Learn from key thought leaders who can assist you in • propelling your organization to reach its potential Read in-depth stories written by those who have found • success at the front line of the social benefit journey Learn about the impact of community, communication, and • collaboration in your organization
Performance m e Nonprofit Professional WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED! Vol. 1No. 1 $12.95 Magazine 360
John Maxwell
ENLARGE T HOSE A ROUND Y OU The Architecture of Engagement
From Scarcity Thinking to Focused Impact 21 Experts Share Ways Nonprofits Work
JeffMagee
KevinWilliams
SheritaHerring
CalTurner, Jr.
CherylSnappCon ner
DesmondTutu
HughBallou
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SynerVision’s Nonprofit Performance Magazine is an affiliated publication of ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com.
Next Edition Highlights
December 2014
Larry Dill Executive Director of the Institute for Clergy Excellence discusses how their program has built a funding stream and a leadership legacy.
Whit Babcock Athletic Director at Virginia Tech explains how leaders can maximize their transition process in new organizations.
Everett Worthington Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University and international forgiveness researcher provides a framework for social benefit leaders to promote forgiveness.
David Burkus Bestselling author, The Myths of Creativity , encourages a new mentality toward innovation in nonprofits.
SynerVision Leadership .org I 5
From the Publishers...
per-form-ance (n) : 1.The act, process, or manner of performing. 2. An accomplishment; deed. 3. To begin, carry out, fulfill. 4. To function in a certain way; act.
Nonprofit Performance – There are more options available for people in today’s world for “choice”. Choice in what one does, how one does it, when one does it, and why someone does it.The nonprofit world has to be relevant to be considered in the choice explosion of today and tomorrow. The nonprofit world has seen a 360° change, in all that it does, multiple times in the past decade.To remain relevant and to attract energies in the future so that your nonprofit will be the choice of others, the need to go beyond relevant is critical. Welcome! This collaboration of Hugh Ballou and Jeffrey Magee in provides the nonprofit world with a precise, strategic, and operational voice in a world that has become cluttered with noise and distractions. Through Hugh’s SynerVision enterprise and Jeff ’s Professional Performance Magazine, you now have a source for vetted authorities sharing unpublished insights to allow you to capitalize upon and accelerate your nonprofit to greater successes today and tomorrow. With more capital in reserve across America, individuals have choices for their legacy investment. With more demands and options yelling out for people to partner, your organization has to be strategic, focused, committed and relevant to survive and thrive. In the following pages, you will be mentally pushed and intellectually introduced to personalities that you may otherwise not know and now can be now can be leveraged for your professional and organizational growth. We will share best practices, spotlight thought leaders and practitioners, and share their lessons learned for you to implement in your organization. Nonprofit Performance Magazine Solutions – While many people today espouse and pontificate how to achieve and perform, each article in this edition, as well as our previous digital editions at www.ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com, will connect you to hundreds of the world’s super achievers — people of an abundance mentality and who have actually achieved. Go online and order additional copies of this and past editions for your Mental DNA Library and invest in copies for the people around you … Nonprofit Professional Performance Magazine , What You Need To Succeed!
Jeffrey Magee
Hugh Ballou
6 I Nonprofit Professional Performance Magazine
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TheDalaiLamaon GREATNESS & YOU!
GregReid
HaveWeLost OurEtiquetteGPS? 27.9MAPS toGreatness! BenchmarkYourself forLifeROI? s a I?
REINVENTING GREATNESS TheNew80/20Rule Joan & Melissa Rivers
MilliBrown Professional Performance e o e a :+$7 <28 1((' 72 68&&((' Vol. 21,No.1 $12.95 Magazine 360 JeffreyMagee p
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SynerVision Foundation .org I 7
A Community for Community Builders to Grow Your Organization
Being a part of our community, you’ll have access to... A Growing Collaborative Community for Nonprofit • Social Benefit Leaders Gain Access to an Active Online Community • Be a Part of Our Resource Development Network • Be Connected to Contractor and Grant Writer Networks • Learn to move Beyond Maintenance Thinking and into a • Success Focused Mentality Catapult Your Organization into Your Envisioned Culture • Take Advantage of the Soft Skill Development Opportunities • Magnify Your Mission and Community Impact • Learn to turn Engaging Members into Stakeholders • Become Proactive in Addressing Rising Issues • Play a Significant Role in Addressing Community Concerns • Learn to make Change a Response • Be Part of an Outlet that Implements Growth for Your • Organization The SynerVision Leadership Foundation is a membership community for social benefit leaders — religious leaders, nonprofit executives, foundation directors. Collaboration is the core of social benefit. The reality is that together we can accomplish more. Together we build bigger, encourage deeper, reach wider and care farther. You want this in your church, nonprofit, charity and educational institution.
Your search for high quality content and connections is over.
Join Us Today Registration is FREE www.SynerVisionLeadership.org
Hugh Ballou Member Engagement
Engaging Members for Excellence Get ‘Em and Keep ‘Em
T he work of the nonprofit leader is highly specialized. We train, inspire,and engage members to function at their highest level.The primary work is in building and maintaining effective relationships. We can’t ask teams to do anything without effective relationships. It is crucial that we change ineffective paradigms to change the results. Changing the paradigm begins with changing the language. Here are taboo words: Volunteer :Members are not volunteers.Being called to a nonprofit is totally different from volunteering. Drop volunteer and change the paradigm.Invite others to define what it means to be called to do good works. In church we use members in ministry, and in community organizations we use servant leaders. Agenda : Create deliverables instead of agendas. Define what you want to achieve in the meeting. This encourages and empowers members to function at a higher level. Celebrate excellence. Recruit :We recruit people for temporary jobs but engage members in our mission. Develop a compelling statement that will touch the passion of a competent member. Converse meaningfully about the duty, task, or position. Make the commitment as important as it sounds. Engage members by allowing them to access their passion in a particular aspect of your mission. Motivate : Motivation is also temporary. Engagemembers in a relevant andmeaningful journey. Learn to create initiatives, delegate, ask, and stay out of the way while providing support and encouragement. This way, members motivate themselves while you guide the path.
Create Write statements for people to share about successful committees, programs, events, etc. Give them the language or create it together. Also, share opportunities. Someone else might know the right person for the task. Share goals, challenges, successes, and feelings. Create energy and influence others. Be intentional about that influence. Encourage members to see themselves as leaders within a culture of high performance. Transformational Leaders influence people positively, negatively, or neutrally. It’s our choice. Which do you choose? Hugh Ballou is a Transformational Leadership Strategist and the President of SynerVision International, Inc. After 40 years of musical conducting, he now works as executive coach, process facilitator, trainer, and motivational speaker teaching leaders in many diverse fields that fine-tune skills employed every day by orchestral conductors. Hugh is the author of Transformational Leadership books and is a recognized expert in working with church, religious organizations, business, and nonprofit community leaders. Blabbermouths :
Get, engage, and retain members in your mission: Get the Right People : Develop relationships with as many people as possible. Leadership depends on relationships. When you know a person, you know their skills and preferences, allowing you to make good decisions about what to ask of them.Move from a minor job to a more important assignment. Having nobody is better than having the wrong person. Empower Teams for Success : Create and define the vision.Share it.Empower members to create action items to make it become reality. If they define the pathway to success, then they own it and will see it through. Set check-in times for coaching and celebrating. Do not micromanage or criticize. Add value to their work with your comments. Lead,Don’t Do : Allow your teams to function at a high level. As with a choir, direct, don’t sing, allow them to make the music. Celebrate Success : Don’t forget this. One hooray goes a long way toward encouraging members to function better.We impact group performance by our response. They want to know how we feel. Publicize Opportunities : Be specific about opportunities for participation and work timelines. Share your vision and ask for what you need.
SynerVision Leadership .org I 9
Marcia McFee Planning
Planning and Creativity An Interview with Marcia McFee
W e must talk about the processes of creativity: how we can work with each other, where the pitfalls are, and how we have different working styles. Those working styles can really be an asset at times,and other times, can bog us down. People work in so many different ways.The more we know about our team and the more we understand the working dynamics of our team, the better we can create a system. In the creative brainstorming stage, we don’t want the editor or the voice of judgment to be too quick to say that we could never do that when we don’t land on the correct answer first.We need to go on and say,“What’s the second correct answer, and the third?” If we play long enough, then we can really come to what is going to be absolutely perfect in naming the direction to go. Then we can begin to gather resources, and shape and edit first drafts which are much more detail oriented, and go on to finalizing scripts and detail organizing. There’s part of the creative planning process when it is really good to have a lot of voices.Then there is part of the process that if you have too many voices, you will get bogged down. So there is a flux back and forth. First using a lot of people, perhaps using the whole team.Then there are some parts of the process where we need to have the decision and the actual decision makers will be only one or two people.This back and forth kind of flux can really help streamline and grease the wheels of the creative processes in such a way that it actually works and you get things done.
Planning a season of activities all together can really help to create an experience that feels like it’s connected, that it has an anchor image, a frame, and a thread. These are all words that I use when I teach this process. You can really create a deeply meaningful experience this way. Some of the best ideas come at times when you’re not looking at it so hard, in other words, when you’ve relaxed. For me, the answer or the idea may come when I’m doing mundane tasks. If I am just working and looking at something so hard all the time and not giving myself breaks, I am less likely to let what wants to bubble up from deep within.This may be the exact right idea, but I won’t give it time to appear. I have to keep remembering that it’s not just about balancing personal and professional, but it’s about focusing and letting go of focus which is equally important. Dr. Marcia McFee is an author, worship designer and leader, professor, preacher and artist, with a background in professional companies of music, theater and dance. Dr. McFee received a Master’s of Theological Studies at Saint Paul School of Theology in Preaching and Worship where she received the Outstanding Graduate Award from the Alumni Association. She earned her Ph.D. in Liturgical Studies at the Graduate Theological Union with an allied field of Ethics. She has been a guest lecturer and adjunct faculty at twelve seminaries and is the visionary and creator of a worship coaching and resourcing site.
10 I Nonprofit Professional Performance Magazine
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Performance 360 Magazine is a magazine full of powerful how-to, success oriented articles for your increasing Mental DNA. Each edition includes exclusive success and achievement focused article’s from the World’s leaders and power personalities in buiness, nonprofits, government, politics, sports, music, entertainment, Authors, Consultants, and Professionals.
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SynerVision Leadership .org I 11
Desmond Tutu
Lessons from a Legend
A s our globe shrinks geographically, economically, and socially, it is more important to live together across cultural, racial, and ever-blurring borderlines. I have learned many lessons on performance that have led to great things being accomplished and many yet to come. Lessons from a Legend When you do business with someone, don’t separate business from culture or beliefs. Leaders and leadership come from necessity …nature does not allow a vacuum. Lessons When missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible, and we had the land. They said, “Let us pray.” We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible, and they had the land. Leaders and leadership come from the necessity for someone to seek change. I am a leader only because nature does not allow a vacuum. Lessons Everything begins with respect. A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons. Once our whole message was, “Will white people hear what we are saying? Please, all we are asking you is to recognize that we are humans too.”It was important at the same time, however, to remind our people, “Be nice to whites. They need you to rediscover their humanity.”
To achieve anything in this life, we should focus on real problems and our part in the solution. I don’t preach a social gospel. I preach the Gospel which is concerned with the whole person.When people were hungry, He didn’t say, “Is that political or social?” He said, “I feed you,” because bread is good news to a hungry person. Lessons We cannot be truly successful and disregard those who are failing. So many of us suffer from the success syndrome where you matter only because you have made it. Most of us think that this carries over to God. God loves us because we deserve to be loved, and we have made it by impressing God.The truth is that God loves me, period. That is the most fundamental truth about us. God loves me, not because I am lovable. I am lovable because God loves me.That gives me my worth and nothing can change it. Civil rights activist Desmond Tutu is a retired Anglican Archbishop, vice director of the Theological Education Fund of the World Council of Churches and Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral among other duties. He received the Nobel Peace Prize, Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism, Pacem in Terris Award, Sydney Peace Prize, Gandhi Peace Prize, and Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Lessons Human rights and opportunities are not something bestowed upon us by governments or other people. I don’t want crumbs of compassion thrown by someone considering himself my master. I want the full menu of rights. If you are neutral in injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on a mouse’s tail, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. If you warn that things tottering on the edge of a South African table will fall, you are blamed when that happens. There are no innocent bystanders in human rights. We warned, “Those who invest in South Africa are not doing us a favor.They are here because of our cheap and abundant labor, and they should know that they are buttressing one of the most vicious systems.” Lessons Even oppressors are part of our human family. You don’t choose your family.They are God’s gift to you, and you to them. We may be surprised at who we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.
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Elliot jones The Designer Corner
Your Design Road Map
I n talking about design for organizations, an important aspect of the classes I teach, credibility immediately comes to mind. How your website and material look makes or breaks your credibility. If you have a mishmash of uncoordinated content or your website looks
When with organizations, I have them collect everything they have done in print or digital formats (letters, emails, brochures, business cards, website, social media, etc.), lay it out, and examine copy and visual; these apparently separate items have to work together consistently. I then ask, “What have you done, what are your results so far, and where do you want to go from here?” You have to know your audience. Know the intention of your project. In web presence and social media, the demographics of your audience may have some bleed over. Particularly in social media, we have seen a shift in who uses what platforms to connect with us. Organizations should continually ask, “What do people care about, and what do they want to know?” Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and other analytics are immensely important as tools providing direct insight into how your end user functions when they come to your website. Examining our analytics helped us better understand what information we needed to prioritize. We are an information hungry society wanting data on everything. Dynamic content, infographics, and a true social media plan are needed. Donors, members, and volunteers want up-to-date information. Ultimately in the design world, we have to ask, “What have we done, where are we going, and why should they care?” Elliot Jones is the Director of Communication Services and Adjunct Professor in the School of Business and Professional Studies at Rochester College. Thanks to his background and academic pursuits, Jones understands the world of graphic design, photography, and web design as both professor and professional. I work
like you paid $15 for it, your credibility can take a hit. If you want to not only stand out but raise funds through your platform, you need a visual representation that is synchronous and tells your story. I send my students off to a few specific websites and ask, “Would you buy or donate to this organization?” The students quickly differentiate based on the design of the site. It is sad that reputable organizations are sometimes turning students off. People want credibility in the design, they want to see that things are safe and secure for them to give and participate. And design is a big part of that process. It hurts when you look at great organizations with people trying hard to progress their issue, and their digital and print design seems to be an afterthought. These organi- zations ask themselves, “Do we dig a well, or do we pay for this design work. What’s going to be more beneficial?” What they don’t realize is, with good visuals, you might be able to dig four wells! There is an important balancing act for nonprofits. You don’t want your piece to look like it cost half of your fundraising budget to print, but you want the work to look good and well designed. It has to be balanced. Nonprofits work to prioritize their mission, but they don’t always think about how what appears to be ‘peripheral’may actually be ‘foundational’ to organizational growth.
SynerVision Leadership .org I 13
Nonprofits that Work
W e have heard the stories of failure, financial ruin, and indiscretion in nonprofits, but that is not the whole story. All is not loss, doom, and catastrophe. Across this country, nonprofit organizations of varying, stripes are finding success and bringing about transformation in their own context. This feature in Nonprofit Performance Magazine will provide a quarterly spotlight of the successes present within our communities. In this issue, we feature SustainFloyd, a vibrant nonprofit in the mountains of southwest Virginia where agriculture and artistic endeavors are the primary economic activities. First, meet Floyd, Virginia and SustainFloyd. Floyd, Virginia by the numbers: Floyd County comprises 382 sq. miles of • Blue Ridge Mountains land 2010 census: 425 residents (Town of • Floyd); 15,279 (Floyd County, including town residents) Approximately 13% of Town of Floyd • residents live below the poverty line Nestled into the majestic beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Floyd seems like a number of quiet towns sprinkled unassumingly across the country until you visit it. At the center of Floyd life, the Floyd Country Store has served for over a century as a meeting place for residents which now boasts a well established artisan and farming community to complement the longstanding bluegrass
Today, SustainFloyd serves as an intriguing model for public-private partnerships in small towns across the country.Through associations with local and state government agencies, local citizens and businesses, and like-minded nonprofits, SustainFloyd has encouraged renovation and development, and embraced the history of Floyd. It also looks toward other areas around the world for newmethods of community and resource sustainability, especially in creating and maintaining healthy rural economies. The community, recognized for its quirky mix of food, arts, energy, education, and living, partners with organizations likeThe Crooked Road music tour (a 330-mile driving tour connecting nine major music venues and 60 affiliated festivals), ‘Round the Mountain (a Southwest Virginia artisan trail),and multiple local programs, including the Farm to School initiative, and the Solar Wagon (a mobile tool for teaching Floyd residents about renewable energy). Through discussion, diligence, and design, SustainFloyd has become a prototype for a small town community nonprofit. www.sustainfloyd.org Now, meet Woody Crenshaw, craftsman and entrepreneur, of SustainFloyd. He is also the current and founding president of ‘Round the Mountain, vice-president of The Crooked Road, and vice-chairman of the Southwest Virginia Cultural Heritage Commission.
and old time music tradition that the region has been known for. What makes Floyd so different is the pioneering nonprofit that is facilitating both progress and convention in this small community. SustainFloyd, a 501(c)(3), developed from a presentation by some 60 county residents with diverse viewpoints at “The Future of Floyd,” a November 2008 meeting arranged by The Floyd Fund, an affiliate of the Community Foundation of the New River Valley. In January 2009, a core group began meeting to develop a mission, board of directors, committees, and elected officers. Following a presentation in May with famed environmentalist Bill McKibben, the organization began moving forward on multiple initiatives including participation in the global 350 Action event, SplitRail, Floyd County’s first environmental festival, and the opening of the Floyd Community Market. Thirteen months after the initial meeting, SustainFloyd applied for 501(c) (3) nonprofit status, which was approved in March 2010. Things quickly escalated. By February 2010, the first executive director was hired, and in May, the Floyd Artisan Market and Floyd Farmers Market opened in the newly constructed Floyd Community Market featuring local arts, crafts, produce, breads, and cheeses.
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The Authentic Pursuit of Community Growth The Case of SustainFloyd Woody Crenshaw Nonprofits that Work
A lthough we may be seen as new- age hippies in many ways, we are similar to the people who settled this land. Floyd residents are looking for something outside everyday culture. That lies behind SustainFloyd. SustainFloyd is young but a lot of other work preceded it therfore it took off quickly.We are an aspect of the community trying to fill a void. Floyd has some new people with new ideas who understand the importance of respecting what is already here which distinguish us from other small communities. Floyd is in the economic bottom ten percent of Virginia’s 105 counties. Local government lacks the resources for expansive projects. There are people who have put their own money, time, and energy into transformative things for this community to create a greater quality of life for residents instead of creating a destination for outsiders.
started SustainFloyd with those ideals in mind. We are trying to consider all aspects of the community, and you can’t affect one without affecting many others. Floyd Country Store has deep roots in the farming and artistic nature of this community. How do you move that into the 21st century without disturbing it? Those are the kinds of questions we ask. We want to create something authentic, alive, uniquely ours, not an artificial community that others will like. This is the test: How would our neighbors think about this? We are mindful about not unilaterally imposing our vision of progress. You take a step or two and figure out where you are going.With projects where we haven’t seen partnerships and support, we have backed off and regrouped. The feeling or notion that we know it all is dangerous. We must be constantly on the edge of truth, value, and need as opposed to our own ambition and skill. Without a sense of place and reverence for it and those who came before us, we don’t understand what needs to be done. And we impose our own inclinations on things. I have always been on the move, but when I came to Floyd, I really had a sense of home that inspired my involvement in community service. Success will occur with sensitivity to the needs around you. When we question our motives and ideas while bringing energy and enthusiasm to our decisions, we realize we are in it for the longterm. Detours are part of the journey – good things will follow.
SustainFloyd is a link in a community development chain. Initially, we worked on asset based development and the creative economy. We created and managed The Crooked Road andDowntownDevelopment, but these were not standalone developments. SustainFloyd started successfully because we mobilized governmental and foundational relationships. Early success taught us that we were on the right track. But we realized we were running ahead of the community. We had to be in step with it. Leadership doesn’t get outcomes if it is just a small group of people with good ideas and energy imposing an outcome
on the community instead of a partnership. SustainFloyd now asks, “What are our next steps for projects in partnership with our community?”We are in a reflective place right now.We have programs, we are doing things, but we are also doing an internal assessment. We are trying to develop a community that is proud of its identity with arts and culture as vehicles for community and economic development. SustainFloyd must effectively manage our essential elements: the forests, watershed, farmlands, culture, and natural resources. We
SynerVision Leadership .org I 15
Berny Dohrmann
Nonprofit Winning
N onprofits, hit so hard recently, are coming into a boom period. Trillions sitting on the sideline are returning.Today,nonprofits exist inside the super change markets affecting all of us. Winning requires management inside these markets, remaining current on new options. Today’s grantors and donors review messages wherever they are now; the golf cart, the cruise ship, or waiting for their board meeting. In an iPad universe, charity must avoid the pitfall of “the way we’ve always done it.” The future resides with nonprofit leaders who encourage adaptation to the super change and always new market spaces. The pie is larger, not smaller. Are you getting your share today? And tomorrow? We thought things would slow down and return to normal. We were wrong. Super change is speeding up. Nonprofit leaders need to calm down and catch up. When you engage experts in the new markets, you explore what the firm you are hiring has done to remain current. The new nonprofit capital is “currency.” You must develop strategies to remain in front – to lead. Money is following such leadership as never before. Be inventive. Express new channels of your “good work.” Momentum breeds larger funding. Stress your achievements and express in new language how you are leading the recovery markets of today and tomorrow. Encourage a team rally to develop currency in the new forms of funding. As you create critical strategy, develop step-by-step models
we have installed options for nonprofits for three decades. Keeping leadership current and up-to-date is our mission. My hope is this article serves charities and nonprofits worldwide in new ways.The funding market is returning. Crowd funding and Regulation A also work for nonprofit extended bond offerings or building funds. Check both out with Marlon Paz of Locke & Lord in Washington, D.C. who specialize in this new space under the Jobs Act of 2012. Wishing you the best, because your constituency deserves your future super change strategy where winning is no longer an option. Mr. Dohrmann is Chairman of CEOSpace International, the largest support organization for business owners and the inventor of Super Teaching, a Title 1 technology for public schools that greatly accelerates retention. Frequently speaking on stages as the guest of nations and VIP conferences, Berny is a recognized author presently completing his newest book titled, Redemption: The Cooperative Revolution .
to advance larger funding while developing incremental funding. Develop teams to support Silver-Gold-Platinum donation plans that inspire your donor community to re-up. Model 3-year contracts for a Silver to support one person for a year, renewable for an additional 3-years. Advance a Gold model of ten to twenty-five being supported, and Platinum with twenty-five to one hundred. Add events where the provider hosts and produces the event, taking gate fees versus front-end fees. Supplement these incremental strategies with larger grant applications. Do this all at once. Lead in the super change markets. Establish a magazine for your donor base. Develop demographics of the donor tribe you find best. Increase your yearly distribution of your magazine which explains your work and defines the call to action to donate. Encourage 3-year donations with each year paid in advance. Use the center and back cover of your new magazine as your full-page advertisements. Control and predict revenue with planning and strategy. Give value added gifts and passes to donors including VIP events. In running CEOSpace, the birthplace of the magazine you are now reading under the inspired leadership of publisher Jeff Magee,
16 I Nonprofit Professional Performance Magazine
Roberta Gilbert
Leaders, Emotionally Speaking Mature or Immature?
W e can think of leaders we admire and would like to emulate. Many have made the world a better place: Gandhi,Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesus. We can also think of leaders we don’t admire. Some have hurt many people: Hitler, Stalin, and Saddam Hussein who admired and emulated Stalin. What makes for such vast differences in leadership? How do we begin to think about becoming the best leader possible — doing the most good, helping the most people, or being the kind others want to emulate? We want to assist people in being the best kind of leader possible. We think of leadership as being a spectrumwith high-level leaders,low- level leaders, and every nuance in between. What is high-level leadership? This is emotionally, mature leadership.This person is high on a hypothetical “scale of differentiation of self ” which describes human functioning from the highest levels to the lowest in health, mental health, relationships, and general functioning. This person has fairly trouble-free and long- lasting relationships. Their families do well and are freer of symptoms than the average. They carry less anxiety and so they are freer of symptoms.Their organizations are less anxiety ridden than most because much anxiety in organizations comes from the top down. These leaders are not led by what everyone thinks, though they stay aware of others’ ideas and maintain an open atmosphere for ideas. They are not led by what their closest allies in
Why this difference in leaders? It is thought that people are at different levels on the scale due to the level of the family they were brought up in. In addition, the stress levels in the family then and how those stressors affected family relationships, all play a part. Can we go higher on the scale? We believe that one, by hard work and careful teaching, can go higher on the scale. We have seen rather amazing results. When people worked on their family relationships and in their organizations, they have realized great results. Dr. Roberta Gilbert maintains a private psychiatric practice and is a faculty member of the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family and the founder of the Center for the Study of Human Systems, author, and speaker. She works with business leaders, pastors, and therapists, particularly in Bowen family systems theory for individuals, families, and organizations.
the organization think or feel though they are in good contact with them. They are not led by their own feelings and emotions though they stay aware of those. They are led by their guiding principles and those of the organization upon which they are very clear and use them in decision making, day-to-day behavior, and relationships. What are guiding principles? Guiding principles are well thought-out ideas the leader would like to live by.In an organization, principles are developed by the organization. Principles are explicit and tested in real life over time, but can be changed if new data emerge to support the change. What are low-level leaders? Low-level leaders have more physical, mental, and emotional symptoms, and they carry more anxiety than do those higher on the scale. Their relationships, marriages, and children do not do as well.Their lives are more problem- ridden. Because leadership is influential to the whole organization and because anxiety is infectious, this level of anxiety spills over into their organization interfering with productivity and the ability of people to do their best. So these organizations do not work as well as those run by leaders higher on the scale.
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18 I Nonprofit Professional Performance Magazine
Lessons on Organizational Learning from Dead Poets Society Todd Greer Academic Desk
“You can callme ‘OhCaptain, My Captain’.” Professor Keating’s words turn life at Welton Academy upside- down. Modus operandi is gone. Keating’s poetry class meets an uncomfortable, yet
norms to think strategically about development. Thus, organizations propagate the usual overlooking potential for long-term people development.
enlightening world of thinking freely. The Dead Poets Society presents an intriguing platform for rethinking how nonprofit leaders engage learning processes within their organizations. Organizations often restrict growth through in-the-box human learning and growth. Using Keating’s lectures and research from human resource development literature, we should ask, “What happens if nonprofits create open and safe spaces for team learning and growth that will encourage people to seek greater development in their areas of expertise?” The Professor Dead Poets Society shows us John Keating, returning to his alma mater as professor and status quo challenger. His liberating style, unorthodox delivery, and uncommon activities create a world where boys become men, and classrooms become places for thinking. Keating’s mantra Carpe Diem provides encouragement to explore intrigue, challenge, and struggle, and expels limited, reserved thinking and acting. Adapting Thoreau’s words, Keating exhorts, “Boys, you must strive to find your own voice, but the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all.” Keating succeeds because Human resource development is a process of developing and unleashing expertise for the purpose of improving individual, team, work process, and organizational system performance. Sadly, this is rarely executed. Nonprofit staff and board members are often too focused on the now and maintaining he makes learning personal, not fun. Human Resource Development
Human resource development’s learner centered approaches have changed the framework. Self-directed learning has existed for decades stemming from Albert Bandura’s work on human agency.These approaches allow learners to direct their pathway of growth based on gaps between their knowledge base and the direction of market movement. Organizational Growth Lessons Based on Dead Poets Society , nonprofit leaders must see beyond staff development as a one-size-fits-all. For a competitive advantage, leaders must unlock individual gifts and talents for personal and organizational good. Adapting Keating’s statements that, “We don’t read and write poetry because it is cute. We read and write poetry because we are part of the human race.”We might expand our view of learning and growing not to make more widgets but because we are humans relating to other humans. By empowering team growth, our organizations experience benefits.Leaders need to dig into opportunities and individuals to make learning and growth personal. It means provoking and challenging individuals to maximize their potential and encouraging bold thinking. We might say, “You, nonprofits, must strive to find your own voice. But the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all!” After 15 years of on the ground work in nonprofits (churches, higher ed. institutions, sports leagues, and membership associations), Todd Greer, Ph.D. (Organizational Leadership) serves as Executive Director of SynerVision Leadership Foundation. His mission in life is to grow others through the engagement of their “sweet spot” where they can thrive in families, teams, organizations, and especially as people.
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Why Nonprofits Can’t Afford to Deprive Themselves of Business Psychology Training david Gruder
20 I Nonprofit Professional Performance Magazine Nonprofit Business Psychology develops the psychological mindset, skills, and procedures for building high engagement dynamics in leaders, teams, and individuals that turn strategy into success in fulfilling a nmission and exceeding its goals without sacrificing its values, principles, or people. For for-profits, simply replace “...fulfilling their nonprofit’s mission and exceeding their goals, without sacrificing its values,principles.or people”with L eaders and their organizations inadvertently build nonprofits at the level of their psychological limitations despite their highest mission and goals. This unfortunate reality is true whether a business is a for-profit or nonprofit. It’s true whether a nonprofit is cause-based, religious, a membership organization, or an educational institution.And it’s truewhether the nonprofit utilizes paid staff, volunteers, or both. Nonprofits can feel burdened by this inevitability, or they can turn it to their advantage. As a clinical and organizational development psychologist who has founded, led, served on boards, and provided leader and culture development training for a variety of nonprofits, and for-profits since the 1970s, I have seen plenty of both over the decades. I’m sure you can guess which of these paths I advocate and assist with as a business psychologist. The bottom line is that it’s more than possible to build your nonprofit at the level of its highest mission and goals instead of the psychological limitations that you and your people unintentionally bring to the party. Business psychology provides the resources you need to do this.
so many well intended leaders end up tripping over their own psychological feet? Just as the Peter Principle states that employees are promoted to their highest level of incompetence, the same is often true with leaders. What creates this problem is that talented charming people often tend to get thrown into the deep end of the leadership pool without receiving sufficient swimming lessons. Like all of us, they don’t know what they don’t know. Nor are they offered indepth opportunities to honestly and thoroughly assess their leadership strengths and growth edges, especially in role modeling, organizational dynamics facilitation and right use of power. However, with expert training and mentoring, people who have been promoted beyond their current competencies can become authentic leaders who aren’t sabotaged by arrogance, reluctance, or anxiety. Leaders who are proactive and collaborative, who aren’t afraid to exercise power in good ways whenever needed, and who model appropriate vulnerability whenever and however this might enhance engagement and collaboration. Optimizing Group Dynamics There are four basic types of organization cultures. In a coercion culture, a group of highly competitive, power dominating people control another group who resentfully give in to their over control. The controllers tend to over function while those they coerce tend to under function. No one has a particularly good time. In a chaos culture, no one steps into effective leadership. In a compromise culture, people try to engage in what they believe is “reasonable” power- sharing, but the competition they wage beneath the surface over who will lose the
“...maximizing corporate profit, employee fulfillment, and customer loyalty without sacrificing integrity or social responsibility.” Business Psychology includes three key dimensions: 1. Authentic Mature High Performance Leadership Equipping leaders with psychological skills they need in order to lead effectively but they rarely receive mentoring in developing. 2. Optimizing Group Dynamics Installing in teams the synergy essentials that create high happiness cultures that maximize productivity and transform breakdowns into engagement enhancing turning points. 3. Maximizing Individual Discretionary Effort Enhancing individual effectiveness and job/role fulfillment by establishing purpose alignment, embedding collaboration, promoting agreement creation, accountability procedures, and conducting motivation enhancing performance reviews. And yes, even for volunteers! Authentic Mature High Performance Leadership Leaders fulfill their responsibility as chief vision holder, role model, organizational dynamics facilitator, and ultimate decision maker either by design or default. Why do
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