How does your agency measure its success?

March 7, 2014 erik organizational development

Success

By John Greco
Originally published on July 26, 2012
Re-posted with permission from johnponders blog
emerson How do you measure success?
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, a redeemed social condition, or a job well done;
To know even one other life has breathed easier because you have lived —
This is to have succeeded.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve been reading Emerson’s masterpiece for probably over thirty years now.
It has never disappointed. I don’t think it ever will. It seems to move with me over the years.
There are some phrases that I connected with right off — to win the respect of intelligent people; to leave the world a bit better by a job well done.
Then there are other phrases that, thirty years later, I’m just starting to get —to appreciate beauty; to leave the world a bit better by a garden patch.
Then there are the other phrases… which make this verse, I think — in addition to being extraordinary — enigmatic. It is both affirmative, and humbling, at the same time.

We can read those lines, each and every one of us, and think that, yes, we are indeed successful. It affirms.
And in other ways, we don’t measure up. It humbles.
Maybe that’s the point.
But there’s more to do. There’s work to do. There’s ground to cover.We have done much. We’re successful.
There are impacts to make. Probably immeasurable impacts.
How do you measure success?
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How are you turning your agency's weaknesses into strengths?

February 28, 2014 erik organizational development

The Cracked Pot

By John Greco
Originally published on June 4, 2012
Re-posted with permission from johnponders blog
A Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.
At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full..
For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water..
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.
‘I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.’
The old woman smiled, ‘Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?’ ‘That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.’
For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.”
[Author unknown, but greatly appreciated! If you or anyone you know has a proprietary interest in this story please authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as appropriate.]

I used to have an old, decrepit picket fence along the property line behind my garage. It was in disrepair. As I went about working to remove it, I couldn’t bring myself to just throw all the pickets in the trash.
I used some of the pickets to hide my garbage can and recycling container staged on the side of the house.
Last year, I used most of the rest of the pickets to create an old, arbor-like, shabby-chic backdrop for my pond (see picture, right). Looks like its been there a hundred years, but it’s perfect, for now, to support the cardinal vine that will hug it, twist and turn through it; and when in bloom, beckon the hummingbirds…
My wife and I have had a wicker table almost since we’ve been married (our 34 year anniversary was yesterday) and it also has deteriorated (the wicker table; not the marriage!) to the point that it no longer can be depended on to safely serve as a table. Last weekend, I cut the legs off, and placed the wicker top in a spot in the garden, with pea gravel under and around (see picture below). I’ve still work to do to secure it, but it already has piqued some visual interest to the previously nondescript corner…

And now I’m pondering using the wicker table legs to intersperse among the pond edge bamboo stakes!
I have, as you might have surmised, a bit of a compulsion to reuse things. To repurpose. To extend the utility of the unique character of things that long have seen a better day.
The Chinese woman took a pot that didn’t quite work well for it’s intended purpose, and she made it work well for another — shall we say higher? — purpose. It could not quench her thirst as much as it had before, but perhaps we can say that it is satisfying her thirst for something different.
But there is a cost. Her labor is returning 25% less water for her and her family using that cracked pot.
And soon I will need to redo the picket screening around my garbage cans.
And the shabby chic picket back drop surely won’t last as long as a structure made from new wood would…
Utility, and return on investment — as beauty — is in the eye of the beholder.
The author of the story above gave the cracked pot the ability to voice its discouragement and shame over its lost capability. I am realizing now that that storytelling technique gave the author the opportunity to have the Chinese woman talk to the cracked pot, pointing out the critical contribution the pot was playing in beautifying her path, and her home.
I imagine that cracked pot felt pretty good after hearing that…
I will be listening to my pickets; and I will be listening to my wicker table pieces-parts; and I will tell them how much I appreciate their new contribution; I will tell them how they are satisfying my thirst for something, well, different.
And I will leave it to you (at least for now) to make the more explicit connections of this story, and my story, to our real worlds — for they are many, and varied, and meaningful.
For we will all be — if we’re not already — cracked pots.

How risk adverse is your non-profit organization?

February 21, 2014 erik organizational development

Trust the Break

By John Greco
Originally published on July 9, 2012
Re-posted with permission from johnponders blog
elevator Thousands of spectators flooded into the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York City.
It was 1853.
Elisha Graves Otis stood on an elevating platform. As it rose up high above the crowd, Otis took out a knife; it became immediately apparent to everyone that he intended to cut the cable!
The crowd of people feared the same results that they had read about or seen: a quick plunge, to a likely death, or serious injury…
But not this time.
With the cable fully severed, Elisha Otis’s platform did not plummet. Otis’s safety brake produced a slight drop, until the spring kicked out into the guide rails. Otis is said to have shouted, “All safe, gentleman, all safe.”
Otis sold 42 freight elevators in the two years after his exposition debut.
After his death in 1861, Otis’s company was left to his two sons; by 1873, they had sold over two thousand elevators worldwide.
Adapted from the Otis Elevator Blog

How risk averse are you?
I find it hard to answer that question. I hedge; it depends. I’m not sure I would have been an early rider of Otis’s elevator.
That’s a lie, really. I am sure; I would definitely not have been. No way!
But when it comes to organizational change, I’m pretty much all in.
I’m afraid that inclination hasn’t particularly helped me over the back half of my career as I’ve pitched changes in structure, policy, process, and culture… I can paint a pretty compelling picture of the benefits, and I do alright projecting the costs.

But I under appreciate the downside risks. I, consequently, short change the risk mitigation section of the proposal. In fact, sometimes I omit it entirely.
The tenor of the responses are wide-ranging, but the result is disturbingly the same. They don’t relish the ride I’m pitching. So, no go. They’re not on board.
I think they were all looking for Otis’s brake.
And who could blame them? I wouldn’t have went up with Otis … and I’m sure I would have wrestled him down to the platform once I saw that knife come out …
Fear is a powerful emotion. It stops us in our tracks. We don’t go forward.
Or up.
Elisha Graves Otis did not invent the elevator. He invented the elevator brake.
But the brake wasn’t his only innovation. He innovated in influencing. He created quite the spectacle to demonstrate the brake’s effectiveness.
Nothing to fear.
The sky is now the limit.
But we needed to trust that brake first.
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Making the case for setting a clear shared vision

February 14, 2014 erik organizational development, Planning

Forward!

By John Greco
Originally published on June 14, 2012
Re-posted with permission from johnponders blog
If you cry “Forward!” you must make clear the direction in which to go. Don’t you see that if you fail to do that and simply call out the word to a monk and a revolutionary, they will go in precisely the opposite directions.
— Anton Chekov, Russian dramatist

To make sense of this quote, we need to understand monks and revolutionaries.
I imagine what Chekov had in mind when citing a monk is someone who lives within an established routine, with not a lot of change or variance, and with a reverence for the past. I enhance that image further by thinking that monks have so much reverence for the past that they keep it alive in the present.

I imagine what Chekov had in mind when referencing a revolutionary is very different — strong intention, with strong action, to break from the current status quo, and create something radically new. I enhance that image further by thinking that revolutionaries have such an appetite for immediate change that they want to pull the future into the present.
Forward, to a monk, means no change is necessary nor anticipated.
Forward, to a revolutonary, means change is assumed and must happen NOW!
It is easy to see, then, that “forward” to a monk might mean committing to a strict adherence to the practices and traditions of the past. And to a revolutionary, ”forward” might mean the accelerated establishment of new and different policies and practices, NOW!
There is likely a monk-like colleague and a revolutionary-like colleague sitting to the left and right of you. Same, sitting on either side of each of them.
And which way do you lean?
The implications for leaders are considerable.
We need to be explicit with plans and strategies and visions. What is changing? What isn’t changing? We might see ways to bridge the gap; we can speak to how planned changes actually honor the past (which will get the attention of the monks) while speaking to the promise of changes in short order (which will pique the interest of the revolutionaries).

Just think of what this means vis-à-vis mixed generational workforces. And vis-à-vis rapid technological advancement. And social change.
Oh boy!
So; not unlike the high-wire act of change, calibrating and recalibrating the messaging is important; if the monks have inordinate influence, marginalization, irrelevance, and extinction are real risks. If revolutionaries hold sway, chaos and confusion disable.
In either scenario, there is not progress.
There is no forward.
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What is distracting you and impacting your non-profit agency?

February 7, 2014 erik organizational development

X the Concerns

By John Greco
Originally published on June 25, 2012
Re-posted with permission from johnponders blog
Pen-paper In this post I will be sharing one of the most profound and impactful lessons of my life.
But for you to really relate, I need you to participate.
So please go get a blank piece of paper and a pen.
Oh come on! Painless, really.
Okay. Draw as big a circle as you can on the page.
Now think about everything you are concerned about. Everything: your aging mom, the near term milestone on that project, the risk of the company losing a key leader, the European financial crisis, etc. Make small x’s inside the circle to represent each of those concerns.
You are now looking at your circle of concern. Mark it as such.
Imagine that you rearrange your concerns, so that the ones that you really can’t do anything about (e.g. the European financial crisis; the flight risk of that key leader) move toward the boundary of the circle. The concerns you believe you can do at least something about move toward the center of the circle.
Now draw a second, smaller, circle, inside the larger one, around those concerns that you believe you can do something about.
You are now looking at your circle of influence. Mark it as such!
A common reaction, at this point, is that there are way more concerns outside your circle of influence than inside it. Or, that the concerns that are outside your circle of influence are weightier and more consequential than those inside your circle of concern.
Disheartening, isn’t it?
In reality it is more than disheartening. It is distracting. And that distraction has consequences.
When we focus on things that we really can’t do anything about, we are actually expending valuable time and energy that could have been used to work on those things that are inside your circle of influence, those concerns that you really could do something about.
What really ends up happening is your circle of influence shrinks.
Yep, I said that right; when we worry, stress out, and become fixated or paralyzed by the things that we are concerned about but can’t really do anything about, we miss the opportunity to influence one or more of those things inside the smaller influence circle. Let’s say you’ve been stressin’ about Greece pulling out of the Eurozone and Spain defaulting on its debt and Italy’s next and geezus what’s going to happen to my 401K! … and you miss the opportunity to work on that project milestone. It’s too late to recover. You are going to have to report that you missed that milestone, and the deliverable target date is now at risk.
That concern, in effect, just drifted outside your circle of influence. Your circle of influence just shrunk.
Not a good thing.
But there’s more to this exercise, and if you quit now, you will only have seen the downside. There is considerable upside. Trust me.
Let’s say we don’t get distracted by those concerns that we know we can’t do anything about. Let’s say, instead of obsessing about Greece and Spain and Italy and your 401K you use that time and energy to set up some coaching from a trusted colleague on the near term project milestone. As a result, she actually helps you quite a bit; you subsequently are in much better shape to report on that milestone. And when you make that report, it is well-received and your skill and effort is recognized.
Odds are pretty good that your circle of influence just got larger.
Saywhatnow?
You’re thinking you may have less of a concern for that project, or even no concern at all anymore, but how can I say your circle of influence got larger?
Because it’s at least possible that that flight risk leader took notice of the way you recovered that project, and wants to talk about how you did it, and how might you help him… and that previous “nothing you can do” concern just slid into your circle of influence.
That’s quite a stretch you say? Okay, another possibility: because you are not so much concerned about the project now, you can devote some time and energy to researching twice a week home nursing visits for your mom. That concern just slid into your circle of influence…
Look, these are hypotheticals. I’m trying to bring to life those x’s on a piece of paper; but I don’t have to try that hard, right? You know ‘em…
… and you know what this is all about.
Maybe you don’t need to be reminded, but I do —
John! Don’t worry about things you have no control over and can’t do anything about! Do something about the things you can do something about! You can influence!
That’s the impactful, easy-to-understand-but-difficult-to-sustain-in-real-life part of the lesson.
Here’s the profound part — The more I influence, the more I can influence.
Yes, I do worry about the Eurozone financial crisis. Can’t really do anything about that particular concern.
Yet!
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What does your agency's committee system look like?

February 5, 2014 erik Board governance, organizational development

Board Work via Board Committees

By Dani Robbins
Re-published with permission from nonprofit evolution blog
committee1 Appointed or elected community leaders govern an organization. As outlined in my favorite Board book Governance as Leadership and summarized in The Role of the Board, the Fiduciary Mode is where governance begins for all boards and ends for too many. I encourage you to also explore the Strategic and Generative Modes of Governance, which will greatly improve your board’s engagement, and also their enjoyment.
At a minimum, governance includes:

Setting the Mission, Vision and Strategic Plan
Hiring, Supporting and Evaluating the Executive Director
Acting as the Fiduciary Responsible Agent
Raising Money and
Setting Policy

Committees are how the work of the board gets done. The committees, their structure and definitions will be outlined in your organization’s by-laws, which in Ohio are called Code of Regulations.
The by-laws will also dictate if committee chairs and committee members must be board members. I recommend that the chairs be board members but that committee membership not be limited to only board members. Committee work is a great way to build the bench of a board, see how someone works and it they are a good fit for a future board position. Most organizations have a requirement that Board members serve on at least one committee.
Committee members are responsible to the full Board for the research, work, framing of the issues and recommendation in their assigned area. There are a minimum of three committees I recommend as “must haves,” which are Board Development, Resource Development, and Finance Committee.
There is often also some version of an Executive Committee and there may be other committees as well. Let’s review each.
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee is usually the four Officers (President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary of the Board) or the Officers plus the Committee Chairs. Less often, Executive Committees have members at large.
Executive Committees can sometimes make decisions in lieu of the full board. This will be clearly stated in the by-laws. I generally recommend against this. In fact, other that in emergency situations when I think they’re critical, I generally recommend against the Executive Committee meeting on a regular basis.
Powerful Executive Committees tend to disengage the remaining board members. It allows the few to operate without the whole. Anything that contributes to board member disengagement works against the agency’s success and should be avoided.
Finance Committee
committee2 The Finance Committee, chaired by Treasurer, works with the appropriate staff in examining the financial reports, understanding and monitoring the financial condition of the organization and preparing the annual budget. The Treasurer presents the monthly financial statements to the Board at each board meeting. This committee also selects an audit firm each year and reviews the audit plan, audit and 990, which should be signed by the Treasurer prior to submission.
As it is sometimes considered a conflict that the committee that monitors the books also manages the auditor selection, it is considered a best practice to have a separate audit committee. If this is not feasible for your organization and as auditing firms are independent of the agency, this conflict can be mitigated by bidding out your audit and changing your auditor every few years.
Resource Development Committee
The Resource Development Committee works with the CEO, the senior development staff, if there is one, and the Board of Directors in developing strategies to identify and secure needed resources and funding to support the operations of the organization. The Committee is responsible for creating and executing a plan to raise money. The full Board is responsible for introducing their network to the organization, attending events, financially supporting the organization and encouraging other to do as well.
Board Development Committee
The Board Development Committee is concerned with identification of new Board members and the development of the future leadership of the Board. The Board Development Committee helps develop an effective Board through its two main functions:
Board Building: A diverse board of directors (thought, skill, race, faith, ability, orientation, age, and gender) that is passionate about the mission of the organization is created through a Board Building process.
Board Education: Board members will fully understand and effectively fulfill their commitments to the Board of Directors when a comprehensive orientation, continuing education, annual evaluation and recognition process is in place.
With the exception of a functioning Executive Committee, the Board Development Committee is usually the most powerful committee of the Board. It is often the only committee that you can’t just volunteer for but must be invited to join.
Other Committees
Some Boards also have program committee, human resource committees and a variety of other committees.
The Program Committee is responsible for the program side of the Board’s fiduciary responsibility. They focus on how the programs tie to the organization’s mission, what they impact, how that impact is measured and the number of people who are served in those programs.
The Human Resource Committee is responsible for the development and recommendation of the personnel and other relevant policies, the creation of a salary adjustment plan and the framework for the CEOs evaluation.
A Word of Caution
committee3 I recommend caution when creating committees to do the work of staff. It gets very confusing as to who is responsible for what and responsible to whom. If Board members are acting in staff roles, the Executive Director retains the authority for decision-making. If the Board members are operating within the scope of their roles, the Board has the authority for decision-making. Conversations had in advance can help you avoid role confusion and the overstepping of boundaries.
Do you agree with my three “must have” committees? What else do you recommend? What is your experience with committee work? As always, I welcome your insight, feedback and experience.

Does your agency's technology plan depend on 12-year-olds?

January 31, 2014 erik organizational development, technology

The School Bus Won’t Wait

By John Greco
Originally published on May 21, 2012
Re-posted with permission from johnponders blog
David was a tenured college professor. While an expert in his field, he knew very little about computers; just enough in fact to get on a network and ask for help. Fortunately, a more experienced user came to his aid, never failing to give just the right advice.
One morning, when a vexing problem was plaguing him, his expert advisor who had been on-line with him for over an hour, said, “I’ve got to go.” David pleaded with him, “You can’t leave me, we’ve almost found the solution.”
Across the electron world came the next sentence: “You don’t understand, my school bus won’t wait for me.”
David thought for a moment, his curiosity mounting, “How old are you?” he asked.
“I’m twelve,” was the response on his screen, “and I’ll talk to you later.”
Source: Community Building: Renewing Spirit and Learning, Edited by Kazimierz Gozdz, (c) 1995.

A few short years ago, we couldn’t have even imagined such a scenario. In the past, proximity and commonality brought us together. We had family and close friends; help came from familiar places.
Today, help can come from anywhere, from anyone, at any time, on anything. Help can come from the most unlikely people. And from the most unlikely places.
A twelve year old across the globe can help a college professor.
There is great potential in the invisible network of an electronic community, no? Technology is enabling us to connect like never before, opening up possibilities like never before.
We can pretty clearly see the upside for problem solving and innovation, speed and progress, quality and quantity of work.
But just think of the possibilities for changing our attitudes; our prejudices and biases; of slowly dissolving bigotry, and discrimination; and racism, sexism,ageism …
Even the possibilities for relationships! Today, my son can play an on line, real time game with like-minded people from all across the world, and in so doing, develop a friendship with a girl a thousand miles away that has real meaning.
Gives new meaning to “the girl next door” doesn’t it? She can now be here, there, anywhere!
I can imagine a lot, but I can’t imagine what life will be like 100 years from now. You and I will never know. Even my mom’s upcoming fourth great-grandchild may not know.
I wonder who my mom’s fourth great-grandchild will have as friends and family? It certainly does suggest a different slant on “extended family” …
And I wonder who will be helping my mom’s fourth great-grandchild when she is an aging professional seeking help with the emerging technology of that time?
Technology. Adapting to change. And possibility.
As I age, and as technology advances, it is likely I will start falling behind. It is already happening. I have a cell phone that I only use to make telephone calls. :-)
tech3 And I already see that I’m not adapting fast enough to keep pace with the innovations. The technology school bus isn’t waiting for me!
But, as I age, I hope I can keep seeing the possibility. I will likely need help with this. I hope I can stay open-minded and aware enough to know that my mom’s fourth great-grandchild’s help will only be a click or two away.
Here’s hoping she can help me before she needs to leave for school!

Resolving to do things different in 2014 at your non-profit

January 29, 2014 erik Board development, Board governance, Fundraising, leadership, organizational development, Planning

5 Things Non Profits can Strengthen in 2014

By Dani Robbins
Re-published with permission from nonprofit evolution blog
2014 resolutions As I’m sure you aware by now, I like to reflect back on things that have occurred and create a plan to avoid their reoccurrence. As such, I’ve been thinking about things our field can do to be stronger.
1. Build Better Boards
You’ve seen me write it before and it’s still true, everything flows from the board. Weak boards hire weak leaders who manage weak agencies. Sometimes it goes the other way, weak boards hire strong leaders who do whatever they want because the board is asleep at the wheel. Neither contributes to effectively governed agencies.
Strong boards hire strong leaders who build strong agencies.
For more information on building strong boards, please see previous posts on board development.
2. Create Succession Plans
Agencies that have great leaders need to plan for that leader’s transition as much as agencies with weak leaders. In fact, and among other things, one of the signs of a great leader is the strength of the agency once they’re gone.
Whether your exec gets fired, wins the lottery and moves to Jamaica, or retires after decades of excellent service, your board will need a plan to hire a new leader.
The Anne E. Casey Foundation’s Building Leaderful Organizations and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Nonprofit Executive Succession Planning Toolkit, offer a comprehensive look at planning. Each may be much broader than you need, but both can help you figure out what you need.
3. Build Capacity
Most agencies and most leaders, even and especially the ones that are great, can continue to build their capacity. Whether you have experienced tremendous growth, have a new leader, have downsized and now want to rebuild or if you just want to increase your strength, capacity building is the way to go.
Some larger national organizations have proprietary capacity building tools. If you are a part of a national organization, ask if such a thing has been created. If it has, use it. If it hasn’t, suggest it is.
For those of you who are standing alone, The Marguerite Casey Foundation’s Organizational Capacity Assessment tool is the best and most comprehensive I have seen. “It is a self-assessment instrument that helps nonprofits identify capacity strengths and challenges and establish capacity building goals. It is primarily a diagnostic and learning tool” that was designed to help agencies serving low income communities. Even if your agency has nothing to do with that community, this tool can help your agency be stronger.
4. Consider Mergers
There are lots and lots of organizations out there, some doing very similar work with very similar values. If your agency is struggling, is strong or you have a leadership transition, it might be a good time for your board to consider merging with another organization. The decision may be no, but it is an option worth putting on the table.
Again, some larger national organizations have merger tools. If you are a part of a national organization, ask if such a thing has been created. If it has, use it. If it hasn’t, suggest it is.
For those of you who are standing alone, I encourage you to reach out to your local community foundation or local nonprofit resource center for assistance. Here are a few links for your consideration:
Bridgespan’s Nonprofit M&A: More Than a Tool for Tough Times
Wilder Research’s What do we know about nonprofit mergers
And from the Nonprofit Finance Fund, a report with the same title What do we know about nonprofit mergers.
The larger our field grows, the more we will compete for limited resources. Can we be stronger together?
5 Get Better at Communicating with Donors
I am consistently surprised by the way some non profits communicate with their donors, or don’t, as the case may be. Here are some questions for you to assess your donor communication practices:

Do donors receive a formal thank you note, on letterhead, that includes the amount of their gift within 48 hours of your receipt of their gift, regardless of the gift amount?
Does it include the appropriate IRS language?
Does someone call to say thank you to your largest donors?
Does your Exec or a member of your board call those donors periodically to update them on the agency’s activities?
Do you have a gift acceptance policy?
Do you have a development plan?

If the answers is no to any of these questions, that is a great place to ramp up your practices.
For more information on resource development, please see previous development posts and Donor Dreams, for which I also blog.
The non profits in my community and communities across the country and the world are moving the needle on the issues they exist to impact. With on-going assessment, the implementation of best practices and constantly striving to be better and do better we can continue to make our world better.
How do you think we can best strengthen our field? As always, I welcome your insight, feedback and experience. Please share your ideas or suggestions for blog topics and consider hitting the follow button to enter your email. A rising tide raises all boats.

What should your agency start, stop or continue doing?

January 24, 2014 erik organizational development

The Cow Path

By John Greco
Originally published on May 29, 2012
Re-posted with permission from johnponders blog
One day thru the primeval wood
A calf walked home, as good calves should,
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail, as all calves do.
Since then three hundred years have fled,
And I infer, the calf is dead;
But still behind he left his trail,
And thereon hangs my mortal tale.
The trail was taken up next day
By a lone dog that passed that way,
And then a wise bell-weather sheep
Sliding into a rut now deep,
Pursued that trail over hill and glade
Thru those old woods a path was made.
And many men wound in and out,
And dodged and turned and bent about,
and uttered words of righteous wrath
Because “twas such a crooked path”
But still they follow-do not laugh-
The first migrations of that calf.
The forest became a lane
That bent and turned and turned again;
This crooked lane became a road
where many a poor horse with his load
Toiled on beneath the burning sun,
And traveled some three miles in one.
The years passed on in swiftness fleet,
The village road became a street,
And this, before the men were aware,
A city’s crowded thoroughfare.
And soon a central street was this
In a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half
Followed the wanderings of this calf.
Each day a hundred thousand strong
Followed this zigzag calf along;
And over his crooked journey went
The traffic of a continent.
A hundred thousand men were led
By one poor calf, three centuries dead.
For just such reverence is lent
To well established precedent.
A moral lesson this might teach
Were I ordained and called to preach.
For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf paths of the mind;
And work away from sun to sun
To do what other men have done.
Poem by Samuel Walter Foss (1895)

We often tackle problems with action planning. Well what are we going to do? What’s the plan? What should we commit to doing in the next 30 days? Who should do what?
Do … do … do …
What about considering what we shouldn’t do? What about considering what we are doing that we should stop doing?
There’s a rather standard OD exercise that I have facilitated with regularity over many years — Stop, Start, Continue. What processes, procedures, tasks, behaviors should we implement? What current ones should we discontinue? What ones are still relevant and useful that we should continue doing?
Invariably, the “stop” list is not as populated as the other two.
Hard to stop.
I blame it on those cows.
But my blame is misdirected. We’re to blame.
It is relatively easy to start doing new things; if we’re committed, we’ll find the time. And starting new things has such promise! And doesn’t it show that we’re creative; innovative; and isn’t taking action often recognized and rewarded independent of whether the activity actually generates results?
And, easier yet, is to continue; it quite clearly is the path of least resistance.
But to stop doing things we’ve always been doing takes making a decision that breaks from the well established modus operandi. It takes a willingness to take responsibility. It means taking a chance of a different sort. Where is that cow? and how will that cow feel about us going a different route? And heaven forbid if that cow is sacred!
So we keep doing what we’ve always done.
For just such reverence is lent to well established precedent.
And now we know: such reverence is cow dung.

Robbins on Pallotta on The Overhead Myth

January 22, 2014 erik Fundraising, organizational development

Dan Pallotta, Dreams, Overhead and Accounting

By Dani Robbins
Re-published with permission from nonprofit evolution blog

Have you seen Dan Pallotta’s TED Talk entitled “The Way We Think About Charity is Dead Wrong?” It challenges us to question the way the public thinks about nonprofits and also the way we think of ourselves.
He says the right question is to ask “about a nonprofit’s dreams.” The wrong question is to ask about a charity’s overhead. Overhead is not the enemy.
Overhead including part of the CEO’s salary, the fundraising & support staff, the facility, utilities and the equipment in the administrative offices supports the provision of programming.
Organizations that have minimal overhead also have minimal capacity. Overhead is a part of growth, and challenging a non-profit’s ability to increase overhead comprises their ability to grow program services.
I’d also add that non-profits, like the rest of the world, get what they pay for.
While many nonprofit leaders are exceptional at getting goods and services pro-bono (read: free), it is hard to find excellent leaders to work for free. Some have the financial luxury to be able to do that – and that is wonderful – but most of us don’t. As such, I love Pallotta’s point about our society not wanting to pay a lot of money for people who are helping other people, but having no problem at all with people making a lot of money not helping people.
The other part of the overhead issue is this: It’s sometimes an accounting choice.
I used to have a Board member who said “There’s cash and there’s accounting.”
If you have a non-profit who books their CEO’s salary across the programs (based on a time study that reflects how much time they actually dedicate to programming) it will look like appreciably less overhead than the one who doesn’t. Even though the first CEO probably makes more than the second.
If you ask the question about overhead and don’t ask any follow up questions, you won’t get the right information. And any question that doesn’t get you the information you seek isn’t the right question.
Pallotta’s illustration of someone who really cares about hunger yet chooses against becoming a non-profit leader and ‘takes a huge salary working for a for-profit company and then gives $100,000 to a hunger charity, becomes a celebrated philanthropist and Board member of that charity supervising the person who became the CEO, while still making multiples of that CEO’s salary’ is brilliant!
He goes on to challenge us to “ask about the scale of their dreams; how they measure their progress toward those dreams and the resources they need to make those dreams come true.” Also brilliant!
I once heard someone say that to raise a million dollars you need to have million dollar dreams. The guardian angels who will fund your agency in full, no questions asked, are far and few between. As such, some questions for your consideration:

Do you have million dollar dreams?
Does your non-profit have a generous, or even reasonable, compensation package for the staff?
Can you communicate your organization’s impact?
Do you challenge the status quo?

For Board members and community leaders: Are your expectations for non-profit staff different than your expectations for your own staff?
Culture change is hard and so is changing the world. Let’s start asking the right questions, getting the right answers and allowing our non-profits to dream. Let’s fund the dreams that improve our communities!
As always, I welcome your experience and insight.