Jaxon looking scary!

It can be really tempting to rush a project and cut corners to meet a looming deadline. We can get so focused on the larger goal that taking the time to properly communicate to staff seems unnecessary. It is rare to find organizations that truly communicate to their staff on changes or important directions that affect — not to mention depend on — them!

Yesterday my seven year old assistant, wise beyond her years, asked me what afterthought meant. I asked her what she would guess, and she said: “when you know you should do or think something, but you don’t until it’s too late”.

I find there are two types of organizations who need help from communications consultants like me - the group that wants to do the best job possible, and is willing to spend the time necessary - and the group that does this as an afterthought, usually in reaction to an issue.

Many smaller organizations feel that staff communications is a luxury for the mammoth corporations with massive corporate communications departments. The reality is, many large corporations face the same kind of pressures and challenges of stretched resources as do the smaller organizations, just on a different scale. 

The truth, and it’s not so scary, is that we all play a role in communications, every day. Do what you can to inspire and lead those around you - and think first of what they need to know and why!

If this man was running for office, I would vote for him. I haven’t yet read his newest release, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, but Seth Godin’s recent blog entries give a sneak peek of his sage advice on marketing and getting your message out in today’s environment.

His post Leadership is the new marketing says it all - focus your efforts on leading a small group of people and take them where they want to go.

Nonprofits and small businesses or organizations alike often fall into the trap of seeking the holy grail of awareness by the general public. This is a waste of time, and a battle you can’t win. You will be more successful with a narrow, dedicated and passionate focus. So many organizations talk about lack of name recognition in their community as an obstacle - but it usually isn’t the real obstacle. The biggest hurdle is getting specific with the audiences that matter.

Time ran an inspiring interview with Nelson Mandela, written by Richard Stengel, author of Mandela’s biography Long Walk to Freedom. You need to read the whole article to appreciate its context, but here’s a summary of his eight lessons in leadership.

1. Courage is not the absence of fear — it’s inspiring others to move beyond it
2. Lead from the front — but don’t leave your base behind
3. Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front
4. Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport
5. Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer
6. Appearances matter — and remember to smile
7. Nothing is black or white
8. Quitting is leading too

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has released a report on how to harness the power of innovation for philanthropic purposes. It looks at commonly-held concepts and practices more often used in the private sector and adapts it as “a commodity for social good.”

Much of the report talks about building and nurturing an Innovation Culture and the need for it to be systematic and outlines the five stages that are required:

• Setting the conditions required to support innovation
• Identifying the problem or opportunity about which you want to innovate
• Generating ideas to solve the problem or capture the opportunity
• Experimenting and piloting those ideas to test how well they work in practice
• Sharing the innovations with a broader set of stakeholders

Read the rest here.

Do you want to learn more about building a culture? Check out my new resource on Building a Better Fundraising Team.

Bad news sells. Most of us have become desensitized. But what happens when the story hits too close to home, for example, controversy or issues hitting the media are about the organization you work or volunteer with?

I hope for your sake that this doesn’t happen to you, but in too many cases, staff and others close to the organization find out when their phones ring and their mothers or neighbours alert them to the front page. This is wrong, and mostly avoidable.

If you are in a position of influence, ensure that you have a plan in place to manage issues and crises before and after they become public. If you’re not sure how, sign up to receive an article on this very topic, in a few weeks’ time.

As the host of this issue of the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants, I asked fellow bloggers to share their best and worst experiences, or observations on leadership.

Jane Arsenault at FIO Partners Perspectives contrasts her firm’s experience working in three distinct cities with the six essential leadership skills needed to stand the test of turbulent times.

Sam Davidson at CoolPeopleCare reinforces something I like to emphasize often - the ability to define success.

Jason Dick at A Small Change talks about what happens when you don’t have leadership and support for fundraising, and offers some tips on how to build it.

Katya Andresen at Robin Hood Marketing offers her two cents on marketing expert Seth Godin’s recent presentation to nonprofits - how to make people feel heard.

Heather Carpenter at Nonprofit Leadership 601 describes the characteristics of a learning organization, defined as one of the best models for effective leadership.

Coincidentally, my September 30 enewsletter offered a checklist for change, to measure your leadership’s likelihood for success in managing change, a key challenge in these times.