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Leadership lessons from Oprah

May 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It was spring of 1986 and my boss asked if I wanted to go to a women’s conference at the Sheraton in New York City.  Looking at a calendar full of looming client deadlines, I hesitated.

“A woman named Oprah Winfrey is going to be speaking,” he said. “I’ve heard from  friends in Chicago that she’s going to be a big star.”

I went and got my first dose of Oprah.

The conference wasn’t one of the big ballrooms; it was a smaller function room, but boy did Oprah fill it up with energy and a message that we women had the power to change the world — and still be women. ( I remember  her partner Stedman joined her, and Oprah called him the love of her life.) Her style was unpolished but charismatic, genuine and positive. She was a woman who wasn’t trying to act like a man, which was so common during the 80s.

So of course today (and yesterday) I watched Oprah wind up her 25 year show. Looking back on these many years she shared what she’s learned.

  • We all have a calling, what we’re meant to be doing in the world. When we live what we’re suppose to be doing — however small or big — we’re using our life to serve the world.
  • We are all responsible for our own lives. No one can fix us, save us, give us the answers. We create our our own energy.
  • The root of all struggles is not feeling worthy enough to be happy or successful
  • Everyone wants to be validated and be heard.  We can change the world one person at a time by letting a person know that I see you. I hear you. What you say matters to me. Validate their value.
  • The secret to her success has been her staff and God. “My success has been waiting and listening for guidance greater than my meager mind provides,” she said. “What are the whipsers in your life right now. Your life is speaking to you. Are you hearing it?”

Many tweets and Facebook posts have been moaning about Oprah’s long send off.  My sisters laughed at me when I told them I had re-arranged my business schedule to watch these last shows.

What people miss is that Oprah is not just a celebrity. She is a leader.

There are not enough inspirational people in the world focused on serving others.  There are too few role models who give and give and give — of themselves and of their wealth.

Oprah has inspired thousands and thousands to be more than they thought possible – and to pass on that gift and by helping others.

Speakers at leadership conferences seem to all share the same examples of exemplary leaders –  Steve Jobs, Ronald Reagan, Sam Walton, Herb Kelleher, FDR, Churchill. (Notice many are dead, and all are men….)

They’re great examples, but Oprah sets new standards in what it means to be a leader for our times, and is worthy of the label  of leader.

Love you Oprah. Even when we shared all that big hair and shoulder pads in 1986.

 

 

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Leadership Tagged With: , , ,

Putting words to why your company exists

May 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A great company purpose  is a rallying cry that inspires employees and customers.  It moves people emotionally, creates a differentiation that has nothing to do with products or price, and can be explained by anyone in the company.

The best example is Nike. While most of us know the company’s 20 year-old “Just Do It” motto, there’s much more to why Nike exists. Simon Sinek, author of the great book “Start with Why” shares this story about Nike founder Phil Knight over on his re:Focus blog:

Looking across the audience, Knight asked those who run to stand up.  And a good percentage of the room stood up.  Then he asked those who run three or more times a week to keep standing; everyone else was asked to sit down.Looking out at the people left standing, Knight said, “we are for you.”

“When you get up at 5 o’clock in the morning to go for a run,” he went on, “even if it’s cold and wet out, you go. And when you get to mile 4, we’re the one standing under the lamp post, out there in the cold and wet with you, cheering you on.  We’re the inner athlete.  We’re the inner champion.”

Without a single mention of their latest technologies or which athletes wear their products, Knight makes a vastly more compelling case for Why we want Nike in our lives. Nike may or may not be better, but we are drawn to them because they have a cause.

Nike doesn’t want to make products for everyone, they want to make products for champions.  Champions are not the ones who always win races, champions are the ones who get out there and try. And try harder the next time. And even harder the next time. Champion is a state of mind. They are devoted.  They compete to best themselves as much if not more than they compete to best others.  Champions are not just athletes.  Champions are entrepreneurs, politicians, nurses, soldiers, students and Hall of Famers.  Nike wants to make products for all champions.

Most companies have clever or meaningless tag lines (marketing) and bland, gobbledygook mission/vision statements (corporate communications). Few can express why they exist in a way that inspires.

Imagine what might happen if you could?  And you can.

A simple workshop exercise is to ask people, “If our company were a cause, what would our rallying cry be?”

Be prepared to be amazed at what your own people believe. And if they are stumped? Time for some corporate soul searching. If you don’t know why you exist — other than making money and improving shareholder value — you really can’t lead effectively. Manage, sure. Lead, no.

 

Filed Under: Activating change, Advertising, Books, Communicating, Language, Leadership, Smart company stories Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

When leaders are open

April 19, 2011 By 1 Comment

When we’re open to ideas they often emerge unexpectedly, almost out of nowhere.

“Where do you come up with these ideas,” I’ve heard leaders ask people, almost incredulously.  Interestingly many creative types don’t necessarily come up with the ideas. Instead, they’re tuned into the world in a wide open frequency, and they find ideas. Or people suggest things to them and they have the interest and courage to say, “Huh. What if we took that idea and….”

The challenge as leaders is to be open. To not have our plans so locked down that there isn’t room for a new approach. To not think of “research” in only the traditional market research ways. To listen to people and take in not just the idea, but how the person feels about the idea. Is there a certain hunger, drive, passion in how the person is sharing an idea?  That’s always a signal for me to tune in. This just might not be business as usual.

Here’s a TED talk from Eric Whitacre who, with two thousand other people around the world, created a magical virtual choir. And it started with a young woman sending him a video with an idea and Eric saying, “huh…what if….”

Take a look. Inspiring. A reminder to me to keep some white space open for opportunities that just might come out of left field.

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Communities, Innovation, Leadership Tagged With: , , , , ,

Collaboration: the courage to be messy

April 5, 2011 By 1 Comment

Real collaboration requires that we get messy — asking new questions, questioning what we know, and putting aside our urge to get things done. It takes time to think together, letting thoughts meander, listening to different people share stories and ideas that may or may not be directly related to the topic at hand.  It takes recognition that thinking is acting.

Learning to collaborate  has been a long and challenging journey for me, a former Type A, “let’s get it done now” kind of person.  While I’m open minded I’m also skeptical, a paradox that many executives share.

But having experienced what can happen when people check their egos at the door and open their minds to “structured unstructured” collaboration  has been transformational for me.  And, believe me, that “transformational” word is one I rarely use.  The outcomes can make such a difference to company success that I now dedicate much of my client work on facilitating  strategic collaborative processes for complex organizations and companies.

With every workshop I’m reminded that the most creative, strategic answers come from people within a company. Not outside management consulting firms or the latest best selling business book author.  The secret is guiding people through a messy process where they are able to talk about questions that rarely get talked about, with people in the company that they rarely have the time or opportunity to talk with in any meaningful way.

A great article on the messiness and value of collaboration, “Collaboration: The Courage to Step into a Meaningful Mess,” was published this month by Alycia Lee and Tatiana Glad over at the Berkana Institute.  Here are a few of the authors’ key points that especially  resonated with me:

  • We are so driven to attain results that we often bypass one of the key components of creativity: the ability to question what we think we know.
  • Sole motivation to meet goals and generate outcomes comes with a sacrifice — deflated creativity.
  • Cooperation comes when people work to share ideas, whereas collaboration is that magic moment when we take a step beyond the individual needs (financial gain, meeting objectives) and co-create from a higher shared value, when you realize “we can’t NOT do this.” That shared value moves the process forward to generate new possibilities.

One last thought. It seems that every CEO in the world talks about innovation as a strategic priority, but few are pushing their companies to work in new ways to be innovative.

The secret is simple: step into messy collaboration that asks the big questions and involves diverse people far beyond the C-suite.

Filed Under: Activating change, Innovation, Leadership, Problem solving Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The eight most important behaviors of managers at Google

March 21, 2011 By 1 Comment

People leave companies for one of three reasons: a terrible boss, dislike of co-workers or a lack of connection with the company’s mission or the sense that their work matters.

Managers at Google have a much greater impact on employees’ performance and how they feel about their work than any other factor. So Google embarked on an extensive internal research project to determine the most important behaviors of their managers on employee performance. Rather than apply generic management principles, Google uncovered the behaviors most important in its own corporate culture.

Since the company pinpointed the most important behaviors and started teaching them in training, coaching and performance review sessions they have achieved “a statistically  significant improvement for 75% of our worst-performing managers,” according to  Laszlo Bock, Google’s vice president for people operations.

More about Google’s data-driven project to understand how to develop management behaviors that make a difference can be found in this recent New York Times article, “Google’s Quest to Build a Better Boss.”

Here are the eight behaviors that work for Google, ranked in order of importance. Do you know the most effective behaviors for your company culture? And which are more important than others?

1. Be a good coach

  • Provide specific, constructive feedback, balancing the negative and the positive
  • Have regular one-on-ones, presenting solutions to problems tailored to your employees’ specific strengths

2. Empower your team and don’t micromanage

  • Balance giving freedom to your employees, while still being available for advice.
  • Make “stretch” assignments to help them tackle big problems

3. Express interest in team members’ success and personal well-being

  • Get to know your employees as people, with lives outside of work
  • Make new members of your team feel welcome and ease their transition

4. Don’t be a sissy: be productive and results-oriented

  • Focus on what employees want the team to achieve and how they can help achieve it
  • Help the team prioritize work and use seniority to remove roadblocks

5. Be a good communicator and listen to your team

  • Communication is two-way; you both listen and share information
  • Hold all-hands meetings and be straightforward about the messages and goals of the team. Help the team connect the dots.
  • Encourage open dialogue and listen to the issues and concerns of your employees

6. Help your employees with career development

7. Have a clear vision and strategy for the team

  • Even in the midst of turmoil, keep the team focused on goals and strategy
  • Involve the team in setting and evolving the team’s vision and making progress toward it

8. Have key technical skills so you can help advise the team

  • Roll up your sleeves and conduct work side by side with the team, when needed
  • Understand the specific challenges of the work

Filed Under: Activating change, Leadership, Smart company stories Tagged With: , , ,

Solving the RISD leadership problem

March 14, 2011 By 2 Comments

 

Carly Fiorina at HP. Larry Summers at Harvard. And now John Maeda at Rhode Island School of Design. (RISD)

These leaders  all committed a fatal leadership mistake: they charged into organizations with strong  cultures and completely ignored the organizational DNA. They tried to force their beliefs on organizations with much different beliefs.  Things almost always end very badly for the leader when this happens.

Changing these revered institutions is necessary and difficult.  I followed all three leaders closely and admired their strategies for how to transform their institutions to be more relevant and dynamic. It’s a shame that such brilliant people didn’t understand a critical leadership fundamental.

The way to inspire people to change is to show them how new ideas support the organization’s reason for being and unique organizational beliefs.  Put change into the context of how it honors the organization’s rich culture and history, and how it makes the organization even more relevant for today’s opportunities.

Alas, these leaders fell into at least one of these three leadership traps:

  1. They did not identify their organization’s true and unique  DNA, the beliefs and values widely shared by multiple constituents — employees, trustees, board members, shareholders, customers, alumni.
  2. They knew the cultural DNA,  but did not know how to use it to inform decisions, build trusted relationships, or communicate change.
  3. They knew #1 and #2 but didn’t care about the culture. They were so passionate and/or arrogant about their new ideas that they wanted to move them ahead fast. Taking the time to align new strategies with the organizational beliefs and culture was viewed as “slowing things down.”  This approach almost always sends the message the new leader doesn’t think anyone else is as smart as they; things aren’t up for discussion and input because “I am smarter than you.”

John Maeda has not yet been asked to leave RISD.  But after an whopping 82 percent of the faculty gave him and the provost a “no confidence” vote, the chances of his survival are slim. Especially as this vote came just weeks after the faculty voted overwhelmingly against a five-year strategic plan.

In today’s Providence Journal Maeda said the problem at RISD is about communications, but from my conversations with RISD faculty and staff the problem appears to be about a deep cultural disconnect and questions on whether Maeda has the needed leadership competencies to run this college.  Few executives can ever repair that damage.

As RISD moves forward — with or without Maeda — it would be well worth their time to bring their people  together — faculty, staff, students, alumni, trustees — and uncover the purpose, beliefs and values that have made this prestigious art college so successful for so many years.  Then use those beliefs as a yardstick on which to assess future leadership decisions, inform strategic directions, and inspire their people to create what’s next.

Based on my experience helping organizations in this type of situation, enaging people in this collaborative process not only gives them a voice, it helps them and the organization heal and look ahead with confidence and optimism.

That’s good leadership.

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed

March 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In the movie Jerry Maguire, Renee Zellweger’s character tells Tom Cruise that he had her at the first hello. Well, this warning to the book “Getting To Maybe: How the World is Changed” had me at the first page:

Warning: this book is not for heroes or saints or perfectionists. This book is for ordinary people who want to make connections that create extraordinary outcomes.

What riveted me to this book on social innovation:

  • The authors fascinating yet easy to understand application of scientific complexity science as a way to understand social innovation.
  • The book’s thorough research and presentation of patterns of social innovation
  • The compelling stories of diverse social innovators – what triggered them to start, how they navigated their journeys, and the shared patterns of those diverse journeys
  • The use of poetry to ground each chapter, counterbalancing the art of change with the science of systems change.
  • More thoughtful, original, and thought provoking insights than I usually find in a professional book.
  • Many, many practical ideas that I can see how to apply both to my professional organizational change management work and my responsibilities as a trustee on non-profit organizations.
  • How relevant it is in today’s world with nations in the Middle East transforming and our school systems, unions, health care institutions and governments undergoing complex, profound and needed change.

The yellow highlights in my book are too numerous to list, but here are some of my takeaways.

Getting to maybe vs. concrete, measurable outcomes

“Maybe” comes with no guarantees, only a chance. But “maybe” has always been the best odds the world has offered to those who set out to alter its course…”Maybe” is not a cautious word. It is a defiant claim of possibility in the face of a status quo we are unwilling to accept.

Why complexity science?

  • Traditional methods of seeing the world compare its workings to a machine. Complexity science embraces life as it is: unpredictable, emergent, evolving and adaptable.
  • Connections or relationships define how complex systems work; an organization is its relationships not its flow chart.
  • Using insights about how the world is changed, we can become active participants in shaping those changes.

Being heard: speaking the vision and passion

Effective and innovative organizations keep alive the that vision and passion, that sense of calling…Part of the challenge in being heard is to hone what you have to say and practice saying it in a way that connects both emotionally and intellectually, both affectively and cognitively

Working with powerful strangers

  • If the system is to be transformed as opposed to overturned, collaboration between the radical and the establishment must be created.
  • In any discussion of power and its redistribution, link the issue directly to the organization’s mission and keep it in that context.
  • Power dynamics will surface in connection to mission fulfillment; which is appropriate; there it will challenge those in power to examine the depth of their commitment to real change.

Evaluation, measurement, accountability

  • Set information targets, not just performance targets.
  • Use developmental evaluation, charting a changing path of innovation by providing rapid feedback.
  • Frame changes from you’re learning as developments, not just improvements, and a key difference in perspective. Especially with funders.
  • Support learning as a meaningful outcome – and reporting on learning as a form of authentic accountability.
  • The highest form of accountability is internal. Are we being true to our vision? Are we dealing with reality? Are we connecting the dots between here-and-now and our vision?  Are we walking the talk? How do we know if we’re not?

Scaling innovation

Scaling up is rarely a linear process that involves doing more of the same.

A different approach to strategic planning

  • Make big-picture, strategic thinking an ongoing part of decision making, not something done only periodically in retreats.
  • Devote resources to identifying and tracking important trends. Make strategic analysis about the connections between local efforts and major trends a regular part of your work.
  • Develop a fierce commitment to ongoing reality testing, especially seeking and being open to critical feedback and standing still to see the bigger picture.
  • Instead of cheerleading, cultivate the skills of rigorous pattern analysis and reality testing.

Quotes I loved

  • Thinking is a form of action.
  • A goal helps to channel the energy but doesn’t create it.
  • Keep the goals front and centre –  let the means emerge.
  • Hell is not failing, hell is delusion.
  • It takes courage to act in the absence of certainty and clarity. But to not engage, to not connect does not mean we protect ourselves from uncertainty.

I’m a voracious reader, and highly recommend this book by Frances Westley, Brenda Zimmerman and Michael Quinn Patton — especially for those involved in innovation, organizational change and social transformation, or for those who wonder and perhaps worry about how we can solve today’s seemingly insolvable social issues.

Filed Under: Activating change, Innovation, Leadership Tagged With: , , ,

More builders, fewer leaders: 10 new principles

February 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The problem with leaders is that they’re doing a superb job at leading broken organizations.  Government. Healthcare. Education. Auto manufacturers. Wall St. The energy industry. All are in need of new models for 21st century economics and pace of change.

Umair Haque, author of The New Capitalist Manifesto, believes that 20th century leadership is stopping 21st century prosperity. We don’t need more leaders, he says, but people who know how to create institutions for the 21st century economic realities. Those who excel at leading existing organizational models are just making broken organizations slightly better.

In his Harvard Business Review post “The Builders’ Manifesto” Umair contrasts managers, leaders and builders, suggesting these 10 principles of what he calls Constructivism.

  1. The boss drives group members; the leader coaches them. The Builder learns from them.
  2. The boss depends upon authority; the leader on good will. The Builder depends on good.
  3. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The Builder is inspired — by changing the world.
  4. The boss says “I”; the leader says “we”. The Builder says “all” — people, communities, and society.
  5. The boss assigns the task, the leader sets the pace. The Builder sees the outcome.
  6. The boss says, “Get there on time;” the leader gets there ahead of time. The Builder makes sure “getting there” matters.
  7. The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The Builder prevents the breakdown.
  8. The boss knows how; the leader shows how. The Builder shows why.
  9. The boss makes work a drudgery; the leader makes work a game. The Builder organizes love, not work.
  10. The boss says, “Go;” the leader says, “Let’s go.” The Builder says: “come.”

Filed Under: Activating change, Innovation, Leadership Tagged With: , ,

Ignore the obstacles

February 7, 2011 By 1 Comment


Are we wasting too much time solving problems?

We spend a lot of time solving problems in business. Some days I feel like we’re benevolent pit bulls, sinking our teeth into root causes, doing current and future state analysis, and constructing detailed roadmaps for breaking down the obstacles.

But what about the other way? Instead of focusing on the negatives, what if we obsessed on our aspirations and strengths? What would happen if spent more time imagining the value of doing more of what we’re especially good at?

Management guru Peter Drucker believed that building on an organization’s strengths snuffs out many of the problems:

“The task of organizational leadership is to create alignment of strengths in ways that make a system’s weaknesses irrelevant.”

Appreciative Inquiry authors and experts David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney share similar views:

“The positive core of an organizational life is one of the greatest and largely unrecognized resources in the field of change management today…Human systems grow in the direction of what they persistently ask questions about, and this propensity is strongest and most sustainable when the means and ends of inquiry are positively correlated.”

At your next management meeting, think about carving out some time to ask new questions around your strengths. Based on my experience you’ll uncover some remarkably motivating ideas, and you’ll  find the energy to pursue those positive opportunities in a way that you just don’t get with solving problems.

Filed Under: Activating change, Leadership Tagged With: , , , , ,

A CEO’s view on rebels

February 1, 2011 By 1 Comment

I’m about to launch a research study on corporate rebels to better understand these change makers. Some executive friends have suggested that maybe I should use the word “change agents” instead of rebels.  This morning I stumbled across this video from Steve Jobs in early Apple days and decided to stick with rebels.

Filed Under: Activating change, Corporate Rebels, Innovation, Language, Leadership Tagged With: , , , ,

Egypt erupts: leadership lessons in the six freedoms

January 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As I watch Tunisia and Egypt erupt, I’m reminded that leaders — of countries and of companies — can be extraordinarily successful or dismal failures by how they involve people in creating change.

Management consultants Diana Whitney and Amanda Trosten-Bloom believe that there are six conditions for the liberation of power in organizations — and as we’re seeing today, for liberating power in countries.  The “six freedoms” are:

  1. The freedom to be heard.
  2. The freedom to dream in community.
  3. The freedom to choose to contribute.
  4. The freedom to act with support.
  5. The Freedom to be positive.
  6. The freedom to be known in a relationship.

Social communications are activating and empowering people  in  countries, in companies, in government, in activist organizations.  Whether you agree or disagree with Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks, it’s another example of how  social technologies are  liberating power when there is a desire for these six freedoms.

Great leaders always ask an essential question: What of the dreams of the people?

Extraordinary leaders involve people in making those dreams real. They create corporate or civic cultures that encourage and support these six freedoms.

My hopes and dreams are for the people of Egypt today — that they  can quickly and peacefully begin the collaborative journey to the type of country they dream of.

________________________________

To learn more about Diana and Amanda, check out their excellent book, “The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change.”

Filed Under: Activating change, Leadership, Political communications, Social media strategy Tagged With: , , ,

Steve Jobs on corporate soul

January 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Great leaders have powerful visions and deep commitment to living with a corporate soul that is true to the spirit of the company. This vision and “genes” as Steve Jobs refers to values, sustain growth and direction long after a leader is gone.

Here’s a fascinating Newsweek interview with Steve Jobs from 1985, when he had just left Apple the first time.  His brilliance hasn’t necessarily been  Macs and iPhones and iPads, but creating an organization with the type of soul/spirit  that enables extraordinary accomplishments.

“To me, Apple exists in the spirit of the people that work there, and the sort of philosophies and purpose by which they go about their business.

“So if Apple just becomes a place where computers are a commodity item and where the romance is gone, and where people forget that computers are the most incredible invention that man has ever invented, then I’ll feel I have lost Apple. But if I’m a million miles away and all those people still feel those things and they’re still working to make the next great personal computer, then I will feel that my genes are still in there.”

Filed Under: Activating change, Leadership Tagged With: , , , ,

Corporate values: the last place you’ll ever want to work

January 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Here’s a new addition to my ongoing collection of corporate vision, mission and value statements. This one is from Yellowbook.

Yellowbook Culture: Core Values

  1. Gain Usage
  2. Build Confidence in Our Brand
  3. User 1st, Advertiser 2nd, Yellowbook 3rd
  4. Think Long Term – Act with integrity
  5. Under Promise/Over Deliver
  6. If You Can Help Enough People Get What They Want…You Get What You Want
  7. People Achieving Career and Personal Goals within the Company
  8. Career Focus – The Last Place You’ll Ever Want to Work
  9. Have Fun, Keep Score, Win!

I have to say #1 and #8 gave me a chuckle.

Values say a lot about an organization. They show the clarity of the leaders’ thinking, how connected leadership  is  to its people, and what behaviors matter most in the organization. More and more job candidates are looking at an organization’s values before making job decisions — as are potential partners.

Do your values accurately reflect your organization?

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Leadership Tagged With: , , ,

The end of employee communications as we know it

January 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Will companies need employee communications departments three or five years from now? I think not.

Just as Twitter is changing how news and information is gathered and shared. So will social communication change business communication, eliminating the need for a centralized employee communications function.

In an interview this week NYU journalism professor and media critic Jay Rosen said, “Because of Twitter, the news system is tending toward a state where every user is a node in the news gathering network. And a distributor. That’s a very different system.”

Employee communications will quickly evolve into a very different system as well. With every employee a node in the company information network. Whether it’s Twitter, a private company social network or some other social form of communications, people will want to find out what’s going on in the company — not just from executives and department heads but from one another.

A Fortune 100 company called this morning to talk about new skills and competencies for corporate communications professionals. There are many, which I’ll try to address in another post.  But this got me to thinking that perhaps we need to elevate the conversation to what communications skills and competencies executives need in this evolving world.

Soon — or maybe it’s already here — executives will need to be direct communicators, like all team members. How they participate will determine the effectiveness of workplace communications and how well they attract talent.   Not the Intranet, the employee newsletter, the beautiful posters or the occasional and well-scripted town hall meeting.

While this transition like all transitions will be full of uncertainty, I hope it is not full of fear. Leaders with a clear sense of purpose and passion for their employees, customers and community  have all they need to be superb communicators. Just be yourself. And help people see the way forward.

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Leadership, Social media strategy Tagged With: , , , ,

A thought provoking planning question

January 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

During a recent series of strategic planning workshops for a major non-profit I asked the participants — staff, donors, organizational ambassadors — this simple question, which provoked some especially meaningful insights. It may help your organization, too.

What do you need from the organization to keep giving so much of yourself?  Please name what you need in just one or two words.

I also suggest using this question towards the end of a workshop, as a thoughtful summary of all that’s been discussed.

Filed Under: Activating change, Communities, Leadership, Problem solving Tagged With:
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