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Here, I provide you with my
recommendations on the materials available that can help you
become more mission-capable in the area of Nonprofit Innovation
In May,we'll take a look at a key issue for most nonprofits: New Marketing Strategies
Past Issues:
You can see the topics of past Mission-Based
Management Newsletters, and then view those that are of
interest to you, by scrolling to the bottom of the newsletter, or by clicking here.
Management Tip Nonprofit Innovation-Part 2
As I
noted in Part 1 of this two-part topic, over the past sixteen months,
I've been working with a group of people at The Center for Leadership Innovation (TCLI)
who have been assessing the best practices in nonprofit innovation,
particularly collaborative innovation. We feel that the problems that
nonprofits are trying to solve are so great, and that the confluence of
generational change and technology is so perfect, that we have an
unprecedented opportunity to work with nonprofit leaders in the US and
elsewhere to hone the skills of getting more neurons on the problems
that face us.
Two techniques that we're using in our lectures and training are Pro-Con and Word Play.
Pro Con engages everyone in idea iteration, and forces groups to look
at both sides of any idea that they are proposing. It's really
effective at getting better and better ideas honed quickly, and is a
technique that results in a solution that is "everyone's idea" and thus
increases ownership and implementation.
Word Play, on the other
hand, is a great tool to also engage lots of people, and gets them off
of a collective brain freeze, those times in brainstorming or group
problem solving when you all hit the wall simultaneously. We're working
on a few other ideas in the short term, will soon have facilitators'
guides available for free these tools and others at the TCLI website.
This month, to kick off the public side of our work, Nonprofit Innovation-Part 2
As I noted in Part 1 of this two part topic, over the past sixteen
months, I've been working with a group of people at The Center for Leadership Innovation (TCLI)
who have been assessing the best practices in nonprofit innovation,
particularly collaborative innovation. We feel that the problems that
nonprofits are trying to solve are so great, and that the confluence of
generational change and technology is so perfect, that we have an
unprecedented opportunity to work with nonprofit leaders in the US and
elsewhere to hone the skills of getting more neurons on the problems
that face us.
Two techniques that we're using in our lectures and training are Pro-Con and Word Play.
Pro Con engages everyone in idea iteration, and forces groups to look
at both sides of any idea that they are proposing. It's really
effective at getting better and better ideas honed quickly, and is a
technique that results in a solution that is "everyone's idea" and thus
increases ownership and implementation.
Word Play, on the other
hand, is a great tool to also engage lots of people, and gets them off
of a collective brain freeze, those times in brainstorming or group
problem solving when you all hit the wall simultaneously. We're working
on a few other ideas in the short term, will soon have facilitators'
guides available for free these tools and others at the TCLI website.
This month, to kick off the public side of our work, TCLI is holding the first Leadership and Social Innovation Summit
in Chicago April 28-30. I'll be there, along with my innovation
partners for three days of great sessions on innovation and bringing
more people into the problem solving we all need to do. If you're
interested, consider registering. The fee is $99, but you get that back
if you attend! What a deal.....
And if you are interested in hearing more about our work, and getting
on a mailing list for the free facilitators guides, email me at
peter@missionbased.com today with the subject line: "Innovation". We'll
keep you informed and involved with our work as it progresses.
If
you found this hint helpful, there are lots more management, marketing,
and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at www.missionbased.com.
Check them out--they're free.
Nonprofit Innovation Part 2....and
Technology!
One key innovation that uses technology has been
the aggregation of small donations. Think about the response by texting
for donations to Haiti. Or Kiva,
the micro lending site that brings people from across the globe
together to make small loans to small businesspeople all over the world.
Technology can help us innovate as well. By asking lots of people to
have input (and thus, ownership) into the problems (big and small) that
vex your organization, you can come up with better ideas. But, asking
lots of people is time-consuming and expensive, right?
Certainly not as expensive as it was 5 years ago. Tech allows you to
get constant input from dispersed people cheaply and quickly. What you
have to do is build interest, but the tools for input are already
there. Blogs, online surveys, conference calling, webinars that lay out
the issue are all tools you can use.
Additionally, don't forget the benefit of going out and "seeing" what
others are doing by attending online conferences, webinars and
educational opportunities yourself. Here, tech brings you to the ideas,
but exposing you to best practices around the globe cheaply.
My favorite line (oft quoted) from Jim Collins in Good To Great
is that "technology is an accelerator of a good idea". So true.
Technology can also be an accelerator of new ideas, new iterations on
old solutions, new thoughts about how to tweak a good practice into a
great one.
If
you found this hint helpful, there are lots more management, marketing,
and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at www.missionbased.com.
Check them out--they're free
Below
you'll see the date, location, and
topics of public
training I'm
currently scheduled to do in the next few months. For more information
on a particular speaking engagement, get in touch with the contact
person listed in the right hand column, or email me.
For
more information on my training availability
throughout the next 12-18 months, available topics, sample agendas, and
fees go to www.missionbased.com/training.htm
Last issue, I noted that one great, and
certainly not new, innovation technique is to ask more people about
solutions, ideas, etc. That's all well and good, and many readers do
surveys and focus groups already. What most nonprofits don't do is get
back to people, tell them what they found in their surveying and ask
for ideas in a second round of innovation.
For example, let's say you do an annual quality
survey, and ask 400 people that you serve about their opinions of your
program and how you can improve. You get 75 responses, analyze the
responses and suggestions and come up with four thing that need fixing,
but the solutions aren't clear. What do you do? Do you share the
information with senior management? Absolutely. The board? Probably.
The entire staff? The entire community? The people you surveyed? If you
are like most organizations, the answer to the last three groups is
either "No", or "Why would I?".
My answer to that is: Why wouldn't you? The
reason you would is that these people can help hone your solutions. The
offer more neurons to help solve your problems. Let's assume that one
of the "issues" raised in your survey was an relatively low score on
for the question "I always feel welcome by the staff". That
worries you, as it would me, and you convene a meeting of senior staff
to work some solutions, and you articulate two or three good ideas. For
most organizations, that's about it--you pick one or two, try them and
see what happens.
I'd suggest a different approach: send those two or three solutions out to the entire group of 400
you first surveyed. "Hi", your communication could start; "A month ago,
we surveyed you along with 400 others about ways to improve our
organization's service. We got back 75 responses, which we greatly
appreciate and learned some things we thought you'd like to know.
(Here, you list the four things that need fixing). We've come up with
some ideas on how to improve in the area of "welcoming" and wanted your
input..." Then you list the ideas, their rationales and why you feel
they would result in a more welcoming atmosphere, and ask then people
what they think, and how to hone the ideas to make them more effective.
They can either email you, call you, or post a suggestion on your
website. Then, take the input you get and improve the solutions.
Iterate.
Finally, getting back to everyone you asked the
first time around is just good marketing--it let's people know you are
listening!
If
you found this hint helpful, there are
lots more management, marketing, and technology ideas for you in the
"Ideas" section at www.missionbased.com.
Check them out--they're free.
