1 We believe in win-win-wins. 2 We believe that the future of our communities depends on business, charities, and governments working together toward common aspirations. 3 We are not afraid to tell the truth, even if it means the messenger gets shot. 4 We are passionate about making needed change. 5 We offer the outsider’s eye. 6 We believe technology should support mission and vision, not dictate it. 7 We understand People, Process, and Technology. Of the three, People are by far the most im... Read Full Story

While we may be reluctant to admit it, the success and failure of our organizations have to do with change. Change for the better or change for the worse. I believe there is no such thing as an organization that does not change. Organizations may not intentionally change all that much, but like all “living” things, change is ongoing and over time transformative. The difference is about whether or not change just happens to you or if you are proactive about finding or crafting new ... Read Full Story

If you follow this blog at all, you know I am an advocate for non profits and businesses becoming more strategic about social media – in particular social networks.  It’s not just because social networks are cool online applicati0ns. My reason for pitching social networks is because people use them. They use them a lot. But don’t take my word for it. Here are some trends from The Neilsen Company – just published in March 2009 which . “Social Networking has been t... Read Full Story

What should we do? How can we deal with the budget crunch? Where can we find new opportunities? Who else is going to cut us? Likely these are among the questions you have asked yourself in the last while. And unfortunately, we are still in uncertain times for who knows how long. While senior leaders share a lot of the same questions, most also have experienced tough times before. We understand that nearly everything comes in cycles – from good times to bad times to the good again. It... Read Full Story

There is a fair amount of data that tells us that the majority of strategic planning initiatives fail.  A plan’s development might fail now and again because of the failure to execute sound process around planning or not providing a sufficient budget to support it. But truth is that when plans fail, there are just a few reasons why – at least in my experience. The biggest reason is that people don’t do the plan. They don’t do it because they have not collectively embra... Read Full Story

This is a second posting in the series about Mission, Visioning and Values. See our first posting on “Mission” here. Vision. Without it, we bump into things; we stumble and fall and ultimately can’t be certain if where we end up is where we want to be. It’s a powerful and sometimes provocative word. It has numerous meanings. Being able to see what is before you AND being able to conjure up an image of the future are among the definitions or connotations of “visi... Read Full Story

Years back when I taught strategic planning, I had this debate with one of my consulting colleagues. He was adamant that a mission statement should be brief so that it could be committed to memory and therefore engrained in someone’s mind. He felt the same way about vision statements, though he felt they could be somewhat longer. My position was, and still is, that mission and vision statements should fit your organization, its culture, and if that can be done in a dozen words, great! B... Read Full Story

One of the more challenge aspects of developing an orgainzational scorecard along the lines of the Balanced Scorecard (see other posting) is how to set goals and metrics around improving business process. Here are several measure categories that might help you. Simplification: this measure focuses on making production easier. It may or may not improve quality or achieve any of the other measures below, but at the very least, simplification should not decrease benefits to customers. Cost-savin... Read Full Story

WATCH OUR VIDEO OF SINGLE, DOUBLE AND TRIPLE LOOP LEARNING  One key to organizational success has to do with the capacity of people to learn — learn from mistakes as well as learn from successes. The call for organizational learning has escalated over the years ever since our culture and economy transitioned from a “we make things” focus to what is called a “knowledge society.” Today, knowledge workers are highly valued as you know, but the real asset of a knowl... Read Full Story

While many organizations are setting up Facebook and MySpace pages, such social networking sites pose a number of challenges for you. First, if you read the fine print, such services will often claim that they can use your materials for any reason you wish. You may not want that. Second, your purpose may not lend itself well to the “openness” of Facebook or MySpace. For example, if you want a social network for your donors, or a particular customer segment, how would you manage wh... Read Full Story