I had the pleasure of seeing Mavis Staples, an American rhythm and blues singer, at the 15th Nelsonville Music Festival last weekend. Mavis, who will celebrate her 80th birthday next month, still performs over 200 shows a year. While watching her belting out vocal lines and performing for the crowd, I was reminded of a critical concept in strategic planning.
Uh, what? Now, try reading the title of this article backwards, starting from the far right and reading to the left. It likely took you a few seconds to do that, going letter-by-letter to make the title out: "Riding a Backwards Bicycle".
You know, you've spent your whole life paving pathways in your brain to read from left-to-right. It's a well-ingrained habit that is difficult to change.
What about another ingrained habit, like riding a bike. What if a bike was set up "backwards" in some way? Could you ride it?
Take a few minutes to watch this entertaining video to learn more. You'll find the time well-spent and may even want to share it with your friends.
So what does this all of this have to do with strategic planning, leadership, management, and running a nonprofit? A ton. Essentially, building your organization's capacity is often about overwriting old habits with new ones. Just like learning to ride a different type of bike.
What are some of those old habits that you might like to change? Try these:
Writing strategic plans but not implementing them.
Waiting to the last minute to complete grants.
Doing more work in the evenings and weekends than you'd like.
Viewing funders as people that support you (versus people that you support too).
Providing the executive director with sporadic performance reviews.
Doing everything yourself and not delegating very effectively.
You may not view these as habits, but they are. They're individual and organizational habits. And, like the guy in the video, with some insights and a committed practice, you can change them.
Which brings me to an excellent resource for you if you'd like to learn more about changing habits: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and In Business by Charles Duhigg. I read this book last year and have meaning to write about it ever since. It's fascinating. Duhigg provides a fantastic overview of how habits form and how you can change them. So, if you're serious about making changes in your life or organization, the concepts in this book are gold. The ideas will even help you ride a backwards bicycle if you'd like...
Charles Duhig - The Power of Habit
LG Cosmos flip phone
(Note: I wrote this back in early 2016 (despite the 2019 date above). Well, in 2017 I ended up migrating to an iPhone. It just became super obvious that the dumbphone was holding me back from providing my team and customers with the support they deserved. The shift was one of necessity to serve better.)
In the high-tech San Francisco area where I live, I'm a freak. You see, I'm one of the few that choose to use a dumbphone instead of a smartphone. A picture of my humble little LG Cosmos flip phone is above. It's decidedly not very cool. It just makes phone calls, texts, and takes horrible 1.3-megapixel photos. And I couldn't be happier.
I've made that choice not because I'm fearful of technology. I've designed and built electric cars. I've produced websites, built awesome spreadsheets, and co-founded a strategic planning company that has built a strategic planning software platform. I'm comfortable with technology.
And, I don’t have anything against smartphones. A while back I tried out both the iPhone and a Droid for a few weeks. They were incredible in the millions of things they could do. But that's just it. I don't need my phone to do a million things. I just need it to make phone calls and send texts. (I use my laptop to send emails and conduct all of my other internet-based business.) So after a few weeks, I returned the amazing smartphones and went back to my dumb phone. I realized that, when compared to the iPhone/Droid, my flip phone helped me to:
Disconnect and keep my life a little simpler.
Maintain better control of my time.
Focus on those around me rather than get distracted by the cool apps on the phone.
Basically, the smartphones weren't the best fit for me. It turns out that I'm not alone in my perspective. Check out these articles that convey similar sentiments:
So, that's my phone story. I share it with you with the intention to help you think a little bit about your phone choices. Whatever type of phone you use, I hope it is meeting your needs. If you're like me, sometimes I get sucked into the cool gadgets before I realize what's going on. Perhaps this article will help you pause for a moment and consider your options. You know, I'll probably have to get a smartphone at some point. Or at least a smarter phone than the one I have now. But in the meantime, I'm happy being a freak.
Several years ago I had a part-time job as the executive director of a small nonprofit. It was a great job in many ways. I loved our mission, the people we served, and the challenges we faced. Plus, at the time the job was a perfect complement to my other consulting work.
However, I had one main problem with the job: the board chair (also the founder) and I had dramatically different visions for the organization. He wanted us to be a somewhat regional program that used our nonprofit status primarily to qualify for funds. I, however, wanted us to become a strong nonprofit organization with a larger and larger national reach.
I'm a huge pizza fan. Especially the deep-dish, Chicago-style variety. Which is why for thirty years I've been a fan of Zachary's Chicago Pizza.
I'm not alone in my affection. They've won over 170 "best pizza" awards here in the San Francisco area.
So what makes them so special? Well, about twenty years ago I read an article where the founder, Zachary, described that their success was based largely upon one thing: doing one thing very, very well. In this case, it was making a stuffed deep-dish pizza. At the time they didn't make thin pizzas. Or sandwiches. Or lasagne. Or any other dish that you can get at other pizza restaurants. Rather, they focused all of their efforts on making one kind of pizza and doing it extremely well. This focus allowed them to excel.
That article struck a chord with me. I began to notice how businesses and organizations typically succeeded in direct correlation to how focused their products, programs, and services were. For example:
Henry Ford reportedly said that "We'll build you any type of car as long as it's a black Model T."
When they first started out, McDonalds focused exclusively on serving only a burger, fries, and a drink. They didn't expand their menu until they got their core product completely dialed in.
In this Harvard Business Review article, the authors state that "the truth is that the really successful companies are highly focused, achieving unprecedented efficiencies by designing a business model with a razor-thin focus and learning to do the one thing really well."
That concept — doing one thing really well — is what this great book is all about: The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results.
A well-publicized tech company, 37Signals, recently dropped all of their products except one, Basecamp. They then renamed their company after this one product. (Here's another, similar article.)
Teach for America skyrocketed to nonprofit success, in part, because of their singular focus on one program: placing talented recent college graduates into school districts with teacher shortages.
One of our nonprofit clients, Vida Verde Nature Education, has had spectacular success, in part due to its singular focus on delivering only one environmental education program.
And in our business, we've experienced growth and stronger customer service as a result of focusing specifically on delivering strategic planning to mission-driven leaders and their organizations.
So, perhaps you're buying into the idea of how greater focus can lead to greater success for your organization. But what if your organization has already drifted from its core mission and has adopted a variety of other programs and services? How can you refocus?
One of the best tools that I've found for this is called the Matrix Map. From this article, the Matrix Map "is a visual tool that plots all of the organization’s activities—not just its programs—into a single, compelling image. By illustrating the organization’s business model—through a picture of all activities and the financial and mission impact of each one—it supports genuinely strategic discussions."
The Matrix Map is described in full detail in Steve Zimmerman and Jeanne Bell's book, The Sustainability Mindset: Using the Matrix Map to Make Strategic Decisions.
I've used the tool with our customers and found it to be very helpful in assessing what programs and services to keep. If you buy the book be sure to read through the entire process before beginning. You may find some shortcuts that will help you streamline the process for your particular situation.
I WANT YOU TO FLOSS YOUR TEETH
About 1-1/2 years ago I went to my dentist for a regular check-up and teeth cleaning. Toward the end of the visit he gave me a wake up call when he proclaimed "your teeth are going to fall out!" He was being dramatic to make this point: I needed to floss. You see, even though I was a fabulous brusher, I was absolutely horrible at flossing. I had never developed the habit and I was paying the price.
What followed over the next eighteen months was a flossing adventure that provides a wonderful metaphor for strategic planning. In fact, the lessons I learned were remarkably similar to some of the critical strategic planning lessons I share with our customers...
Lesson 1: Use the Right Tool. I walked out of my dentist's office that day with this flossing tool in hand. Quite simply, this ingenious device has made all the difference. What used to take several frustrating and messy minutes of me fumbling around with dental floss now took about 30 seconds. In the strategic planning world, you need the right tools too. Like Mission Met Center, our software that makes it easier to create and track your strategic plan.
Lesson 2: Create Urgent Accountability. When I left my dentist's office I had a mandate to floss. I also had an appointment to return in three months to assess my progress. Knowing that I had 90 days to get my flossing act together created an urgent sense of accountability. Frankly, I didn't want to let my dentist and his hygienist down. The result? I created a new flossing habit that had evaded me for over 40 years. That type of accountability -- short-term due dates and reporting progress to others -- is the secret sauce to catalyzing your strategic planning success.
Lesson 3: Praise Creates Momentum. At my 90-day visit I was praised for the obvious improvement in my teeth and gums. I still had a long way to go but the positive feedback I received helped reinforce my new habit. The same goes for strategic planning. So often teams make the mistake of focusing on the goals they didn't hit. I've found that my clients that are the most successful in implementing their plans focus, instead, on what they do right. That emphasis creates a positive strategic planning culture that encourages even more involvement and effort.
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I'm proud to say that today my teeth and gums are the healthiest they've been in decades. I floss twice per day and my dentist is thrilled with my turnaround. And, oddly enough, the experience has even helped me reinforce my perspectives on strategic planning!
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Below is a screenshot of something that I love to create several times each week: my empty inbox. An empty inbox is an indicator that we’re responding to our customers in a timely fashion. And it simply helps me feel more relaxed and organized. You know, I try not to be obsessive or unrealistic about keeping an empty inbox. But I do have a simple goal and some good habits to help me get there. Here's what I do...
My Simple Goal
I have a simple goal that helps me keep my email under control: to end each day with less than ten emails in my inbox. Ideally, I'd end each day with an empty inbox but that's not realistic. Most days I'm successful at hitting this goal. But I've found that the 80/20 rule applies here. I hit my goal about 80% of the time. And that still feels great. Further, I don't worry too much about my email on days off. I don't apply my goal to those days. I realize that my situation is different than yours. I only receive about 350 emails each week. Some of you receive much more than that. And, since I run my own business I may have more control of my time than you. Despite these differences, I maintain that you'll still benefit from setting a specific email goal that works for you.
Create Simple Habits to Support Your Goal
With a goal in place, you'll need some simple habits to help you reach your goal. Here are four of mine:
I create accountability by sharing my goal with others.
Peer pressure works wonders. Heck, in this blog post I'm sharing my goal with the world. Talk about accountability!
I process my email throughout the day.
Frankly, I'm not sure if this is a good strategy or not. I've heard several email experts say that you should check your email once or twice a day. But that doesn't seem to work for me. If I check my email infrequently then my inbox builds up and it slows me down from responding to my clients in a timely fashion.
I use the phone
Email is great for quick correspondence. But for more in-depth issues, email can be less efficient than a conversation. So, it's not uncommon for me to receive an email and, instead of responding, I simply pick up the phone and call the person. That's often faster and more effective.
I keep my email subscriptions to a minimum
If I don't get value from an email subscription then I cancel it. So, those are four of my habits. I hope they give you some ideas about what can work best for you.
By the way, I'm definitely not an expert at this email thing. I'm right there with you, learning along the way. I've just been fortunate to arrive at a system that works well for me. If you'd like to learn from the experts then consider these books:
Inbox Freedom: The Zen Master's Guide to Tackling Your Email and Work by Mike Ghaffary and Charles Hudson.
Declutter Your Inbox: Inbox Detox in 6 Easy Steps - Increase Productivity and Finally Get to Inbox Zero by Dewan Bayney.
Good luck!
A few years ago I read a book by Stephen M.R. Covey called The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything. Covey's insights gave me some practical ideas to better discuss the concept of organizational trust with my clients. One of my takeaways was simply a way to describe how you created trust. He said that you built trust by demonstrating your competence (delivering on-time results, utilizing simple processes, etc.) and character (living your values, treating others with respect, etc.) Viewed differently, if trust were a tree, character would be the roots that kept you grounded and competence would be the trunk and branches evident to all.
Conversely, of course, you destroy trust when displaying poor character or incompetence. Perhaps most helpful was a simple and powerful formula he shared to describe the impact of trust. He said that when trust is high, speed increases, and costs decrease. The inverse is also true: when trust is low, speed decreases, and costs increase. Stating this as an equation: A good application of this formula is what happened to our experience in airports after 9/11. As a result of decreased trust, it took longer to get through the terminal and cost more due to the increased security. Can you think of ways that you can apply this formula to your personal and professional relationships?
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Over the years I've found that most nonprofit leaders make the following two key mistakes when approaching marketing:
They forget that a high quality program/service is their best marketing tool.
They jump immediately to creating a web site, brochure, logo, etc. without thinking more critically about the audience they're trying to market to.
With that in mind, I created a simple one-page marketing plan template to help my nonprofit clients approach marketing. This template does two things:
It reinforces the marketing importance of a high quality program/service.
It provides the following set of simple questions to help you clarify your market and tactics:
Who, specifically, is your organization's target client/customer?
What, specifically, are their key needs that your organization can meet?
How, specifically, does your organization uniquely meet their key needs?
How, specifically, will you tell your target clients that your organization can uniquely meet their needs (web site, network alliances, email newsletter, etc.)?
You can download the template here: One-page Marketing Plan Template. Note that these questions aren't original to me. I learned a variation of these questions from Robert Middleton, a marketing expert that's been in the business for thirty years. His practical and timeless advice has helped tens-of-thousands of people worldwide gain greater clarity about their marketing efforts. Of course, there's a lot more to marketing than simply captured on this template. But I hope that you find the template's focus and simplicity helpful.
If you get ten nonprofit consultants in a room and ask them how to write a mission statement, you may get ten different answers. Writing a mission statement tends to be more art than science. Which can lead to a lot of frustration.
A mission statement needs to do two things:
Briefly describe what you do.
Briefly describe the group you do it for.
To me, a one-sentence mission statement does this best. The brevity of the statement helps to ensure that the statement will actually get used and not just posted on the wall in a nice frame.
Turns out that lots of others feel the same way. Check out this list of 50, one-sentence nonprofit mission statements.
If you like the one-sentence approach, here is a worksheet that you can use to create your own mission (and vision!). I got this worksheet from the Top Nonprofits website.
All of that said, a one-sentence mission statement doesn't do a good job of describing the depth of an organization. With that in mind, some organizations present their mission statement and then follow it up with additional information. Check out these sites to see what I mean:
Hope this helps you in your mission statement efforts!
(Also, check out this video called How to Write Mission Statements That Don’t Suck. It’s from the author of one of my favorite books!)
