by Susan Detwiler | Dec 12, 2016 | nonprofit
I grew up on Star Trek “ not just the show, but the idealistic vision of a future in which a United Federation of Planets could boldly go where no one has gone before, seeking out new life forms and new civilizations. Conquest was wrong. Help was right. People got along.
I once had a conversation with my son about the original Star Trek, and how it differed from subsequent versions. In the original Star Trek, each show was a parable, a small morality tale, in which we were being taught about right and wrong. True, the writers were sometimes (often?) heavy handed with their messages. Nevertheless, through the interplay of the emotional Kirk, the logical Spock, and the pragmatic and sometimes cynical Bones or other characters, we saw different sides and different approaches to the same situation. Usually, the resolution came about through some combination of the first two, aided by the actions or intervention of the other characters.
I wonder how many nonprofit executives and philanthropists received their initial grounding in the possibilities of a better world through watching Star Trek. Is the idealism that surrounds so much of our work the product not just of faith and parenting, but also those small glimpses into a better world? Like M&Ms coated in sugar candy, the ideals were coated in action, costumes, and amusing interplay between characters whom we came to know and predict. We thought we were just watching a fun show, but we were being molded.
In retrospect, I suspect that I was affected by Star Trek; not just by the shows themselves, but by the implicit approval given to those messages by my parents as we watched together.
Looking around the table at board and staff meetings, do you know what has molded your colleagues? We now have four generations working and serving together. What television shows, books or movies formed their ideals? What are their cultural touchpoints? Through what lenses do they view the world?
A good board is not homogeneous. Each member brings their own history and ideals. What would it make possible if you were to create time to explore these cultural references together? What bonding might occur? Might understanding and then trust increase as the conversations unfolded?
Business can occur mechanically, or it can occur in an atmosphere of trust and camaraderie. Would could you accomplish if you took the time to learn about each other before embarking on the future?
Note: portions of this post were originally posted May 22, 2009.
by Susan Detwiler | Nov 21, 2016 | Strategic Planning
Sometimes in life, we have a really full plate of things that we’re focusing on and need to deal with. And it’s at that moment, that something happens that demands that we switch focus, so that we need to move things around. From this we learn that the items on the plate are always movable–we just need to realize that we can move them. Rabbi Elisa Koppel
Although Rabbi Koppel was writing about life events, the lesson is also pretty valid for work. The lesson is even valid for things we view as solidly in place for the next 3 years, like a strategic plan. Circumstances change as the world changes, and we have to rearrange the things on our plate to accommodate these changes.
A lot of talk right now focuses on how a single election can change the trajectory of the country. But changes abound in the world regardless of whether it’s an election year. We see it in the rapidly changing social media landscape, which transforms how people take in information and make decisions. We see it in the swiftly changing transportation industry, in which car ownership is no longer a non-negotiable rite of passage, and people share rides with strangers instead of warning against hitchhiking. We see it in the gig economy becoming the norm for a generation.
The cascade effect of all these changes is real.
What does that mean for your organization? That’s up to you. The world may have changed, but that doesn’t mean that your vision has changed.
Your vision remains how you want the world to be because you exist.
But the world moves too quickly, and things change too rapidly, for a five year strategic plan to be viable. Even 3 years may be too long.
That’s why we build expansion joints into the plans; specific times to reevaluate. Circumstances change all the time, but we don’t always pay attention. Or our plates are so full of the ˜stuff’ that has to get done, that we don’t pick up our heads to look around at what might be different now.
Putting calculated milestones into our plans make us stop and reevaluate the progress. These are specified times when we check to see whether the plans and assumptions are still valid.
Yet even with the calculated milestones, it may feel as if you’re in a groove and you just want to keep going, despite the new information.
That’s when it’s important to remember that the items on the plate are always movable “ we just need to realize that we can move them.
5 Questions for making decisions
How do you get out of the groove? Here are five questions to ask yourself and the others around the table.
- What is our vision? Do we all still agree on the vision of where we’re heading?”
Now that we have new circumstances:
- What does staying in our current groove make possible, in our quest toward that vision?
- What does changing our direction make possible, in our quest toward that vision?
- What is the downside if we stay in our groove, relative to our vision?
- What is the downside if we change our direction, relative to our vision?
These five questions are the beginning of looking objectively at the effect of new circumstances on our current plans. Instead of appealing to legacy or history or prior investments or a single person’s passion, these questions allow you to evaluate the proposals relative to the same point”the vision you are aiming for.
And isn’t your vision really why you exist?
The things on your plate are movable. All you need is the will to move them.
by Susan Detwiler | Nov 7, 2016 | Strategic Planning
Ever notice how your tires seem to have a rhythmic thump when you drive across a bridge? Those are the spaces engineers deliberately put between the steel plates “ the expansion joints. Expansion joints on a bridge accommodate the stresses that come with different loads and changing weather conditions. The spaces between plates shrink and grow as the temperature, wind, and pressures change.
Without expansion joints, stress fractures would start as the solid plates shrink and grow without relief. Unattended, stress fractures lead to failure.
Good strategic plans have expansion joints.
Strategic plans usually incorporate milestones and accountability as a way to ensure that a plan gets executed. But they also serve another purpose. Milestones are opportunities to notice stresses on the plan, and make changes if necessary.
In a strategic plan, the expansion joints are the times you set up to check-in on its progress. Good plans have accountability, milestones and regular check-ins built in. They not only ensure execution, they are a built-in mechanism that lets you notice and relieve the stresses on the plan’s execution. They provide regular times to review the plan, to see if it’s still viable, valid and relevant.
In my work, I’ve seen organizations that create beautiful plans “ without accountability. The visions are magnificent. The goals are lofty. But they never get off the ground because they never set regular check-ins. A year later they look at the plan and wonder why the plan has failed.
A plan without milestones is like a rigid bridge without expansion joints. There are no breathing spaces to see if the execution needs tweaking, or to see if changing circumstances might affect what you want to do. In the case of the beautiful plan, regular check-ins would have told them where the bottle-neck was, and given them an opportunity to revise.
We all need expansion joints in our lives. Spaces in our calendar that relieve the stresses we encounter. And that’s a post for another day.
Right now, consider whether your strategic plan, your marketing plan, your communications plan, your financial plan “ every plan, has expansion joints built in. They all need periodic looks to check on their progress and their needs.
by Susan Detwiler | Oct 24, 2016 | collaboration
That’s the way things are always done. It’s too big to move. It’s too hard to change.
We hear these statements all the time. The group comes up with a lofty goal, and the naysayers start their work.
- We don’t have enough staff to do that.
- The ship is already moving in one direction; we can’t change now.
Are you sure?
Last month, I toured the Kalmar Nyckel, a replica of the 141 foot long 17th century Dutch Pinnace that carried Peter Minuit and the founders of Ft. Christina “ now New Castle, Delaware “ in a 2-1/2 month journey across the Atlantic from Sweden. Carrying about 50 people in a ship whose deck was only 93 feet long, the ship made at least 4 round trips across the Atlantic, and was then outfitted for naval duty.
Each anchor on the Kalmar Nyckel weighs 900 pounds, far too heavy for individuals to even join together to hoist. But a simple machine, the windlass, magnifies their strength 10X.
Working together, the sailors inserted levers into the horizontal windlass, pushed down, and repositioned the levers, continuing the process to hoist and lower the anchor, or hoist topmasts and yards too unwieldy to manage alone.
In the 17th century, and for millennia well before that, humanity already had the tools to magnify our strength. Together.
In the 21st century, our machines may be different, but they are still tools that can magnify our strengths. Especially when we work together.
One of the greatest assets an organization has is the people who can see beyond their own strengths, to the possibilities of engaging others with complementary strengths. Using technology, we are now able to meet people who share our vision, even if they don’t live in walking distance. They may not be on the same ship as we are, but we can still work together to do big things.
Board members need to be able to see that path. We constantly talk about our organization’s finite resources, without recognizing that in our daily lives we already magnify our resources by working together. As individuals, we ask for help when needed; we plan trips and parties with others.
The next step is to apply that same thinking to the whole organization. When faced with a lofty goal, the response is not, We can’t do that. The response is Who else can we bring into this to make it possible?
What big things can we do if we engage with others, using our 21st century tools? Instead of letting the naysayers affirm the status quo, board members can ask “ how can we make it possible?
What leverage can YOU apply to make big things happen?
by Susan Detwiler | Sep 26, 2016 | leadership
Professional development? What professional development? Nonprofit organizations often shortchange the budget line for professional development. And if there is a professional development line, it’s not always extended to the whole staff. Nor is it common to budget for board education.
But here’s one organization that figured out how to parlay a small professional development investment into a win-win for the whole community. It’s a great example of being what Seth Godin calls a freegiver, as opposed to a freeloader.
Faced with a desire to educate her staff and board on fundraising and planning, Bonnie Hilory, Executive Director of the Institute of Flight, figured out she could send 2-3 staff members to national conferences “ or create a conference right in her county.
With this idea, she went to the Community Foundation of Snohomish County (WA). What if, together, they brought in national speakers on fundraising and strategic planning, and invited all of the nonprofit organizations in the county and surrounding area to the conference?
As one of two speakers at this Philanthropy Takes Flight conference, I can tell you: It Worked!
The Community Foundation jumped at the chance to create an educational opportunity for the small nonprofits they supported, and became a key sponsor. With the foundation on board, and additional community supporters, the Institute of Flight created the philanthropy conference. More than 150 individuals from small to large nonprofits attended “ including the full board and staff of the Institute of Flight.
For not much more than it would take to send 2-3 individuals to national conferences, Bonnie Hilory educated her staff and board, gave back to the community, and further established the Institute as an anchor in the county.
- Her board learned from individuals beyond herself and her staff.
- The nonprofit organizations had an opportunity to learn together.
- The Institute modeled the possibility of working together instead of competing.
- The Community Foundation found a partner in building up the experience and knowledge of the agencies it supports.
In the framework of Catalytic Thinking, this spirit of bringing together the resources of the community is called Collective Enoughness “ the philosophy that together we have everything we need, that it is only on our own that we experience scarcity. Looked at this way, we are not only collectively assembling the requirements for whatever project we want to accomplish, we are building the relationships that make it possible to do even more.
Truly building the community in which you want to live takes more than just your organization. What can you accomplish together, that you can’t accomplish on your own?
How can you be the catalyst for that coming together?
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