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Telling a Compelling Story

Monday, May 13th, 2013
Dan Charobee

Dan Charobee

Powerful stories can advance your mission and enable others to share your vision. Ann, the ED of a Family Resource Center brought a picture to our planning meeting. It was of a child in a complicated wheel chair made up of knobs, rests, and the intricate structure required to assist him in his everyday life. All eyes were riveted on the photo. You could hear a pin drop in the room while we all thought about his situation. Then she began. “He is the happiest child you ever want to meet”.

Ann proceeded to talk about his personal growth, his smile, and the sparkle in his eyes. Her stories were of his joy, excitement and experience as a child in the program. She could have asked for and gotten anything from us that she wanted.

The magic of the human experience; overcoming tremendous physical, mental, and financial obstacles; is so compelling that it opens hearts, minds, and pocketbooks. Added to an “ask” along with “what we need” can keep the hardest numbers person to move from being a roadblock to funding. This enables them to become an advisor on how to “make the numbers work”; providing a door opening for an organization.

So, how do you make the best of this concept? Ann asked me to coach her through a presentation before a County Supervisors meeting. She was to follow the presentation of another organization known for their strong business presentation skills and comprehensive research and numbers analysis.

I advised her to go with her strengths. So, after the agency completed the exceptional multi-media presentation that was everything that she feared, Ann began by giving everyone in the room a rock.

A simple, smooth stone with an “S” painted on one side and a “C” painted on the other. While we held the stones, looked at the letters and sometimes rubbed them like worry beads; she told stories of children and families passing through the Center. She talked about the “S” and the “C” which were part of the name of the Center, but also about other powerful concepts they utilized that also started with those letters.

Yes, she included the numbers, but I think most people forgot them or used them to calculate resource usage like they should be used. We remembered the people that the Center was helping.

Ann’s organization received everything it needed.

Author:  Dan Charobee, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

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Best Practices

Saturday, April 20th, 2013
Dan Charobee

Dan Charobee

It’s morning. You walk in, and “BAM”, there it is. Someone did something that will shape your day, week, month; even year. And, it’s not in a good way. So, you begin as a firefighter, with damage control, thinking “how could this have happened”?

Having recently worked with an exceptionally gifted executive going through damage control, I found the OneOC presentation by Jennifer Farr, CPA, MBA of Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C, listing Best Practice Policies Disclosed in Tax Return so compelling that I wanted to share them with you:

  • Executive Compensation – Board reviewed comparability data (compensation survey)
  • Conflict of Interest Policy – including procedures for determining whether a conflict exists; Require directors, officers, and key employees to disclose potential conflicts annually
  • Fundraising Policies – ensuring solicitations meeting federal/state law requirements and solicitation materials are accurate, truthful, and candid

They come from, of all places, the Tax Form 990 that 501(c)s fill out each year. And like most questions on forms, they are answered and forgotten until next year. Jennifer put them in her Best Practice pocket and so should you. She consults nonprofits on finance and tax issues; hinting that they represent major red flags possibly launching an audit for organizations that don’t meet better standards. This can be a painful and possibly status ending experience for an organization.

Making them an integral part of your culture avoids most fires that take you off mission for an uncomfortable time period. So, outside of your finance office, here is the list of relevant questions:

  • 12a Did the organization have a written conflict of interest policy?
  • 12b Were officers, directors, or trustees, and key employees required to disclose annually interests that could give rise to conflicts? 
  • 12c Did the organization regularly and consistently monitor and enforce compliance with the policy? 
  • 13 Did the organization have a written whistleblower policy? 
  • 14 Did the organization have a written document retention and destruction policy? 
  • 15 Did the process for determining compensation of the following persons include a review and approval by independent persons, comparability data, and contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision?

Each, in itself is a developmental concept well worth the time and effort, making sure your organization stays on mission. Combined, they may make you less of a firefighter, but a better overall service delivery agency.

Author:  Dan Charobee. Executve Coaches of Orange County. www.ECofOC.org

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Technological Planning- Dashboards

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013
Dan Charobee

Dan Charobee

High end project, revenue, and enterprise dashboards are an integral part of upper management large scale organizations. Managers and executive directors are able to judge the direction, capabilities, and progress of a highly efficient organization. Now, spreadsheet and database users are finding ways to take program activities and results to new levels of information sharing.

Here is how to build your own or select one that meets the size and scope of your organization:

  • Spreadsheets are available on almost every computer or over the internet. Microsoft’s Excel is one of the most recognized, but some prefer others. Most feature tabbed spreadsheet pages to enter numbers and formulas. With a little sophistication, users enter data on one sheet and compile sums, averages, percentages, and list counts (and more) in charts and graphs on a dashboard sheet. Today’s programs allow sharing of entire workbooks by multiple users along with annotations and comments.
  • Databases typically handle larger amounts of active data, such as client lists, donors, suppliers and payments; databases are usually easier to update, but require a high level of sophistication in formatting, reporting, and outputting information. The two most widely known are Microsoft’s Access, and dBase, by dBase.
  • Contact Management (CRM) focuses on relationship communications and results. Newer versions of ACT! (by Sage) and Goldmine (by FrontRange Solutions) offer comprehensive systems that include goals, traditional and digital communications, and progress dashboards. Constant Contact and MailChimp (and others) specialize in online digital communications as well as dashboards to show progress.
  • Financial Management software like Quickbooks (by Intuit) and Peachtree (by Sage) include dashboards of a nonprofit’s financial conditions, budgets and status.
  • Project Management specialty programs, managed with software like Microsoft Project, provide timelines, Gantt charts, and costing out activities.
  • Donor Management – Specialty donor management programs such as Raiser’s Edge (by Blackbaud), provide overviews of funding campaigns as well as working with individual givers.
  • Mission Management –Newer dashboard planning systems such as WePlanWell (Ibosswell, Inc.) focus on an organization from mission to objectives and activities, providing EDs, managers, and team members various levels of communication to succeed in their mission.

Visualizing current and future outcomes of ongoing activities can be a powerful way to keep your team on track. It also provides upper management and funders with a dashboard look at your progress, direction and speed in accomplishing your mission.

Author:  Dan Charobee, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

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Leading a Great Team

Friday, February 15th, 2013
Dan Charobee

Dan Charobee

It is amazing to be on a team that gels, finds its rhythm, and achieves phenomenal success. 

At a probation camp, my supervisor said “some people take command immediately and others wait for the right moment. Some wait until everyone before them leaves. Which one will you be?” That is how I began to look at team dynamics and leadership. Coming from a semi rural area of Pennsylvania and working with street and gang kids from LA was eye opening. Team assessment and building became a critical way to create real change. 

Later in my career, team building was essential in working with upper management at corporations, government, and nonprofits. Working with a team that relates to each other and understands each other’s strengths is the easiest way to accomplish a mission. Here is what I learned and how it can help you and your teams succeed.

     

  • Where does the leadership reside? A recognized leader may not be the team’s real leadership. Leadership comes from the person that influences the team toward its goal. It may be the de-facto leader, the person taking the minutes or notes, or the quietest member that raises a question to get back on track. Whoever it is, it is recognizable from their spark that ignites the team.
  • Everyone brings their own agenda as well as their own preconceived ideas. If you don’t believe it, try leading a meeting with kids from rival gangs, or corporate executives from Coke and Pepsi, or high ranking officers from different branches of military service. Learn to put issues aside quickly and keep the goals in sight.
  • Draw circles. We studied this in an old undergraduate sociology course. It showed how to define who chooses seats at a table and how houses on a street interact with each other. Draw a circle for each person at a meeting or in your team. Draw lines of communication between members. It can tell you a lot about who interacts with whom. I have found it most useful if you replace the names in the circles with their expertise, skills, or experience.
  • Let everyone know what each team member contributes. Take the circle drawing to a new level by recognizing past successes, experience, and skills applicable to the team mission. 
  • Celebrate team wins. 

Good luck and have fun and success with your team.

Author:  Dan Charobee, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

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Seven Strategies for Successful Organizations

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013
Dan Charobee

Dan Charobee

It is always exciting to work with a new Executive Director of an organization. A fresh approach to meeting the mission and vision of an organization can be a very healthy for experience for the ED as well as the organization. For whatever reason they arrive at this position; their experience, knowledge, and personality really defines the strategy that best moves the organization towards success. Here is a list of strategies I have found that organizations develop to meet their mission.

  • Technology Leadership 
  • Market Control
  • Benchmarking
  • Authority 
  • Cost of Service 
  • Presence 
  • Service Delivery

Since my background includes technology management, technology, leadership usually comes up first. Technology continues to develop at a phenomenal rate. Web site design and implementation, email, e-newsletters, social media, and smart-phone and tablet applications (apps) are all developing rapidly. This strategy is dependent on the ED and organization’s technological savvy. Technology can be a great tool for increased productivity and communications. Strategies include leadership, utilization, productivity, and even avoidance. The best thing about technology is that the first wave is the hardest to master. Competition drives developing products that are more “user friendly”. 

Some EDs see their organization succeeding by becoming the leader in its field. Market Control of a process, product, and program takes advantage of significant strengths in authority, proprietary research, processes, products and networks.  

A fast and effective way of realizing where the organization is positioned is by comparing it with another that the ED views as a leader. Benchmarking enables an organization to position itself among leaders in a field.  

When an ED reviews the education and expertise of the staff of their organization, they may find some prominent people. Establishing authority relies on field specialists, research, and creating and utilizing differentiated processes, procedures, or products.  

Cost of Service, simply put comes from the ED developing free, subsidized, low cost, or premium services.  

Establishing presence in a geographic or targeted area to localize delivery of service is a significant strategy that provides the ED with a powerful strategic position within a community. 

When an ED reviews service delivery, focus can be on a variety of benefits to clients: fast, thorough, complete, and acute. Depending on the service provided, the delivery of service can also include comfortable, leisurely, exciting, educational, and creative. 

Have a great program!

Author:  Dan Charobee, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

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How to: Task Assignment and Management

Thursday, December 20th, 2012
Dan Charobee

Dan Charobee

In a Scott Adams comic, Dilbert quips “Your communications skills are so poor that I had no idea that I was supposed to do a task”. The popularity of Dilbert remains one of the highest because so many recognize real life office situations. One of our biggest mistakes comes from assuming that everyone understands or remembers who does what.

Research has indicated while we can change tasks at a rapid pace, we can only keep six things in our mind at one time. Some say it is only 4 or 5 and that women rate higher. So, if you think you can multitask, try this:

  1. While sitting, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.
  2. Now, while doing this, draw the number ‘6′ in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction. From Char Brown (Oct 2008)

So while we may think it can all be handled in our heads, this exercise alone knocked something out of your mind, if only for the moment.

Since your organization has a vision, mission, and a measurable objective:

  • · Put your objectives in writing and post them prominently.
  • · Post objectives on planners, email tags (part of your signature in emails to team members), and organizational communications if necessary.
  • · Take the time to form strategies from your objectives and tasks that accomplish them.
  • · Getting to a clearly defined, quantitative objective or goal is sometimes a cumbersome process. While it is an accomplishment in itself, it dissipates without strategies and tasks.
  • · Assign every task.
  • · If no one is responsible, it falls to the manager or between the cracks.
  • · Create deadlines and reminders.
  • · They say a squeaky wheel gets the most grease. A reminder, note, or message pulls everyone back on track.
  • · At the end of each day, write down 6 things to complete the following day
  • · This helps you avoid the morning urgency trap by focusing on a constant move toward your objectives.
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Competitive Analysis for Nonprofits?

Monday, November 26th, 2012
Dan Charobee

Dan Charobee

A competitive analysis is an essential part of a business plan for a profit. Here is how it can be one of the most useful tools for your nonprofit management team.

Your decision to build a nonprofit organization, whether you founded it or work within, was to fulfill a need in your community, region, or the world. In deciding, you looked at how the organization meets this need and what else is available. Development and funding decisions are made by reviewing your best practices against the practices of any other organization providing similar services. It is how we learn and a learning organization is the most powerful team to work with.

A competitive analysis describes these best practices against benchmarks, goals or both. In essence, it shows you and your stakeholders (funders, supporters, clients, beneficiaries, and contributors from the general population) how effective your program is and can be. Depending on your method, this can be done as a description, chart, or graph.

  1. Description – Compile information about your services and what else is available within your community. Give information about what is not available anywhere else; what is technically, physically, culturally, or socially not meeting the challenges; what complements your program; and what competes for funds, clients, and supporters.
  2. Charting – Draw chart or use a spreadsheet with these rows: technology; physical assets; geographic location; cultural and social presence. In the first column, describe your capacity. In the second, give it a value (1 – 5 or A – F). In the third, fourth, and fifth (depending on how many) – rank other organizations capacity. In the next column average the other organizations number or grade. The final column can contain comments. Your chart will show the areas you excel, can collaborate, or need to address.
  3. Graphing – Sometimes a simple graph says a lot. A pie chart shows how your organization is a leader in an area. A bar chart depicts development against other providers. A line chart can indicate growth in one or a combination of areas. Creative managers utilize icons and graphics to give more impact.

The process in itself is a learning experience that gives management insights into the organization, the community, and other comparable organizations.

An Infographic showing dynamically how your organization meets its mission, focuses on a vision, and impacts the community can energize your stakeholders.

 Author:   Dan Charobee, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

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Advancing Your Mission with Nonlinear Programming

Monday, October 1st, 2012
Dan Charobee

Dan Charobee

To explain the concept, we are going to draw on another profession. In producing a movie, television program, advertisement, or public service announcement, a videographer has two methods available to develop the program: linear and nonlinear. There are parallels to nonprofit development that a skilled executive director or manager can use to address the needs of organizational operations and development.

Until recently, technology for a videographer was limited to sequential content (program) development. A storyboard (plan) was developed that showed the scope of the program. The storyboard was designed to show each segment of the program. Videography (shooting, taping) was done in sequence and edited back to back. Cutting and splicing each portion physically kept the program on track, but it destroyed any pieces that didn’t fit. They were “lost on the cutting room floor”.

New technology enables a videographer to segment the entire program, have segments developed out of sequence, and put together in their respective places. The program director oversees the entire program coming together. The end result is a refined program presented seamlessly to the world. Outtakes remain for supplemental programs as well as future iterations of the same program.

Taking it a step further, advanced government planners (national, state, city) utilize the concept of Spatial Planning, originally termed in 1983 by the regional planning members of the European Conference of Ministers. It defines the comprehensive development of a community. It goes far beyond the space planning of land use considering economic, cultural, social, and ecological short and long term systems.

To see the significance, look into the development time and costs that movie and television executives have been able to cut. Economics forced them to look for ways to make higher quality programs in less time and effort over the past decade. Advanced cities, states, and countries have found the benefits of spatial planning effective in projecting development along with social changes. Today’s technology gives nonprofit planning the same benefits. From a vision, a program developed nonlinearly and spatially gets all of the elements operating at their capacity to be brought together successfully.

Moving from linear program development to nonlinear spatial planning cuts the time of development exponentially; while gaining the added benefits of supplemental and future iterations of your programs and services. The end result is a well planned linear program presentation.

Author:  Dan Charobee, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

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Growing Your Organization’s Political Capital

Tuesday, September 4th, 2012
Dan Charobee

Dan Charobee

Political capital? Can a nonprofit use political capital? You bet! A term that became part of our lexicon in 2004 to describe the capacity to utilize hard earned respect and influence will surely surface in this political season. But, how can it be beneficial to a nonprofit organization? There are five characteristics and five qualities of the organization, its management, and its board that enhances the capital of the organization.

Your executive management and your board of directors infuse a major portion of your organization’s capital. Different from a brand, board capital represents the influence your organization has on outside forces affecting your vision and mission. It also directly influences your capacity to gain funding and provide services.

The characteristics essential to board capital are:

     

  • Relationships – skills at developing, maintaining, and enhancing strategic relationships.
  • Credibility – earned by providing useful valid information, services, and programs.
  • Experience – being in the field for a length of time.
  • Knowledge –authority gained from the study of events, problems, and solutions.
  • Respect – earned by positions taken and defended.

    •  

The individual qualities are:

     

  • Trust – ability to produce outcomes based on the above characteristics.
  • Reliability – the person will maintain their promised course.
  • Tenacity – effectively moving mountains, climbing hills, and overcoming obstacles.
  • Demeanor – effective outgoing characters can be gregarious or subtle, confrontational or accommodating, humorous or stoic.
  • Toxicity – not someone that “poisons the water” under stress

    •  

Team development teaches that every member of a team brings something valuable to the team. Organizational management calls on the skills of team leadership to focus this capital into productive activities meeting the objectives of you mission. 

Like spending political capital, organizations use this capital to develop programs and accomplish their missions. Organizations that understand and manage that capital find that their influence becomes stronger and more effective enabling them to meet their objectives, accomplish their mission, and come closer to their vision.

 Author:  Dan Charobee, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

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Board Games- Effective Meeting Techniques

Tuesday, August 7th, 2012
Dan Charobee

Dan Charobee

With over 25 years as a business owner, executive, coach, board leader and member: I can say first hand that when meetings go well, they are a tremendous asset to any mission or set of goals. A few simple games can keep your board meeting on task, on time, and productive.

Games have a built-in function or lesson. They reinforce individual talents and team development, including resilience, friendship, and conflict resolution. I recommend four simple games that can energize and focus your board.

1. Rotating Mission Statement. Whether it is delivered precisely or not, every member of your organization should be able to convey your mission statement. It is posted on web sites, plaques, stationary and brochures in an organization. Start your board meeting by having a board member say it from memory. Simply rotate who reads or says it by memory each time. Occasionally, draw 3 members at random and have each say it from memory and reward the best.

2. Just what do we do? Pick 3 members at random (rotating so that everyone eventually gets in the game) to give their 1 minute introduction of the organization and their role (I am on the board of directors of ___, we help ___). The other attendees write a note as feedback for the participants, vote, and award the best delivery. Also known as the “elevator speech”; this develops the ability of board members to be better emissaries of the organization as well as gives them a memorable way to converse in a “meet & greet” or cocktail reception.

3. Round Table “What is new?” Pick 3 volunteers to present a 2 minute item on what is new in the field the organization serves. New technology, funding, advancements, and competitive gains change the future of the organization. Reward the best that is presented by a simple vote.

4. Round Up. This is at the end of the meeting, so this one can be brief. Pick or draw someone to give a 1 minute recap of the meeting or an evaluation of the meeting. Reward them.

Keep the games friendly and fun – no wrong answers. Rewards, kept simple can be very effective. They include simple verbal recognition and applause (you lead the applause); ribbons, certificates, or promo items for overall winners; and, low cost gift cards from a favorite coffee shop etc.

Author: Dan Charobee, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

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