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May 2024
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SPRING CLEANING STARTS WITH YOU2/22/2023 When was the last time you made some spring cleaning in your organization? Have you tried to look at your Bylaws and Letters of Incorporation lately? Have you done some reviews of your Policies and Guidance Documents? Have you considered reviewing your Terms of References, Procurements, and Vendor processes? Have you made progress in your volunteer growth and advancement recently? Are staff and Board evaluations and reviews in the pipeline? Sometimes, the best spring cleaning begins at your desk. What work are you trying to put off in the last few weeks and months now? What difficult conversation must take place sooner than later? Who needs to be informed, consulted, and engaged in your process? The rigmarole of paper pushing in many offices is seldom questioned. It's time to figure out what is work and what's non-work. Spring cleaning is all about tackling the most essential and dropping the non-work.
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THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING11/23/2022 A few months ago, a CEO told me that it seemed, 'everything is in order.' They are moving into a new building, operations have been reconfigured to accommodate an enlarged mandate, expanded personnel, and with secured funding, it is looking promising. When everything is in order, is it not the best opportune time to plan your next steps? Here are eight issues that CEOs of social purpose organizations spend their time on: -Board Leadership and Governance -Staff/Personnel Issues -Financial Sustainability -Stakeholder Concerns -Communications and Reputational Issues -Operations/Programming -Strategic Questions -Innovations, Adaptation and Resilience Which of these eight issues are focused on putting out fires and which are for innovation and building capacity for the future? They are all areas to look for innovation, adaptation, and resilience. Let your managers and staff know that they can lead to innovate in their departments. These are systems and they all overlap for the organization. Wherever you are in the chart, change happens when people and systems change. Anticipate that something will come up when you're putting things in order as a cause and consequences of those actions. Growth requires vigilance to outcomes and the resoluteness to continue in the direction of change. Ultimate, it's about minds, hearts, and systems in complete synergy and harmony.
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF PROVOCATION11/10/2022 Provocation, as I heard from a Rotary Club member after my presentation, was something very negative to him. He was fed up by the polarization in our politics and culture, those that always demanding something and always looking for ways to tell someone should reform or else global destruction is at hand, instead of just aiming for common good. While I recognize the current woke and cancel culture climate which we operate, I digress that positive provocation is more about not pushing, but encouraging, not forcing someone to change their views even with the word Provocateur or Provocation. Provocation means you're not settled with the status quo, however long it has served your purpose. It's always for positive growth, more relevance for the upliftment of all. It's about challenging norms that are no longer useful, thus, we can take some lessons learned from others, and adapt accordingly. The woke culture of today denigrates everyone who is not in conformity, kills dissension and creative expression, and polices everyone's thoughts and feelings, making one feel ashamed and guilty of one's roots and privileges. Hitler's campaign was successful because it tackled the identity of German culture and ascribed a higher sense of importance over other races, ethnicities, and identities and loyalties of the German people. Positive provocation is an antidote to the complacency in many organized systems around the world. Innovation, as Schumpeter defined is about 'creative destruction.' Taken in extreme literal way robs it of its substance. Innovation is doing and making things differently, whether it's a product, service, system, network, or process. Positive provocation in the world of charity, development, humanitarian, and philanthropy requires a healthy dose of passion, purpose, provision, practice, and the right paradigm (5Ps). That to me is the philosophy of being a provocateur or a positive instigator. |