Getting it Wrong

I was sitting with a new executive director last week, making suggestions that wouldn’t work.

Which she found invaluable.

And not because she wanted an ego boost by hearing me make mistakes!

What she found so helpful was the process of thinking through what a donor might be interested in and how to figure that out.

Sure, I’d get it wrong.  I don’t know her organization all that well, and I sure as heck don’t know her donors all that well.  But I do know how to strategize about what’s in it for the donor, and what would give meaning to them in their affiliation with the organization.

As I explained to her, it’s like a puzzle, and we keep thinking about ways to put the pieces together till they unlock the relationship to get us to the next level.

Advice, intro gifts, door-opening, rolling up one’s sleeves – there’s lots of ways to move a prospect onto our team.  And that’s the key – being on the same side of the table in making the world a healthier, more creative, or more equitable place.

Once you’ve got that positioning, it’s just a matter of time (and playing your cards right).

So I laid down the wrong cards – and in so doing, taught her the rules of the game.

Margin Time

As Cause Effective drafts its FY 13 budget, I started thinking about the importance of margin-space – those places in the budget that can be shrunk (or expanded) as needed to help maintain equilibrium.  For example, consultant fees…staff lunches…office spruce-ups…etc.  Those “soft costs” that make the machine move ahead more smoothly, but that can be cut back in hard times without sacrificing essential service.

I started wondering about applying this concept to core workload…and in particular, to the development workload.

We have the hard costs – the development deadlines that are essential to the big buckets of income that carry us. And then there are the soft costs – the cultivation of potential major donors, taking board members out for breakfast, updating the data base, doing the extra research. The stuff that leads somewhere – if we have the time to put into it.

Let alone the thinking time.

Is there a formula for how much “soft time” to leave in the schedule?  And a consequence for not doing so (besides stress and lack of sleep)?

The fact is, the “hard time” tasks get done.  That’s what’s meant by “not dropping balls” in a development job description.

But making sure that opportunities appear and can be seized upon – that’s “soft time.”

Yet so often, that’s the space that’s transformational.

Managing Up

Keep ‘em happy.

Or at the least, help them do their job.

Ever since I got my first full-time job in my early twenties, I’ve followed the principle of letting my boss see the “good job” I’m doing.  It helps build trust, has been my philosophy – if they think I’m competent, they’re more likely to let me do the job my way and not be all over me.

In our coaching practice, we see this in its rawest state with founders…and development directors.  Development directors get paid a good amount of money, proportionally, in many a founder-led organization.  To get the founder to the point where he or she doesn’t get so frustrated they decide “I could do this better myself” (a thought always lurking just below the surface for a founder) – a development director has to build up trust, with a big quick win.  Or two, or three.

Interestingly enough, this also works for board members and executive directors.  As an ED of one organization and a board chair of another, I know how frustrating board service can be.  You want to help, yet you’re not right there.  You have all the right intentions, but you’re on the outside looking in.  The stress can be pretty debilitating – and it’s pretty much out of our control. In other words, it’s not an easy job.

So it’s the least we can do, those of us on the ground, to pass along encouraging news as well as warnings of an impending budget gap (and goodness knows there’s a lot of that around!).

Motivation by encouragement.  When I’m on the receiving end, I’m pretty grateful.  And what could be better than giving your board the impression (which is hopefully correct) that they’re on a winning team?  

Making a difference.  That’s what they’re in it for.  That’s what we’re in it for. 

An optimist always sees the bright side.  A pessimist sees the dark edges.  But a smart manager finds the light and spreads it around.  Giving us all the strength to continue.