Management

Work Avoidance (and How to Avoid It)

work avoidance

Ever been in a meeting and wonder why you’re there? Chances are, you’re there because someone doesn’t want to work.  The average meeting is an excellent way to pass the time without getting anything done, which, sadly, is exactly what some people want to accomplish. And now, the conference call has taken unproductive meetings to new heights, providing slackers with the opportunity to mute their phones and surf their social networking sites with impunity.

At today’s Results-Based Facilitation Workshop, sponsored by the Staten Island Foundation, not only did we learn proven strategies for facilitating productive meetings that move teams from talk to action, but also how to be a good meeting participant.  It all starts with defining the purpose of the meeting, being clear about the roles of the participants, and staying within the boundaries of authority with respect to your role.

First, when planning the meting agenda, think about what you want to accomplish. When the meeting is adjourned, how will things be different? Is the purpose simply to inform or update people or get the to make action commitments? Are you trying to capture input for future decision-making, or will decisions be made in the meeting to inform a way forward? Will the team gain knowledge to improve their productivity and become more unified? Having a clearly articulated, intended result is an imperative for a productive meeting.  Likewise, each activity/item on the agenda should also have an intended result.

Just a reminder, folks: we’re supposed to be discussing the pros and cons of bringing in an outside consultant and coming to a decision on whether that’s the best course.  We’ve all had a choice to weigh in on this and we need to move on to the next agenda item, so I suggest we…(insert action commitment here – it could be taking a vote or deferring to the decider, but it’s a way out of the circular debate of the options and considerations.)

That said, don’t be married to your agenda. With the meeting’s purpose and intended result in mind, be flexible.  As our facilitator told us, “results are the promise, the agenda is the possibility.”  An agenda is a means towards achieving the meeting’s intended result, so if it’s not going well it’s better to switch it up than stick with something that’s not going to get you where you want to be.

Everyone has a role in the meeting (facilitator, attendee, moderator, observer, evaluator, consultant). Knowing your role, and sticking to it, is crucial to making that 60 minutes meaningful.  For example, it is important for a facilitator to maintain neutrality.  Rather than putting forth their own ideas, or making value judgments about the ideas of others, the facilitator’s role is to source input from the group – good, bad, or indifferent.  Active listening is critical to any meeting role, as is putting personal biases and motivations aside. We’ve all sat in on meetings with the Interruptor, the Talk-a-Lotty, the Idea Bully, and the Rambler.  These folks provide us with painful examples of what happens when meeting participants step outside of their roles, exceed the boundaries of their authority, and/or put their own agenda ahead of the intended result of the meeting.

I know that you have some strong views and really good ideas on what this program should ultimately look like, but right now we’re trying to decide on the overall structure of this partnership.  It’s very likely that the structure will include a working group whose task will be to design and develop the program, and  you will certainly play a big part in that. But for now, let’s focus on establishing agreed upon roles, responsibilities, lines of communication and accountability that will make the partnership a success.

It can be difficult to stop a rogue participant from derailing a meeting (and demoralizing everyone else in the room).  Our facilitator gave us a simple but powerful reminder to share with your colleagues that can help to keep your meetings on track:

“Brevity is a leadership skill.”

For more on results-based facilitation, take a look at this super-fantastic workbook by Jolie Bain Pillsbury, Ph.D.

What the 990 is telling your funders

form990

Happy Tax Day!

The IRS 990 Form is one of those things that just has to get done because…well, because it has to. The harsh reality is that, other than enforcing the filing requirement, the IRS doesn’t have the capacity to do much with all of the information that they require you to provide. Funders, on the other hand, consistently use the 990 to get a picture of an organization’s capacity and financial health.

  • The number that funders are most inclined to hone in on is Liquid Unrestricted Net Assets, better known as LUNA, for some crazy reason (Get it? See what I did there?). Funders want to know what your reserves look like, how much cash you have on hand (if any). They care less about your overall assets, which might include a building or some other instrument that can’t be quickly converted to working capital.  What they want to know is, how long can your organization survive at its current burn rate?
  • The year-to-year comparisons on the 990 are useful to funders in identifying trends, growth or contraction. They look for seismic shifts in your revenue streams, spikes in expenses, or other indicators of a financial sea change.
  • The 990 is also used to examine the overhead question (everyone’s favorite topic, I know). How much money is the organization spending on program, versus management and fundraising?  There isn’t any set standard – private funders have their own, which can  range from 75/25 and up.  The BBB suggests that 65/35 is a healthy number. And government tends to restrict expenditures on overhead to 10%, unless you go through the exhaustive process of applying for a indirect cost rate. The main thing to consider when it comes to overhead is that you need to be aware of your organization’s rate and be able to give it context – a rationale, justification or explanation. You should also be able to explain major changes in your overhead rate over time.

So before you blast out that 990 and publish it on your website, make sure you’ve thoroughly examined it yourself – and prepare yourself with talking points to address the questions of your funders.

 

Why is Everyone so Afraid of Results?

fear of results

There’s no purpose to this work other than to achieve results. So why are we afraid of them? Ask a service provider about intended or expected results and chances are they’ll start talking sideways about how difficult and complex it is to define success and/or impact in a measurable way.

Yes, tracking results is difficult. Yes, generating results is complex. Yes, there are many factors that can get in the way of success. I say so what. If you’re doing  service work and you’re not willing to track results (or at least try), then you ought to be off somewhere else, doing something else.

If you’re working on a project to support young people in getting college degrees, you should be able to state, at any given moment, exactly how many young people you’ve helped to get into college – over the past week, month, quarter, and year. You should be able to state how many are still in college, how many have dropped out, and what those who did are doing right now. That’s a result-based approach.

If you run a jobs program, how many people have you helped to get jobs? If you run an early education program, how many children are reading on level by third grade? If you run a drug abuse prevention/intervention program, how many people have you helped to rehabilitate? If you’re a basketball coach, is your team scoring more points than the other? If you don’t know, then you can’t possibly know whether your program is working.

There’s no downside to developing a results statement that’s responsive to the organization’s mission and activities. The worst that can happen if you miss your mark is that you learn things about your process that will allow you to make course corrections and generate better results in the future.

So pick a number and then go after it. Monitor it closely, every day if you have to. Post the number on the wall and update it daily, weekly, monthly. Get your team to buy into the idea that the number matters more than anything else.  Because it does. Convince them that the number is the main reason why they do the work.  Because it is. If they disagree, then they should be off somewhere else, doing something else.

Click here to learn more about Results-Based Accountability.  Or visit the websites of the Staten Island Foundation to download a useful tip sheet on writing powerful results statements.

 

 

 

The Case for Outsourcing Development

UnderDeveloped

The harsh reality about development staffing (as noted in the above 2013 report by CompassPoint), is that you’re very likely to go through a search every two years.  Good Development Officers move on to higher pay and other adventures, and the not-so-good ones just move on.  Either way, they leave a big hole in your organization’s operation as you face a competitive and dynamic funding landscape. So in your search, the major question to ask is: How does your development department spend the next two years building momentum, being productive, generating results, and making sure it can sustain its efforts?

Development, like HR and Finance, is a critical system in any organization.  When effectively managed, these systems enable leadership to focus on vision, mission and strategy (aka the real, actual work).  Similar to the benefits of outsourcing HR and Finance, retaining a Chief Development Officer (CDO) Consultant has the following advantages:

  • It provides senior level management and leadership experience
  • Consists of a focused scope of work with clear deliverables and measures for success
  • Provides objectivity and a new perspective/approach to building sustainable systems
  • Allows for more flexibility in creating roles/building staff
  • Is more cost-effective and efficient than the “revolving door” option of hiring a FT development officer
  • It frees the CEO to focus on the real, actual work of the organization

Shameless plug: Before you update that job posting and launch your semi-annual search for next Development Officer, schedule a free consultation and we can talk about whether outsourced development is a good fit for your organization.

The Case for Interim Executive Leadership

transition

An executive transition is a tumultuous time for any organization. Uncertainty is the order of the day. Some staff mourn the loss of their leader, while others update their resumes. Funders downshift into “wait and see mode,” while the board of directors circles the wagons, formulates a new plan for the organization and launches a search for its new leader.

What better time to bring in an experienced consultant with the skills and know-how to stabilize an organization?

An Interim Executive is equipped with the tools and strategies for gathering and synthesizing information quickly, the poise to reassure staff, funders and stakeholders, the focus to hold the line in the mission-critical areas, and the foresight to identify areas for improvement and further examination.

Boards need time and latitude to conduct an exhaustive search for a new leader. An Interim Executive Director can give them exactly that.  For more information on Interim Executive Leadership, visit the Support Center/Partnership in Philanthropy, which is training and developing a pool of consultants to provide this valuable service to organizations in transition.  Or you can book a free consultation and we can talk about it.