Dear Association Leader

Chris Bernard describes the issues involved in A Few Good Page Layout Tools for Nonprofits at TechSoup. The basic tool you need for letters and basic correspondence has its limitations.

Word-processing software can do a lot, but it’s not really designed for complex, highly designed documents. If you find yourself working on layouts that require complex multicolumn layouts or text routing, or a high degree of control over how text and images interact, word processing applications likely won’t suffice — it becomes difficult or impossible to manage layouts to that level of control. In particular, there are a few things word-processing applications simply won’t do:

What many nonprofits, especially the small ones, miss is that they have no business trying to prepare “complex, highly designed documents” in house. They cannot afford to hire staff for this sort of work and they should not develop a dependency upon a volunteer for this sort of effort.

There are two solutions to the need for “complex, highly designed documents” in an organization. One is to get the proper help and assistance to create them and the other is to find an alternative. That alternative is to create simpler documents that will still achieve the desired goal.

In other words, you can usually simplify the task to suit the tools you have and know how to use. That helps your organization to focus on its mission and avoid distractions by such things as tool inventory, training, personnel expertise, and compatibility.

Michael Wade has an interesting collection for 6 Ways to Be a Great Listener in US News.

• Listen for a theme.
• Recognize that the speaker might not know the real message.
• Look through a window, not a mirror.
• Subdue your ego.
• Act as if you are listening.
• Let them talk and then go back over the story in reverse chronological order - an old investigator’s trick.

The key here is that what is meant is not always what is said and your own perception process will flavor how you understand what you think you hear.

Dress the part of a listener and it will help you be a listener. Look for the big picture with the assumption that you are hearing only pieces of the intended meaning and those pieces may be unintentionally selected to protect the talker. Keep in the mind that the person talking is not you and that you need to understand what is being said from the position and point of view of the talker and not from your own position.

“Before you hit send on that next email, perhaps you should run down this list, just to be sure” - Seth Godin has a checklist you should consider before you hit send on your next e-mail.

That is, consider his checklist if you want to communicate in a way that doesn’t brand you as thoughtless and inconsiderate.

If I had to pay 42 cents to send this email, would I?

really?

Tech Crunch discusses The Evolution of the Press Release and provides some good ideas for how your organization can better get the word out. Traditional, as well as the modern Search Engine Optimizing and Social Media needs are described.

A key is to save a publication effort and expense by writing a story for them that is in line with their style and focus.

there is a note of caution however, the same tools that help you expand visibility, can also set up for failure. Wire services only edit for typos, not for content. This means that you can publish a release riddled with hyperbole, spin, buzzwords, and hype that will only serve to confuse and dissuade your customers from doing business with you. It will send them to your competition.

If nobody knows what you are doing, how can you expect them to lend support for your efforts? You have to get the word out: the right word in the right way as determined by the response you expect and need.

Dennis Pointer has a website BoardFood where he provides a useful resource for governing better. The focus is on healthcare organizations. An online publication, Navigating the Boardroom )PDF) contains 40 maxims that any NPO director should consider. Check it out!

Stages of Maturity in Nonprofit Organizations’ Use of Online Technologies provides a number of criteria you can to determine how your organization is using I’net techology.

Basic means an accurate and up to date website without any frills supported by effective e-mail management and domain name.

Intermediate organizations might have an opt in e-mail newsletter and staff that participate in forums and other I’net venues. This is also where defined policies and some collaboration also start to show up.

The advanced organizations have equipped volunteers who can telecommute via an intranet. The organization maintains blogs and other interactive media. This level is where e-commerce starts to appear.

Trail blazing organizations utilize full multi-media network capabilities, handheld remote access, social networking, and ongoing online research.

An assessment tool like this is a starting point. It provides one idea about what you can do and about how to view your own efforts and capabilities. Seek out patterns that are used. For instance, one pattern in this series is timeliness. From basic being just up to date through monthly to weekly to, finally, fully interactive, this assessment considers shorter response times as more mature. Other patterns include a progression from static to dynamic and from presentation to interaction. You can use these to compare to what is really important for your organization to help you focus your efforts in advancing your organization towards its goals and mission.

GuideStar has some good points about Five Fundraising Mistakes We Make with Our Boards. The lessons are ones that apply to all of your volunteer or even staffing efforts. Blunt force with a dull blade is often not the best approach to getting things done and remaining healthy. Train your people so they know what they are doing and send them to accomplish tasks chosen so they will succeed. The theme is that your nonprofit is not a retail mass market business but rather a personal and community relationship. Don’t sell product or service. Build a community to support your efforts.

Do not send your people out to ask for money, send them out to build relationships and keep friends.

Avoid the cold call as there are not many who can handle that level of rejection.

Avoid small return efforts. The reward has to be worth the effort. If all you are after is a single sale or a small donation, the focus is misplaced. Even when selling event tickets the focus should be on making friends and developing relationships that will provide larger rewards in the longer term.

You will not need emergency fundraising if you have good long-term relationships. Friends will help you out in a pinch. Build those friends and not emergencies.

Provide training, structure, coaching, and support so your people are comfortable and familiar with what they are doing and how to do it and what to expect.

The expense isn’t what it costs to train employees. It’s what it costs not to train them - P. Wilber

It can be tough. We all want to go out and get the job done. We need money so we think the job is to go ask for it. That might be misleading. Yes, you need to ask, but you need to ask the right person and in the right way to get the best return from your effort.

It is interesting that this are exactly the same lessons being learned by a new ‘time share’ resort salesman. He was a new hire at a good company that did training and initial coaching. Success isn’t just manning a kiosk and waiting for business nor it is accosting everyone who goes by with a sales pitch. Instead it is being friendly, finding out who would actually have the interest in the free tour and bonus package - enough interest to take the time and effort to consummate the sale. That sale being not a resort sale but rather the commitment to come and see if you want to join our community.

That is what you want for organization. To have your Board members get out and bring people in, the right people in. You want to bring people in who will want to join up and participate and do what they can to make your organization succeed. That is how you do fundraising on a one on one basis.

Anne Fisher, Fortune senior writer, describes 8 ways to be a better boss: Companies increasingly want managers to act more like coaches. Here’s a short course in helping your team shine.

The coaching and mentoring model of leadership is effective in leading volunteers because it puts its emphasis on helping team members succeed and not on mechanistic job performance. Anne’s 8 basic tips reinforce many of the lessons leaders need to know and implement.

“1. It’s all in the relationship.” When you get to know your team members as individuals with tastes, preferences, and their own capabilities and knowledge, you can help them fit into team needs. When they get to know you, they can better understand the direction you set and the goals of the team as you express them.

“2. Always follow the 7:1 rule.” That’s seven pieces of positive feedback for every one that is suggestive or critical. Make it a habit to reinforce what is being done right as your primary means of developing your team. Keep a perspective about suggestion and criticism over recognizing things done well or even just the day to day competent performance.

“3. Be clear about your expectations.” This is the ‘no surprises’ rule. People need to know where they are going, how they are going to get there, and their role in the journey. They need to know how success will be measured for both their own efforts and for the team effort.

“4. Speak up when you see behavior that can be improved.” This is another view of tip 2, the 7:1 rule. It differs in that it is not a recognition of past behavior but rather a clearing of the path for future behavior. It does not critique what was done but points out what could be done.

“5. Coach people onto the playing field.” There are rules both written and unwritten. There are boundaries and limitations about what can be done and how it is to be done. Make sure your team knows the limits, knows the rules, knows how to play the game on the field, and exercises their initiative and innovation within those constraints. There is a matter of being out of the box versus off the field of play or even out of the stadium. Keep your team on the field.

“6. Focus on soft skills as well as hard skills.” The entire team can be embarrassed when a member commits a faux pas and it is particularly hard on the individual involved. Your job is to help your team members know the rules, know the implications of their behavior, know the answers, and to help them avoid putting their foot in their mouth due to ignorance, incompetence, or even sloppiness.

“Many times managers are hesitant to coach someone who is being too abrasive, too passive, not a problem-solver, or what have you, because they feel it’s not tangible enough to talk about,” Frankel observes. “But workplace success is contingent upon so much more than just doing the job.”

Your role as a coach is to help people develop all the skills they need, not just (perhaps not even mainly) the technical ones.

“7. Be a servant leader.” You have a function on the team as leader. In performing that function, you provide each of your followers a service. Ask yourself ‘How well am I serving them?’”

“8. Prepare for each coaching session.” You are the one who needs to know from the gut but lead from the mind. Think first, don’t just react. Consider what you are going to say and how it will be perceived before you say it. Avoid judgment and help others find their best path.

Human beings are compounded of cognition and emotion and do not function well when treated as though they were merely cogs in motion… The task of the administrator must be accomplished less by coercion and discipline and more and more by persuasion … Management of the future must look more to leadership and less to authority as the primary means of coordination. - Luther H Gulick

Finding the right board for your organization is one of the toughest jobs of any association leader. The perspective of a venture capitalist provides Thoughts On Choosing Board Members worth considering in the nonprofit world.

What you should look for is people who will attend meetings, attend to business, express good judgment. Your candidates must be independent enough to be able to do what is right even if there is pressure to let it slide. Despite this, they need to be able to get along with the other members of the board and be a part of the team.

There are some common attributes that should not place high on your list as well. For instance don’t just look for big names. Look for big names that contribute and lend their expertise and will function on your board. Don’t let potential conflicts of interest deter your consideration as these can be handled and managed.

A good board doesn’t just happen. You have to go out and find good prospects and recruit them to your cause. Your membership is a prime pool for this. Look for the volunteers who step forward and get the job done. Build and grow candidates to lead them to board service.

We hired the wrong people … because we were in such a hurry to fill those positions - L.T. Bignell

Get the right people for your board!

The Guru’s Handbook has a couple of entries asking Why Study if it has already Been Done? and Why Teach if it has already Been Taught?. It sometimes seems that the process of education is a futile repetition of what has been to achieve nothing new. What the Guru highlights is that training is often confused with education and neither training nor education is what we’d often like it to be.

So why teach what has already been taught? Because it has not already been taught. Not by you, to that student, today, now. Because the work is the doing, not the plotline. Because this telling — your telling — might create something new, something worth bringing forth.

Those whose profession is education, teaching, training, coaching, or mentoring need to have some way to express an accountability for their activities. They need to manage their profession and that cannot be done without some form of measuring to provide constructive feedback. To move that feedback from subjective perception to objective measure is the challenge.

As the availability of information becomes ever less expensive, broad based, entertaining, and in our faces, the simple measure of how much you know becomes less important. This measure is a competency test as is often used in state licensing for professionals. What becomes more important are skills in acquiring needed information, technique in performance, judgment, and other things that are difficult to asses in an objective manner.

You can see evidence of this conflict in many fields. The Drill Sergeant and the boot camp experience, the current discussion about the hours worked by medical interns, and the rigors of training to become a professional athlete. There is a modern effort to make all of these “kinder and gentler” and to focus on certain specified skills or knowledge rather than more subjective qualities.

Yet we depend upon those qualities. Both the Army and the surgeons find that experience with computer games can enhance to ability to fly UAV’s or perform less invasive surgery. Something more comes out of the experience than just a skill.

There is a lesson for anyone making decisions about personal and personnel development. While you may have specific knowledge or skills to impose on the subject, the fact is that the context is going to make a difference. The teacher, the time, the student, the subject and more, will influence outcome and make one effort different from another no matter how much the same they try to be. Don’t loose what could be, take advantage of the moment.