Energize Your Nonprofit

Leonardo DiCaprio and Doing the Impossible

July 21, 2010 By Jim Lord Leave a Comment

When I accepted my son’s last-minute invitation to see the new summer blockbuster Inception on Sunday, I thought it would be a pleasant diversion. (Which it was, quite the brain thriller.)

Little did I know it would hold something I’d want to share with you.

You see, Leonardo DiCaprio plays a fellow who desperately wants one thing, and he’s given the chance to get it if he can pull off one job, a task that seems impossible. But he knew he could do it.

Why?

Because he’d done something like it before.

What about that organization you most want to advance: how does it take on the seemingly impossible and make a dramatic leap into its future?

Well, if you’ve been with me, you know the answer is found in its strengths. The movie reminded me of a different kind of strength than we’ve been talking about — your distinctive history and accomplishments.

Here’s what I mean: Years ago, I did some work with the folks who played an “astonishing role in recent world history” (as the Washington Post put it) when they brought us the Green Revolution in agriculture.

They wanted to move from relying only on nations as donors and to pursue individuals and foundations. And they seemed to think this was new to them, and a daunting task.

The funny thing is, our work on planning this future took place in the Sasakawa Room, next door to the Rockefeller Room. So somewhere along the way they’d already connected in a meaningful way with some serious individual donors.

Remembering those experiences — learning from their own history — was key to having the confidence to move forward. (If you’ve been to a recent workshop, you’ll recall the historical timeline that we do; that’s what they did.)

What we think we “need” is often right in front of our noses. When you first look at where you’ve been, even a bold future can feel like coming home, instead of jumping off a cliff.

Filed Under: Articles, Energize Your Nonprofit, Front page Tagged With: history, idealism, impossible

How Can Perking Up Your Board Influence Your Community?

May 11, 2010 By Jim Lord 3 Comments

Here’s a thought for your next board meeting …

What can happen if you start in a new place — just for part of one meeting? Could you get some new oomph into the room?

And how might that new perspective ripple outward, influencing your community?

Hear what I learned from Sonja Garber, when we met late in the evening at the end of the year-long leadership program.

[HTML1]

You can start with a question, something as simple as “Why are you here? What’s important to you about serving?” (So rarely do we talk about this, in the press of day-to-day business.)

Or maybe even: “In your life as a volunteer, when was a high point — a time that stands out, when you were most gratified, excited, or satisfied. Is there a story there?”

Sonja Garber is chair of The Center for Vital Community in Sheridan, Wyoming. I had the privilege of working on a community-building initiative in Sheridan; you can learn a bit more about it here.

Filed Under: Articles, Energize Your Nonprofit, Front page, Renew Civic Life Tagged With: american politics, board, board chair, civic life, community development, group process, hope, leadership program, organization development, Renew Civic Life, success stories, values, video, workshop

Who Else Wants More Than Traditional “Market Research”?

March 24, 2010 By Jim Lord Leave a Comment

For decades, standard practice in the social sector has been to test the “feasibility” of a project through focus groups, studies and similar methods … and to seek the reassurance of consensus and “common ground.” Here’s a different take.

If you’re going to do “marketing,” use the best tools

20-some years ago, Harvard Business Review Press published Ted Levitt’s “Marketing Imagination.” I thought it was really good, and relevant to the social sector as well as business.

So I picked up the phone and did a little impromptu telephone research among readers of my books — to find out how much interest there was for a collection of articles from HBR on marketing for the sector.

Great response. To a person, they said they wanted it. So we were on it.

Named it “The Best of Marketing for the Third Sector from HBR.” I wrote the introduction, offering ideas on how to “translate” the articles from the business focus.

hbr-photo

It flopped. Not even a cannonball. Just a belly flop. (Ouch.)

Well, of course people knew they should want HBR stuff. So they said “Yes, by all means!” But when offered a chance to buy what they said they’d wanted, they stayed away in droves.

Our natural tendency to say what’s expected is only heightened when we’re in groups, and even the most carefully facilitated focus groups can lead us down the wrong path.

So here’s the first take-away: If you want to predict what people are going to do, the best way is to observe what they do. Surveys and focus groups can give you hints, but watching actual behavior gives you much better answers.

In other words, if you’re choosing marketing methods, use the power of direct response marketing and testing.

But even larger leaps come from taking a whole different approach.

For bigger results, go deeper and get creative

For the last decade-plus, the innovative folks I’ve worked with have used advanced ideas from the field of organization development (leaving behind my original focus on marketing). And we’ve seen how the methods and models we use make a huge difference in how things turn out.

We’ve listened. A lot. But at a whole different level than even the best “market research” — and with a different purpose.

Instead of trying to learn how to “sell” an organization’s programs more effectively, we use methods that bring people together to create new positive possibilities.

We ask carefully designed questions that create the space for people to dream boldly about what’s possible for society, fed by a deeper listening and imagination. And then move those dreams into reality.

We can nourish the courage it takes to step forward boldly — by understanding and amplifying the deep desires that are usually unspoken (often simply because no one asks the right questions!).

In contrast, conventional methods — focus groups, feasibility studies, and consensus-driven processes in general — are sure ways to mute differences, individuality, and personal commitment (the essential ingredients of bold voluntary acts). So we often end up with “group think” … plans that excite no one, and deeds less inspired than might have been.

Marketing can provide some powerful tools, but genuine social innovation calls for different ways of working that release the power within people. They already want to do big things, and are just waiting for you to lay the road to make it possible.

One of Canada’s best schools was founded just over a decade ago. Never tested the feasibility because they knew if they did, they wouldn’t get around to building the school. Sheer grit wins. The heroism of an idea and passion.

Related articles:

You might like to see the piece by Dan Pallotta on the Harvard Business Review blog that sparked my writing this: Real Leaders Don’t Do Focus Groups.

Filed Under: Articles, Energize Your Nonprofit, Inspire People to Act, Raise Money for Your Cause Tagged With: consensus, feasibility studies, focus groups, group process, harvard business review, marketing, organization development

A Bold Foundation for Your Work: Appreciative Inquiry

March 1, 2010 By Jim Lord Leave a Comment

Everything you see on this web site is founded on the methods and perspective of appreciative inquiry (even if the term itself is pretty much missing).

We’ve found this approach can be used to enliven and embolden an organization, a person, a group, a community, a country — or an idea or profession. It’s an exciting way to take any human enterprise to its next level, and to inspire people, for the benefit of us all.

Big ideas

What is Appreciative Inquiry?
Appreciative inquiry (or “AI”) asks us to pay special attention to “the best of the past and present” — in order to “ignite the collective imagination of what might be.”
Talk About What You Want
Many folks launch social initiatives (including nonprofit organizations) in order to “solve a problem” they see in their community (or the larger world). But here’s another way to think about what you’re going to do.
How the “Paradoxical Theory of Change” Can Make Your Work Easier
People are more open to change than one might expect, even eager for it. What we object to is being changed. (Understandably!) What might happen if we stopped using up so much of our energy trying to change people?
Words Create Worlds
Could it be that the words we speak each day, often without thought, can be of historic importance? They just may be, especially in times like these.

Success stories

From Victims to Leaders
How students from Jonesboro and Columbine showed, in an especially poignant way, what can happen when the common discourse of despair is interrupted in order to draw attention to the life and hope contained in a situation.
Deepening Engagement in Civic Life
Civic life is almost always problem-focused. Whether the talk is of potholes or poverty, it’s almost always about the community’s deficits. And political campaigns are notoriously negative, with candidates eager to attack and blame their opponents. What might civic life look like if a different kind of dialogue were taking place?
What Can Street Children Teach Us?
When circumstances seem daunting, where can you look for resources and vitality? Here’s what I learned from street children in Africa.
Can We Make an End Run Around “Problems”?
An organization facing budget deficits and layoffs shifts its focus to its best moments (with surprising results).
Do You Start with “Feasibility” … or With Who You Are and What You Want?
“If we’d begun by analyzing the ‘feasibility’ of founding a new school, we probably would’ve stopped dead in our tracks.” How a relentless focus on resources and assets led to the founding of an exceptional school in Canada.

What’s Next for You?

Click here to see how this approach can come alive in your life — and what it can deliver for you.

Filed Under: Articles, Bring Meaning Into Your Business, Energize Your Nonprofit, Enliven Yourself, Front page, Guides, Renew Civic Life Tagged With: appreciative inquiry, dreams, group process, nonprofit organizations, organization development, passion, social change, success stories

Can We Make an End Run Around “Problems”?

February 15, 2010 By Jim Lord Leave a Comment

A chapter of a large international organization was facing a looming budget deficit and had just laid off staff — the first layoffs in its history. You can imagine the talk in the halls about how dire the situation was, how tenuous the future looked.

At the same time, a small team was preparing for a staff retreat that would kick off a strategic planning process. One member of the team argued, with considerable passion, that time must be allowed for people to vent and grieve, out of respect to the staff’s feelings in this difficult time.

That’s the conventional wisdom: We must “meet people where they are” and give them a chance to say what’s on their minds. It seems the honest thing to do. Only when all of the difficulties have been confronted and handled can we start looking toward the future.

Makes all the sense in the world, but I feel weary just writing that, much less going through it. What we have here is the metaphor of organization as machine: All we have to do is clearly see and fix what’s broken and everything will run perfectly, or at least well enough to chug along.

What if we approached our personal health that way, finding every possible fault with our bodies, sharing with others how badly we feel about ourselves and focusing on fixing all the defects before we let ourselves start to do the health-promoting things that will make the biggest difference in our lives? We’d be so preoccupied with our hangnails that we’d never get around to riding a bike, meditating, or eating well. We might even worry ourselves to death.

What happens when we set aside the standard practices that require us to identify and fix problems as the first order of business?

What if we ask people to talk about their best moments and highest aspirations, rather than their grievances? What if we treated the organization as a living system and searched for what gives it life?

Back to the retreat: It was designed from that unusual stance. The facilitator opened the session by asking staff to tell stories of recent successes, those projects and accomplishments that they felt represented their best achievements.

The planning team had expected only a handful of people would speak. To everyone’s surprise, dozens of people stood to talk about their high points. Several eager hands were still in the air as the facilitator reluctantly moved to the next part of the agenda.

Susan, a much-admired staff member, had arrived at the retreat in a skeptical frame of mind. As the meeting came to a close the following afternoon, she quietly remarked to the people at her table, “Now I know we can do the impossible.”

For some, the retreat would have worked better if time had been provided to air complaints. I know there were some who felt the “real issues” had been swept under the rug. But they were few in number, even fewer than the retreat’s planners had imagined. And maybe even they began to experience a different reality as they heard their colleagues’ stories.

The way I see it, the meeting was designed to show respect for people like Susan, those who have in them the kind of energy that moves a group forward (often just waiting to be released).

What would have been gained by subjecting her, and the many like her, to an airing of grievances? What would have been gained by sweeping under the rug their accomplishments, their pride in their work, their hopes and dreams?

A group always has a finite amount of time to do its work. So it’s crucial to ask: what will move us forward both quickly and effectively?

Do we spend time dissecting and attempting to solve all the problems we can find, or do we lift our gaze to our capabilities and worth — as seen in our best moments — so we can go straight to a higher level?

Even in the most dire of situations, there is a way to locate the energy to get us where we long to go.

Filed Under: Articles, Bring Meaning Into Your Business, Energize Your Nonprofit, Enliven Yourself, Renew Civic Life

What is Appreciative Inquiry?

February 15, 2010 By Jim Lord Leave a Comment

In a nutshell, appreciative inquiry (“AI”) is about asking questions.

Questions that are much more powerful than the usual because they contain in them an assumption of life and vitality — an assumption that there’s something good and worthwhile in whatever you’re studying.

By asking positive questions, we generate new ideals for the future … possibilities “proven” by the best of the past and present. In the words of its primary originator, Dr. David L. Cooperrider of Case Western Reserve University, AI asks us to pay special attention to “the best of the past and present” — in order to “ignite the collective imagination of what might be.”

It’s an exciting way to take human enterprise to its next level, and to inspire people, for the benefit of us all.

Seeing hidden strengths

AI is about seeing what others may not see. It’s about heightening our awareness of the value, strength, and potential of ourselves and others — and overcoming the limits that we impose, often unconsciously, on our own capacities.

One example of great historical significance is the way that Winston Churchill appealed to the beleaguered British people in the darkest days of the Second World War.

Churchill’s impact was the result of his towering ability to cognitively dissociate all seeming impossibilities, deficiencies, and imperfections from a given situation, and to see in his people and country that which had fundamental value and strength. His optimism, even in Britain’s darkest moment, came not from a Pollyanna-like sense that ‘everything was just fine,’ but from a conviction that was born from what he, like few others, could actually see in his country.

David Cooperrider

Most of us have had glimpses of these possibilities. And yet, the pervasive “background music” of our culture seems to draw us all into a chorus of hopelessness, irony and negativity.

Churchill and many others have demonstrated that we can find signs of life and hope, if only we decide to look for them — and that what we choose to pay attention to has everything to do with how we see ourselves, how we envision the future, and how the future actually turns out.

But in everyday life, most people and organizations are constrained by the perception that their resources, and hence their horizons, are limited.

This perception — that we must “face realities” — is without a doubt the greatest single constraint on human imagination, vision and enterprise.

Appreciative inquiry begins with a different set of assumptions. We begin with the belief that we have a choice — that we can consciously choose what we “see” and act upon. In both the personal and social realms, we can choose to focus on problems, needs and deficits — the traditional problem-solving approach. Or we can choose to see strengths, capabilities and possibilities — the basis of appreciative inquiry.

By focusing on what’s right, rather than what’s wrong with an organization, an individual or even a society, AI gives us access to the kind of energy that can be transformative. Having that kind of energy to work with gives us the confidence to develop and pursue a new image of the future.

A key question: If you want to inspire, mobilize and sustain human energy which is the most effective way — by focusing on problems or pursuing possibilities?

So, AI can be a way of seeing the world. It also can be a methodology. Through a carefully developed set of questions, we uncover stories of our “peak experiences” — those moments in our lives when we felt most effective, most connected, most alive.

These stories provide irrefutable proof of our actual capabilities. They give rise to new images of what the future could be. They raise our sights, energize us and give us the courage to dream and act boldly. They give us a grounded confidence in the future.

Rather than “accepting reality,” we see that what we call “reality” is defined by what we choose to see, to think and talk about, what we choose to act upon. It follows that we have the capacity to create the kind of future we desire.

Filed Under: Articles, Bring Meaning Into Your Business, Energize Your Nonprofit, Enliven Yourself, Inspire People to Act, Renew Civic Life

How the “Paradoxical Theory of Change” Can Make Your Work Easier

January 20, 2010 By Jim Lord Leave a Comment

Most social causes strive to change people: to persuade them to adopt a certain viewpoint, get involved in their communities, stop polluting, start exercising, take time to enjoy music, stay in school.

Contrary to the popular notion of resistance to change, I’ve found that people are more open to change than one might expect, even eager for it.

What we object to is being changed. (Understandably, I’d say).

The notion of changing another person carries hidden messages: “I have the right answers and you don’t, so you’d better listen up. After all, I know what’s good for you. (In fact, I’m better than you.)”

Well! With that music playing in the background, it’s little surprise that we see people resist our efforts to change them, however honorable and well-intentioned we believe ourselves to be.

Paradoxically, change happens more easily when we begin to genuinely see and honor the assets and unique perspectives that others have to offer. In other words, when we support their strengths instead of trying to fix what we think are their “defects.”

(Same goes for us.)

This insight harkens back to the work of Abraham Maslow, who was the first psychologist to study healthy people. He observed that healthy chickens are good choosers. For example, they naturally select the food that is best for them.

Similarly, when people are supported, feeling full and strong, they are apt to see more choices and to move naturally toward health and growth.

More recent research on brain chemistry reinforces this idea. It turns out that telling a person to change a habitual behavior triggers a built-in “error signal” in the brain, which in turn causes the person to become uncomfortable, emotional, and impulsive — and “resistant” to change.

What might happen if we stopped using up so much of our energy trying to change people?

Might it even be useful to go so far as to learn to accept (or even appreciate) the very behaviors we object to, which may have a value that we simply have yet to understand?

Yes, toward others — and even toward ourselves — a little grace, a little loving kindness. Strange idea, isn’t it?

Filed Under: Articles, Energize Your Nonprofit, Enliven Yourself, Inspire People to Act

What Can Street Children Teach Us?

January 9, 2010 By Jim Lord Leave a Comment

When circumstances seem daunting, where can you look for resources and vitality?

Here’s a story that might be useful …

I once went to Nairobi to work with trustees and staff from relief and development organizations in Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Kenya.

Most of them wanted to work on “the problem of street children.”

Well, that had me scratching my head.

I hadn’t prepared myself for how my “appreciative” work could apply to this situation that weighed so heavily on their hearts.

Then it came to me: What if I were a child of the streets? What would that be like? What kind of person might I be?

That shift in perspective allowed me to ask the group: “What are street children like as individuals? What do they have going for them? What capabilities and assets do they have?”

Beginning with such odd questions, we were able to see a resourceful group of young people who live by their wits, creativity, and tenacity.

We saw that, no matter how daunting the circumstances and how little the hope, street children somehow continue to have a will to live. Learning about the vitality of these courageous children, and where that vitality comes from, would be a worthy pursuit.

As a group, I think we did rather well in shifting our “deficit eyes” toward strength and possibility.

By the way, relative to philanthropy: One of the countries, Tanzania, went on to raise $1.5 million US during their annual campaign — within the country, an unprecedented accomplishment. Perhaps this had less to do with philanthropy … and was merely a different expression in themselves of the self-reliance they saw in the children of the street

Filed Under: Articles, Energize Your Nonprofit, Enliven Yourself, Renew Civic Life

From Victims to Leaders

November 23, 2009 By Jim Lord 1 Comment

On an ordinary Tuesday morning in 1998, in the small town of Jonesboro, Arkansas, two boys came to school armed with high-powered rifles. Just 11 and 13 years old, they opened fire on their classmates, left four children dead and 10 wounded, and killed an English teacher who had tried to shield a student.

As the heartbreaking news spread, everyone in the community–indeed, in the world–struggled to make sense of such a bizarre and frightening act. “Babies killing babies,” as one mother put it.

The unimaginable happened again a year later at Columbine High School in Colorado. Two teenage boys smuggled in backpacks and duffle bags crammed with sawed-off shotguns, semi-automatic weapons, and nearly a hundred bombs. In less than an hour, they shot dead 12 students and a teacher, and left 24 wounded.

If two of their bombs had gone off as planned, the devastation could have killed all 2,000-plus students. The boys ended the massacre by committing suicide.

The corridors at Columbine High soon filled with boxes of teddy bears, letters and cards, and other expressions of sympathy. Matt, who was a senior at Columbine when I met him two years later, told me:

It felt good, but we never really went through them. What we paid attention to was one item. And that’s still on the wall in the school: a poster created by the kids at Jonesboro and signed by all of them.

Matt was with a group of high school students from Columbine, Jonesboro, and Paducah (the site of an earlier school shooting) who had gathered at Ferncliff, a Presbyterian camp in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Five of them met to give voice to what they had learned from their experiences. They wanted to figure out how to deal with future tragedies.

Some had been injured in the gunfire, some had lost friends, all had been affected emotionally. Yet we asked them to tell stories of when they had been at their best in the dark days of the shootings.

It may seem odd, or even unfeeling, to ask people to talk about their best moments when they have suffered through such horror. Yet there were more high points than even I could have imagined.

And out of that work, they came up with two principles to guide them in the future:

The Jonesboro poster principle. Just “being there” with us is as important as words — maybe more important.
The victims-to-leaders principle. Becoming a leader is the best way to rise above being a victim.

The students had seen for themselves that being in service to others can be a potent affirmation of one’s self, as well as a path toward healing.

Guided by this hard-won wisdom, these young people stood ready to answer the call of the next school tragedy (which seemed, at the time, a near-certainty). Alongside their terrible memories, they added the ability to see images of the future they wanted and the knowledge that they had the capacity to bring it about.

The group filled a backpack to show us what their contribution could be. Matt pulled each item from the bag as he spoke.

When it happens next, we’ll send a backpack filled with tissues for when they cry. With water because you get dehydrated when you cry. And with candy and Disney videos for when they begin to feel better and maybe can even laugh a little.

A few months later, they were called on to ship 100 backpacks to a school in Minnesota.

To this day, I’m still deeply moved when I remember the time I spent with these young people.

Yet I hesitated telling you this story. There is something sacred about their experience that belongs to them. In the end, I decided to honor their courage and wisdom by giving you the chance to learn from them, as I did.

They showed me, in an especially poignant way, what can happen when the common discourse of despair is interrupted in order to draw attention to the life and hope contained in a situation.

They also taught me one more time that there are many ways to tell the story of an experience that we didn’t want to have. Even in our most difficult times, we can choose a narrative that gives us a new and stronger sense of our identity.

That sense might well include such human characteristics as courage, tenacity, resilience, and faith, which can exist only if life holds challenges.

When the heart grieves over what it has lost, the spirit rejoices over what it has left.

Sufi saying

In my own life, I can see my mother’s early death as a time of sadness and loss. From a different (perhaps more distant) vantage point, I’m able to see how that experience contributed to my sense of myself as strong and independent. Both accounts of that event can be called true, yet they shape my self-identity in very different ways.

Working with the great kids from Jonesboro, Columbine, and Paducah also strengthened my conviction that people, even so-called “victims,” know a good deal more about their lives — and about what can be — than the “experts” who are trying to help them. Sure, there had been psychologists at each of the schools who did what they could to help the kids, to reassure them and teach them how to cope.

But the students didn’t tell stories about receiving professional assistance. They told stories about how they had been there for each other.

There comes a time to trust ourselves and the wisdom that can be drawn from our own best experiences.

Filed Under: Articles, Energize Your Nonprofit, Inspire People to Act, Renew Civic Life

What is Your Work Really About?

August 6, 2009 By Jim Lord Leave a Comment

Getting clarity about what we want can lead us to rethink the very essence of the causes we support.

Imagine this scene: A researcher watches as a five-year-old girl draws a picture of her extended family. The girl grabs bright-colored crayons and carefully draws her smiling parents, brother, and sister in the middle of the paper. Then she reaches for dark gray to sketch her grandparents, smaller and off to the side.

Theresa Bertram got wind of this research and thought about what it meant to her: As young as five, we’ve begun to hold images of diminishing as we grow older.

Theresa was executive director of the Cathedral Foundation, a service arm of the Episcopal Diocese of Jacksonville, Florida. The Foundation had earned a national reputation for its services to senior citizens, including retirement communities and Meals on Wheels.

Still, Theresa wasn’t satisfied.

We’d built our services based on what was best for seniors, as we saw it. We were responding to external factors — medical problems, isolation, lack of engagement. And we were focusing on programs for which funding was available.

This was under the banner of restoring independence. But it occurred to me that when we deliver meals to people at home, or care for them in retirement communities, we might actually create or perpetuate isolation and dependence. We might inadvertently preempt a different response from their families, their neighborhoods, or the community.

Theresa began to wonder whether the Foundation might make an even more significant contribution to society.

Instead of focusing on the Cathedral Foundation and its programs, how much money it could raise, or even on the needs of the Jacksonville community, what if they could explore the larger questions of aging in American society?

What if they could take a serious look at the best that aging could be, in order to reframe the conversation about aging and create a new set of social expectations?

An ambitious agenda, to be sure, and one that’s yet to be realized. My point in telling you this mini case study is to spark your imagination about how you might think of your work in a larger way.

What’s the most significant contribution you and your organization could be making?

And what is your work really about?

Filed Under: Articles, Energize Your Nonprofit, Inspire People to Act, Renew Civic Life

New Futures Circle

Leonardo DiCaprio and Doing the Impossible

Can We Make an End Run Around “Problems”?

What is Appreciative Inquiry?

Seeing hidden strengths

How the “Paradoxical Theory of Change” Can Make Your Work Easier

What Can Street Children Teach Us?

From Victims to Leaders

What is Your Work Really About?

Footer #1 Widget

Footer #2 Widget

Footer #3 Widget

Footer #4 Widget