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Meaning and purpose.

Integrity.

The power of choice.

Defeating stress.

How to listen.

These are all topics you and I have [...]]]> Thanks to Career Strategist and Master Certified Coach Michele Woodward who kindly allowed us to re-publish her recent blog post.

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On Being Kind

Meaning and purpose.

Integrity.

The power of choice.

Defeating stress.

How to listen.

These are all topics you and I have been talking together about so far this year. All topics I think are vital for success in today’s world of work. And there’s another important one I want to raise with you right now:

It helps to be kind.

I know, I’m a hopeless optimist. Because we all know, as Leo Durocher famously said, “Nice guys finish last”. Guess what? A new study even seems to support that idea. The study found thatdisagreeable men made about $10,000 more a year than more agreeable men.

The big difference between agreeable people and disagreeable people seems to be the extent to which agreeable folks will go to preserve relationships.

Agreeable people will bend over backwards to prevent discord, difficult conversations or hard feelings.

And often lose something important in the attempt. When I’m overly agreeable, I lose my autonomy. My personhood. My ability to think for myself. My ability to advocate for myself.

Hey, I don’t want you to lose. Really. So let me offer a slight re-definition and shift that might give you a different perspective.

You see, in my mind, there’s an important difference between being overly agreeable and being kind.

It’s kind to offer advice, support and guidance to someone as they work through a challenging project at work.

It’s overly agreeable when  I take over the project at the last moment when you drop the ball – and you take full credit for the end result.

It’s kind when I give a chance to a kid looking for her first job.

It’s overly agreeable when I make room for the Area Vice President’s shiftless, idiot nephew in my department.

It’s kind to remind the boss when I’m going to be on vacation, and create a plan to make sure everything’s covered in my absence.

It’s overly agreeable to take work with me on vacation.

It’s kind when I quietly draw you aside and whisper that you have spinach in your teeth.

It’s overly agreeable to pick the spinach out for you.

Note the distinction?

That’s why the modern workplace could use more kindness and less at “any costs” agreeableness. I’m not saying we go all Meryl-Streep-in-The-Devil-Wears-Prada - in fact, the economic difference between agreeable and disagreeable women in the study was negligible. Researchers remind women: “Nice girls might not get rich, but ‘mean’ girls do not do much better. Even controlling for human capital, marital status, and occupation, highly disagreeable women do not earn as much as highly agreeable men.”

The thing is this: too many of us – overly agreeable men and agreeable women – bring to work all of our childhood “stuff” about being good and making everything right and smoothing relationships so no one yells at us, or tells us we’re big disappointments, or grounds us on Homecoming weekend.

We operate from fear, people. Which puts us at a disadvantage right from the start.

We’ve got to knock that off. Right away.

Because overly agreeable men and overly agreeable women lose when we mistake agreement with kindness. We lose money, we lose opportunity, we lose values, we lose ownership, we lose, lose, lose.

So, let’s re-define.  Kindness means: 

Having an opinion.

Listening to the opinions others and respectfully disagreeing if that’s the way it is.

Saying no sometimes.

Saying yes only sometimes.

Appropriately helping.

Taking the risk to be fully yourself.

Truly kind leaders – regardless of their position on the org chart – are the ones we all remember. They’re the ones we are grateful to. Who are our most memorable mentors.

They’re the ones who make a difference.

Know what? That can be you.

You can leave a truly indelible legacy.

It all starts with kindness.

The organization Bolder Giving is trying to increase [...]]]> The level of personal giving in the U.S. hovers at 2-3% of income. According to GivingUSA’s most recent study, in 2010 “Americans contributed about 2 percent of disposable personal income to philanthropic causes, a number that has remained remarkably consistent over the decades, regardless of economic climate.”

The organization Bolder Giving is trying to increase that – and inspired the billionaire Giving Pledge – by encouraging people of all backgrounds to:

• Give More – increase their giving as a percent of income, assets or business profits;
• Risk More – shift how they give by exploring opportunities to give collaboratively, to communities besides their own, to social change and entrepreneurial efforts; and
• Inspire More – spark discussions about giving with others and share their giving stories to provide a catalyst for new conversations.

Bolder Giving and Tides are holding an event in San Francisco on February 22, 2012 to share details about their collaborative work – if you’re interested in learning more and in the Bay Area, rsvp & drop by!  Or join one of Bolder Giving’s free monthly teleconferences with a bold giver.

The program is conducted annually for approximately a dozen mid-career professionals who have [...]]]> The Council on Foundations has set an early application deadline of February 20, 2012 for its Career Pathways leadership program. Career Pathways is a twelve-month experience that seeks to increase the number of candidates from diverse backgrounds in the philanthropic leadership pipeline.

The program is conducted annually for approximately a dozen mid-career professionals who have a serious interest in pursuing executive and senior leadership positions in philanthropy.

The program was developed as a response to the field’s commitment to diversity and inclusion practices. For the purposes of the program, “diversity” encompasses but is not limited to ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation and identification, age, economic circumstance, class, disability, geography, and philosophy.

The Career Pathways program is open to individuals currently employed in COF-member and non-member grantmaking institutions and foundations. Those working outside philanthropy may also submit applications which will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Self-nominations are not permissible.

Invitations to participate in Career Pathways are highly competitive, and the offer is based on the strength of the individual’s application, nominations, leadership experience, and potential. Participants must commit to fully participate in and prepare for all program learning sessions and related programs and activities. While there is no programmatic cost, if selected participants are responsible for their own accommodation and transportation expenses.

For more information or to complete the RFP, visit the Council on Foundations website.

Click here to read a related LearnPhilanthropy post by Elizabeth Myrick.

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Reposted with permission of The Philanthropic Initiative. See the original blog post here.

Nearly a year ago, Eliza Petro, Program Director for the Izumi Foundation, went on a learning tour to understand the values and processes that characterize today’s landscape of global health and development philanthropy. [...]]]> by Jim Coutré, Vice President, The Philanthropic Initiative, Inc.

Reposted with permission of The Philanthropic Initiative.  See the original blog post here.

Nearly a year ago, Eliza Petro, Program Director for the Izumi Foundation, went on a learning tour to understand the values and processes that characterize today’s landscape of global health and development philanthropy.  The journey was part of the Foundation’s strategic planning process and involved interviews with two dozen smart and engaged foundations, philanthropists, and philanthropy experts throughout the country to gain a better understanding of how funders locate, assess, track and evaluate grantees.  Eliza generously shared these findings with a group of us at the Opportunity Collaboration in Mexico and I’m delighted to pass them along.

Created in 1998, the Izumi Foundation gives assistance to the world’s poorest people by supporting programs that improve health in developing countries.  It provides resources to organizations that share its commitment to delivering lasting, cost-effective improvements that build local health care capacity and supports projects in five areas: infectious diseases with high morbidity and mortality, neglected tropical diseases, malnutrition, maternal and neonatal health, and health care infrastructure.  In order to maximize the impact of its giving, the Foundation restricts its geographic focus to Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

This fall, the Foundation released the results of Eliza’s learning tour in a report, “Trends Among US Grantmakers – Achieving the Most Impact Abroad,”  which discusses finding the right grantees, assessing and selecting grantees, length and type of funding, achieving and measuring impact, and overall grantmaking philosophy. Below are some key takeaways from the report, which I believe funders and grantees will find useful and be sure to check out the full report if you’re looking for more details in a specific area.

Develop Strong Networks for Finding the Right Grantees

Identifying grantees through networks is a good way to find an appropriate funding match and can often minimize the cost and time of vetting new grantees. Allowing some space for letters of inquiry (LOIs) ensures that good grantees who do not have access to donor networks are still considered for funding.

Focus on Leadership and Organizational Structure to Gauge Success

Many donors look for strong leaders that they believe in and extend this trust to their organizations. Considering the structure of an organization is an important counterbalance to ensure that the work of the organization is not entirely dependent on one person.

Consider Both the Advantages of Focus and the Benefits of Risk Taking when Selecting Grantees

While focusing grantmaking to a specific region or theme can increase impact due to improved networks and partnerships, inclined donors might want to be open to a degree of experimentation and risk taking in their grantmaking, as serious problems seldom have clear-cut solutions. Funding the occasional organization or project outside of one’s normal country or idea focus can yield impressive, unanticipated results for those willing to take some risks. At the same time it is important not to get off track of an organization’s mission.

View the Grantee-Donor Relationship as a True Partnership

Remember that grantees are the ones with expertise in the field and carry out the work on a day-to-day basis. Donors should view themselves as partners, asking grantees what help they need most rather than directing the work from above. This recipe will have the best chance of achieving real impact.

Minimize Grantee Workload to Make Time for “Real Work”

Donors should be aware of the numerous reporting demands made on grantees by multiple funders. Accordingly, they should do their best to make things easy for grantees, rather than burden them with requirements and restrictions that consume time they could be spending in the field.

Work with Grantees to Mutually Define M&E Indicators

Allow grantees to take the lead in determining which indicators will be measured to assess a program’s effectiveness. This will minimize the time grantees spend reporting on different indicators for different donors, and will also yield results that are most useful to the grantee in modifying their own work, ultimately increasing their impact.

Recognize the Value of Overhead and General Support Grants

Once you have established trust in an organization and believe in their work, be generous with overhead, recognizing that organizations need overhead to operate on a day-to-day basis. If every organization refuses to pay their fair share of overhead, then who will cover the costs of things such as time spent in writing the reports required by donors? Consider the benefits of General Support Grants.

Appreciate the Value of Longer Term Funding

Educate yourself on the relationship between time and results in development work, understanding that social change does not happen over a one year grant. Critically examine your own motivations for funding and consider whether you might offer longer grants even if it is less exciting to work on the same projects over time.

Consider Non-Financial Ways You Can Increase Impact

Think about all the assets you have as a donor and the ways in which these can be useful to grantees. Might you provide them with some technical skills that they are lacking? Could you host an event featuring their work or introduce them to another donor who might want to support them? Could you help them get to conferences where they can gain experience giving presentations, network, and learn from leaders in their field? Keep in mind that while all organizations need funds, they can also benefit extensively from other assets that you can bring to the table.

1. Philanthropy practitioners from across the field find value in, and are eager to [...]]]> ‘Tis the season for reflecting and summing up — as demonstrated by the countless top-10 and best-of lists popping up everywhere.  So instead of a lengthy blog post this week,  the LearnPhilanthropy team wanted to share some big learnings from 2011:

1.  Philanthropy practitioners from across the field find value in,  and are eager to help co-create,  LearnPhilanthropy.

By Kirk Kramer and Julia Tao, The Bridgespan Group

“Leadership and learning are indispensible to each other.”

-President John F. Kennedy

A strong nonprofit sector requires strong [...]]]> This article is reprinted from the LeadersMatter e-newsletter of The Bridgespan Group, one of LearnPhilanthropy’s content partners.  Visit Bridgespan’s Bridgestar initiative to find the original article.

By Kirk Kramer and Julia Tao, The Bridgespan Group

“Leadership and learning are indispensible to each other.”

-President John F. Kennedy

A strong nonprofit sector requires strong nonprofit leaders–and enough of them to meet a looming leadership deficit. Indeed, Bridgespan research in 20061 indicated the nonprofit sector would need to add 640,000 new senior leaders—the equivalent of 2.4 times the number employed at that time—by 2016.

Today, leadership development and succession planning remain top organizational challenges for most nonprofits. Unfortunately, not enough has been done to evaluate what types of investment can have an impact on the development of nonprofit leaders. In its seminal report on the topic2, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation concluded “there are still no known well-developed theories of leadership development that are grounded in what is being learned through program evaluation.”

Nonetheless, there are some signs of progress. Earlier this year, The Bridgespan Group had the opportunity to conduct an independent assessment of the nation’s largest philanthropic leadership program?Neighborhood Builders®, operated by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. Our findings suggest that the Neighborhood Builders’ approach holds useful insights for other nonprofit leaders who are striving to strengthen their own approach to leadership development—and for the funders supporting them.

The Neighborhood Builders Program

Now in its eighth year, Neighborhood Builders combines several unique aspects: selecting “high performing” community-based organizations through local committees of leaders, pairing leadership training with a meaningful unrestricted grant ($200,000), training both the executive director (ED) and an emerging leader (EL), and fostering relationships within a network that has grown to 1,200 nonprofit leaders.

Our research suggests that the initiative contributes to improved organization performance on a number of fronts. For example, participants reported that the program helped their respective organizations achieve their goals (88 percent), increase or enhance program impact (92 percent), increase financial sustainability (80 percent), and drive innovation (80 percent). Additionally, despite recent tough times since 2008 for many nonprofits, all but one of the more than 600 organizations that have gone through the program remain in operation. And importantly, 85 percent of the leaders we surveyed said the program improved their leadership capacity. One ED told us, “There was this whole world out there of nonprofit management practices … We were the quintessential mom and pop grassroots organization, and now we are on a different playing field.”

The gains are especially pronounced for ELs, a group that is critical to the sector’s future, but one that few other leadership programs target. As one EL reported. “[Participating in the program] helped me see that I was not the only one who struggled with leadership challenges … the program helped me acknowledge and accept that I was a leader.” (To learn more about the assessment and specific gains ED and ELs have experienced, please see the report “Assessment of Bank of America Charitable Foundation’s Neighborhood Builders Program.”

Key Insights for Current Executive Directors, for Next Generation Leaders, and for Funders

As President John F. Kennedy observed, “Leadership and learning are indispensible to each other.” And if there is a single, overarching insight from the experience of Neighborhood Builders’ participants, that’s it. Effective leadership development programs appear to have the potential to provide nonprofit leaders with just such “indispensible” learning—better preparing current nonprofit executives to meet and master a wide array of strategic challenges, and also helping ensure that emerging leaders are ready to step into some of the sector’s toughest jobs.

But the experience of Neighborhood Builder participants has also yielded useful advice that is specific to EDs, ELs, and funders:

For EDs:

Take the time you need to hone your own skills: As a leader, time is one of your most precious resources, and any leadership development program worth its salt is going to take some serious time. Neighborhood Builders asks EDs to attend two workshops during the year (each three days long) and ELs to attend three workshops. For the great majority of those we surveyed, the investment was worth it. As one ED who had gone through the training said, “The ability to get away from the day-to-day demands of running a nonprofit organization and to focus on leadership with colleagues, using top-notch trainers, is a gift that you can’t put a price tag on.”

Learn from peers: The opportunity to meet and interact with peers turned out to be one of the program’s greatest benefits. Two-thirds of those we surveyed reported gaining enduring relationships from the program. As Stephanie Berkowitz of the Center for Teen Empowerment in Boston told us: “The best and most important aspect of the workshops was having the dedicated time and the peer group of ‘non-competing’ organization representatives from all over the country with [whom] to think deeply about nonprofit management and leadership issues.” Each of these community-based leaders reached on average 22 other community organizations through board service and mentoring.

Look for outside support to fund leadership development: Look for funders in your community who make capacity-building grants and use resources like this report and other research to make a case for leadership-development funding for your organization. But even if you do not receive funding for external training, don’t lose heart. Keep in mind that there are significant opportunities for development within your organization. There are a variety of on-the-job opportunities that you and your staff should seek out to develop critical competencies. (The articles “On-the-Job Development Opportunities for Nonprofit Staff” and “52 Free Development Opportunities for Nonprofit Staff” describe a range of options).

Train both EDs and ELs together: Both EDs and ELs reported tremendous value in going through the program together, particularly the opportunity to align on vision, strategy, and priorities. As the ED of a Chicago nonprofit explained, “The training that we received helped us think differently about who we were and who we could be, in a short time. That was the transformative experience that we got out of the training … the catalyst for changing how we thought about ourselves and our community.” Perhaps not coincidentally, that organization had gone from a staff of eight and a budget of $400,000 at the time it received the grant, to 27 full-time and 120 part-time staff, and a $3.5-million budget five years later.

For ELs:

Invest now: One EL went through the program at what turned out to be an important moment of transition for his organization. The Puente Learning Center, which provides free classes and training to Los Angeles communities with high unemployment and poverty, was selected as a Neighborhood Builder organization just as its founder retired. As a result of peer encouragement at the training, the EL, Luis Marquez, applied and was selected for the position of chief executive officer. Marquez took the lesson to heart: don’t wait until there’s a critical gap at the top of your organization to begin preparing your up-and-coming leaders to fill it. He used what he learned in the trainings to create a formal succession plan that prepares the organization for future transitions. Marquez told us: “Now I invest to develop leaders in each of my departments, and our organization is the better for it.”

Seek out opportunities: Think about the skills and competencies that are most important to your current role and the next role to which you aspire, and make a plan for strengthening these essential skills. This includes both asking to participate in formal training and finding on-the-job opportunities to practice and demonstrate different skills. (See “52 Free Development Opportunities for Nonprofit Staff” for examples.)

You are part of the solution for the leadership deficit: Participating in a leadership development program, even if it feels like a big time investment, can enhance your career, whether within your current organization or at a future one. As one EL who went through the Neighborhood Builders training explained, “Up until coming here a few years ago, I always considered myself more of a professional than a leader. The leadership program helped me acknowledge and accept that I was a leader.” While many EDs had had opportunities to participate in other leadership development programs, for most ELs this was their first. This difference shows up in our data: 88 percent of the ELs we surveyed reported experiencing changes in aspirations, expectations or self-conception as a leader after participating in the training, compared to 58 percent of EDs.

For funders:

If you decide to fund leadership development efforts explicitly, select participant organizations carefully: Make sure they are really ready to engage in the program and are in a place in their organizational development where they can benefit from it. We’ve observed that organizations that are poised for change can sometimes benefit the most. And leaders need to see how they can personally benefit, so that they are willing to make the necessary time commitment.

Don’t just focus on training a leader, but on training a leadership team: As discussed above, both EDs and ELs reported tremendous value in going through the Neighborhood Builders program together and often expressed the desire to include other members of the senior team.

Consider combining cash and capacity building: Neighborhood Builders combination of cash and training turned out to pack a powerful one-two punch. While the award’s $200,000 in cash over two years may not seem significant, for 95 percent of the Neighborhood Builders participants, the sum represented one of their three largest unrestricted awards during that two-year period. The funding allowed some organizations to build internal capacity and others to kick-start a high- priority program. Leaders deeply valued the fact that the choice was theirs. Chrystal Kornegay at Boston-based Urban Edge Housing told us that the flexibility and size of the award “allowed us to respond nimbly and swiftly to the foreclosure crisis through the creation of foreclosure counseling services.”

Help nonprofits develop the internal human resource systems and capabilities that will enable them to develop future leaders on the job: These can range from formal performance assessment systems and tools, to training for supervisors and managers on coaching and mentoring skill development.

Help build peer networks: Peer relationships can be powerful! While the Neighborhood Builders program didn’t explicitly set out to help participants forge strong relationships with their peers, these relationships turned out to be one of its most striking benefits. Two-thirds of the leaders we surveyed reported gaining valuable new relationships from their participation. One leader explained: “We met an organization … and struck up an immediate partnership of two agencies wanting to learn from each other. They sent three teams of staff members over three months to interview our staff and clients, and later we helped them to launch a new site. We realized that we had a responsibility to share what we know, and we hadn’t been doing this enough.” Peer networks can be a low-cost way to sustain the benefits of the training and continue learning after completion of the formal program.

(Kirk Kramer is a partner with The Bridgespan Group. Julia Tao is a knowledge manager for Bridgespan’s Organization Practice Area.)

1Thomas J. Tierney, “The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit,” The Bridgespan Group, March 2006.

2W. K. Kellogg Foundation, “Evaluating Outcomes and Impacts: A Scan of 55 Leadership Development Programs,” 2002.

This work by The Bridgespan Group is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license are available on Bridgespan’s Terms and Conditions page.

–Editor@LearnPhilanthropy.net

by Jennifer Bush, President & CEO of Level [...]]]> The Southeastern Council on Foundations has allowed LearnPhilanthopy to reprint this article on resistance from their October/November, 2011 newsletter.  If you or your organization has an article to share about learning or development, please let us know;  we’d love to re-publish it!