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Non profit communication

Put blogs to work as part of your communications strategy. A blog can help nonprofits communicate information to members in real time through frequent, brief entries on your organization's Web site.

Nancy E. Schwartz, Editor and Publisher, Getting Attention

From the Nonprofit Good Practice Guide

Tag: Non-profit

Nonprofit Networking: The New Way to Grow

Author: Martha Lagace
Executive Summary:
How can a nonprofit increase its social impact? Many would say it needs to grow big to be strong. Instead, says HBS professor Jane Wei-Skillern, the answer could be in the power of strategic networks.

...................


Whether their mission is to protect wildlife, help disabled people, or offer financial services in developing countries, nonprofit organizations often believe they need to grow big before they can achieve significant social impact.

HBS professor Jane Wei-Skillern has been exploring something different: Her research suggests that a more powerful lever to increase a nonprofit's social impact might be to focus on building network relationships like-minded groups—even competitors. Read on ...

Quote

"No matter how much work a man can do, no matter how engaging his personality may be, he will not advance far in business if he cannot work through others."-- John Craig

Tag: Leadership

Executive Intelligence: What All Great Leaders Have

(Hardcover) by Justin Menkes

The final word on what traits make for highly successful managers - and a detailed explanation of how to identify potential standout performers. Executive Intelligence is about the substance behind great leadership.

Inspired by the work of Peter Drucker and Jim Collins, Justin Menkes set out to isolate the qualities that make for the 'right' people. Drawing on his background in psychology and bolstered by interviews with accomplished CEOs, Menkes paints the portrait of the ideal executive.

In a sense, Menkes's work reveals an executive IQ - the cognitive skills necessary in order to excel in senior management positions. Star leaders readily differentiate primary priorities from secondary concerns; they identify flawed assumptions; they anticipate the different needs of various stakeholders and how they might conflict with one another; and they recognise the underlying agendas of individuals in complex exchanges.

Weaving together research, interviews and the results of his own proprietary testing, Menkes exposes one of the great fallacies of corporate life, that hiring and promotion are conducted on a systematic or scientific basis that allows the most accomplished to rise to their levels of optimal responsibility. Finally, Menkes is a passionate advocate for finding and employing the most talented people, especially those who may have been held back by external assumptions.

"Executive Intelligence offers real insights into what differentiates the great leaders from the pack."

Kevin Sharer: Chairman, President & CEO of Amgen, Inc

"Executive Intelligence" is a breakthrough."

Noel M. Tichy, Professor, The Ross School, University of Michigan and author of Cycle of Leadership

"This will transform the way companies hire, promote and evaluate senior-level employees. It is nothing less than a revolution."

James M. Citrin, board director and practice leader, Spencer Stuart, and coauthor of the national bestsellers The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers and You’re in Charge, Now What

"Justin Menkes has provided a useful guide for helping to identify the people you want to bet your company on."

Ed Breen, Chairman & CEO, Tyco International Ltd.

"Menkes offers a stimulating analysis of an important topic."

BusinessWeek

Amazon from $13.94

Find in a library

Find in an Australian library

executive intelligence, leadership

Meeting Success Tip for the Week

The mover of a motion does not have to vote for it. Putting a motion on the floor is a techniqe to facilitate control of discussion and to focus the meeting on making that discussion productive.

Tag: meetings

Fundraising idea - button making machines

Button Making Machines - Make Buttons for Cash
Back when I was in junior high I was in a computer club and as part of that club we used this button machine to make money. While we weren’t very creative at the time in what we put on buttons, the idea is a good one. People like to wear around buttons that say funny things.

fundraising

Force For Change: How Leadership Differs from Management

Force For Change: How Leadership Differs from Management (Hardcover) by John P. Kotter

Leadership, Kotter clearly demonstrates, is for the most part not a god-like figure transforming subordinates into superhumans, but is in fact a process that creates change -- a process which often involves hundreds or even thousands of "little acts of leadership" orchestrated by people who have the profound insight to realize this. Building on his landmark study of 15 successful general managers, Kotter presents detailed accounts of how senior and middle managers in major corporations, in close concert with colleagues and subordinates, were able to create a leadership process that put into action hundreds of commonsense ideas and procedures that, in combination with competent management, produced extraordinary results.

John Kotter demythologizes the concept of leadership and clearly distinguishes it from management. In the process, he provides new guidelines for leaders and managers trying to optimize their relationships and effectiveness.

William H. Genge
Chairman, Ketchum Communications, Inc.

Full of powerful, useful ideas that will be of great service to those who have been struggling to define and assess leadership.

Thomas J. Mithen
General Electric

One not only learns from his book, but is excited by it. The weaving of research results and case examples is extremely effective.

Warren R. Wilhelm
AMOCO Corporation

More reviews at Aamzon where the book is selling for $21.95 new.

How Important Is "Executive Intelligence" for Leaders?

In response to the ninety-seven online comments to this month's question, it appears that Justin Menkes, author of the book Executive Intelligence, has tapped into a hot issue with his concern that the concept is underrated, under-measured, and under-experienced in the selection and development of leaders.

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5449.html#forum-summary

leadership

DO YOU HAVE THE QUALITIES TO BE A GREAT LEADER?

Do you have the personal qualities to be a great leader?

Leaders have

1. Flexibility. Leaders must be able to adapt to change, and have their organisation able to do so too.

2. Judgement. To be able to make the right choice at the right time

3. Courage. Courage is based on belief in one’s decisions, the courage to make a choice and stand by it, or to adapt to changing situations, and new information

4. Knowledge. A leader needs to have the knowledge necessary to do the job – knowledge of the technical side of the organisation and of the people. That knowledge must be kept constantly up to date.

5. Will power. To stick with choices and decisions and to see them implemented. And to be able to stay flexible and responsive to all inputs.

6. Integrity. The foundation stone for all of these is integrity. We all respond to integrity


leadership

Auction Tips - 5 Steps to Auction Success

There is no doubt about it; an auction takes a lot of work and commitment on many levels. Soliciting items for both the live and silent portion of the auction, also called procurement, is key to a profitable event. Putting together a powerful procurement team can help ensure success in securing donations and meeting event revenue goals. Whether this team is professional staff or a volunteer committee the same ideas apply.
The procurement team is a group of individuals who will be tasked with soliciting contributions for the auction. Ideally, the team will consist of people who have both the time and perseverance to contact potential vendors both by phone and in person for donations. Individuals who are both friendly and persuasive, and above all committed to your cause are most effective. It is also very helpful to engage members on your procurement team who are well connected in the community and have access to people with influence. Read on ...

Meeting Success Tip for the Week:

Sit where you can be seen. Place yourself with the most powerful people, so you get the halo effect. If you are presenting, face them. Sit in the middle of the row, not the end, to maximise your contact with the other people at the meeting. At a table, sit the head of the table. These are external symbols of validation.

MEETINGS

Third Annual Nonprofit Forum: Strategies for Sustainability

8 September - 9 September

Transforming the nonprofit sector in the 21st century through adopting innovation

Aimed at the senior managers of nonprofit organisations, marcus evans third annual Nonprofit Forum looks beyond the traditional view of nonprofit as just 'fundraising organisations' and considers the strategic and operational leadership aspects that drive the performance of professional and responsible nonprofit companies.

This year, our leadership forum showcases a range of management issues with a focus on creating new efficiencies and accessing new markets and strategic business partnerships for successful sustainability.

Third Annual Nonprofit Forum (8th & 9th August, Sydney) offers an opportunity to hear best practice presentations and case studies, and participate in expert discussions addressing strategies for sustainability relevant only to the Third Sector.

You will benefit from an independent platform where you will learn by sharing with your peers and with key stakeholders within the Third Sector.

contact Chris Lowat marcus evans on 61(2) 9223 2137 or email:marketing@marcusevansau.com

For full programme, see:www.marcusevans.com.au/pdf/459.pdf

not for profit

Cooperation

"Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. I may be given credit for having blazed the trail but when I look at the subsequent developments I feel the credit is due to others rather than to myself."-- Alexander Graham Bell

More inspiring quotes

quotations

Leadership Success Tip

Do what needs to be done to ensure that the goals for your area of responsibility are clearly defined. Write them down, commit to them in a report, or use them to chart a course of ation. If they are flexible then the parameters and degree of flexibility also need to be clearly defined.

leadership

Team Builder Tip: Results and Relationships

"Separate the People From the Problem" is the title of the second chapter of one of the best books ever written on conflict resolution, Getting to Yes

I use the concepts for team-building workshops because the best tactic ever for addressing conflict is to build solid relationships within the partnership, team, group, or organization. Proactivity pays off here. Read on ...

team building, leadership

Killing me softly - the conflict resolution conference

Preventing, negotiating and resolving conflict in your community organisation.

Friday 8th September 2006 ... 9-4.15
More information


conflict resolution

Volunteer Management Training

Where: Sydney, Bathurst

When: 14 August 2006 - 16 August 2006

Start time: 9.00 amF

inish time: 4.00 pm

Effective Volunteer Management : Mobilising Your Resources

Join Rick Lynch, leading US Based volunteerism trainer and author for this challenging, stimulating and useful one day workshop.

Rick is a US based volunteer management expert, trainer and author. He has written numerous books on leadership, volunteer management and excellence in non-profit organisations, including co-authoring 'Volunteer Management : Mobilising All the resources of the Community'

The day will cover :

the four elements of jobs that are intrinsically motivating

how to really measure the impact of volunteer activity

how to stop micromanaging your volunteers

how to talk to volunteers who fail to meet your standard

More details ...

volunteers

Motivate each person according to values!

From Stever Robbins

A friend just sent me this link about how to be a Technical Lead. It is written for technical people by a technical person, but it really applies to anyone running a company that depends on technologists.Especially note “Mistake #2,” which discusses motivation.

One of the most common things I’ve found is managers who don’t take the time to find out what is motivating to their particular people. They assume that everyone wants the same recognition they do. Or they assume everyone thinks a football outing is the be-all-and-end-all of bonding. Read on ...

leadership

Nonprofit organizations are concerned

The cause (the people, places, things, or issues the organization wants to help or change)

Donors (the people and companies that contribute resources to help the cause)

Volunteers and helpers

The media

Each of these groups interacts with the nonprofit organization in its own unique way.

Subsequently, nonprofits need to develop their organizational personality in ways that they can develop meaningful relationships with these audiences.

One of the first tenets of Robin Hood Marketing is to not preach and evangelize about the cause or the organizational mission. Instead, take a page from the Nike marketing book and ask each group for a specific action. Read on ...

not for profits

Know thyself . . . and thy donor

WITH THE proliferation of conferences on direct response fundraising, new techniques are being shared far and wide. But to Diane Bernardini, Direct Mail Manager for Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (Maryknoll NY), there’s an important caveat:

“Sometimes you go to seminars and somebody will find something. And it’s almost like it’s too gimmicky. You have to be careful with those gimmicks. Because what works for somebody else may not work for you. And I think it’s important to know what your organization is, what kind of donors you’re looking for, and stay right on target.” Because, she adds, “with some gimmicks, you can end up getting donors, but they just won’t respond again.” Read on ...


fundraising

Narcissism and Leadership: A Review and Research Agenda

By Seth A. Rosenthal

This article appeared in the 2006 issue of Working Papers

It is clear that a significant number of world leaders have rigidly grandiose belief systems and leadership styles. Often, the authors who recount the “psychohistories” of these leaders connect both the leaders’ assent to power, and their ultimate (and seemingly inevitable) downfall, to their narcissistic grandiosity.

While not every author employs the term “narcissism” to describe the leader in question, across the board they reliably depict individuals whose aspirations, judgments, and decisions, both good and bad, are driven by unyielding arrogance and self-absorption.

The pantheon of purportedly narcissistic leaders ranges from the great tyrants of recent history including Hitler, Stalin, and Saddam Hussein (Glad, 2002), to lesser-known malevolent leaders like the founder of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell (Miliora, 1995) and cult leader Jim Jones (Zee, 1980), great historical figures such as Alexander Hamilton (Chernow, 2004), business leaders of all stripes including Steve Jobs (Robins & Paulhus, 2001), Michael Eisner (Sankowsky, 1995), David Geffen (Kramer, 2003), and Kenneth Lay (Kramer, 2003), and an eclecticand sometimes surprising list of current political leaders such as Benjamin Netanyahu (Kimhi, 2001), John McCain (Renshon, 2001), George W. Bush (Krugman, 2005; Suskind, 2004), and both Jimmy Carter and his mother, Lillian (Glad & Whitmore, 1991).

Read the remainer of this article in PDF format »
leadership

Executives ‘On-Loan’ to Charities

For many Not for Profits, living from grant to grant and having no time for long term planning can lead to corporate envy – wondering how top company managers re-invigorate their operations.

So what about having an ‘executive-on-loan’?

That’s an idea that Melbourne Cares hopes to address in the future – where companies lend their executives to Not for Profit organisations for a year or longer and often at no charge to offer much-needed business experience. Read on ...

executives, not for profits

Church Resources’ Specials for NFP’s

Need the buying power of a large organisation to reduce your costs?

Since 1997 Church Resources has been providing the strength of a large national buying group to help all Not for Profits save time and money.

Membership is free and all church and NFP groups are eligible to register and can benefit from savings and improved levels of service on a range of products from telecommunications and office equipment through to advertising, cars, travel and many more!

To take advantage of the specials below you must be a Church Resources member. To register visit www.churchresources.com.au/register.php

For more information on Church Resources and for a copy of our latest Savings Guide call 1300 CHURCH (1300 248 724) or visit www.churchresources.com.au

not for profit

How Individual Power Use Affects Team Process and Performance: Implications for the Powerholder

By Ruth Wageman, Elizabeth Mannix

This article appeared in the 2006 issue of Working Papers

Even within teams of peers, certain individuals have more power than others. Individual members may have essential skills and experience, networks outside the team, or status within the organization that give them more power than the average team member (French & Raven, 1959; Hollander, 1958).

How these powerholders use their power may vary from team to team. For example, consider a task force whose purpose is to solve a problem in the organization’s ability to attract new members. One member of the team is especially expert in member-engagement practices and root cause analysis, upon which the team is dependent to complete its task well. This dependency gives her power (Emerson, 1964).

She might use her power solely to influence the team’s task approach in the areas most relevant to her particular skill. Or she may use her special influence to dominate a range of team functions, from managing relations with senior leaders, to controlling the conflict-management processes within the group. Or she might exert no special influence at all, acting as an average team member in all domains. What consequences might her choices have for the effectiveness of this team?
Read the remainer of this article in PDF format »

leadership, teams,

Premium treatment

By Mal Warwick

PREMIUMS are one of the most hotly debated topics in direct mail fundraising. Their advocates — and they’re many — insist that premiums routinely boost response rates by generous margins. The most enthusiastic of these folks assert that donors acquired through the use of premiums have long-term value no less than that of donors acquired without them. Read on ...

fundraising

Knowledge Nomads: Understanding an Overlooked Segment of the Workforce Helps Managers Lead

By Todd L. Pittinsky, Magaret J. Shih

This article appeared in the 2006 issue of Working PapersManagers have formal and official supervisory authority within an organizational hierarchy. As a result, a perennial concern of managers is employee mobility, i.e., the turnover of workers, and the implication of worker mobility for the staffing of critical functions in the organization.
Read the remainer of this article in PDF format »


managers, employment

Rational sharing and its limits

People differ in their willingness to share, as well as their reasons to do so. An open collaboration community of willing sharing members thrives on a virtuous cycle: increased sharing often offers stronger reasons for more people to share. However, it may also decline when the cycle goes the opposite direction and turns vicious. What determines the dividing line?

We offer insights into this important question based on an analytic understanding of the concept of rational sharing, which is sharing for net gain in personal utility. In a nutshell, a community thriving on rational sharing is essentially an economic system, a platform for creating mutual benefit through exchanges.

This analysis is based on our prior work in statistical modelling of peer–to–peer systems. There are two salient features. First, the shared content is modelled as a mixture of different types of goods. Members’ sharing is pooled and organized into supply, which in turn is brought to match with demand from the members themselves, and a wider community also in the case of open access. The importance of the goodness of match between supply and demand is therefore apparent. Second, incentive schemes are modelled simply as dependence between the quality of service a member sees and the level of sharing. Being simplistic, it points to an interesting generic observation: no incentive is strong enough to break the catch–22 situation during startup unless some seed content is present.

We are not suggesting rationality as the only conscious basis of sharing for individuals. Quite the contrary, we gauge the limits of rational sharing thereby, and identify when and how non–rational bases of sharing is needed. For instance, high quality open access Wikis we witness today would not have been sustainable if sharing had been purely rational, as meaningful reward in quality gain has to be reserved for enticing rational members. Read on ...

community, sharing

Not So Lonely at the Top? An Exploratory Study of the Multiple Commitments of Aspiring Leaders

By Brian Welle, Todd Pittinsky

This article appeared in the 2006 issue of Working Papers

Leadership is often viewed as a lonely endeavor, as this quote exemplifies. Leaders are frequently perceived as standing “alone” at the top of the hierarchy. Drive and sustained commitment have been linked to the attainment of leadership positions (McClelland & Boyatzis, 1982), findings that are corroborated by the many public and private sector leaders who have described the years of intense work, perseverance, and sacrifice that led to their success. Traveling the path to career success and leadership positions can come at the expense of developing rewarding relationships with friends and family (e.g., Hewlett, 2002).

Read the remainer of this article in PDF format

leadership

Self-improvement

For information about leadership, management, nutrition, being organised, time management and much more visit the Pivotal Personal Best blog.

self improvement

An Examination of Trust in Contemporary American Society

By Howard Gardner, Jessica Sara Benjamin, Lindsay Pettingill

This article appeared in the 2006 issue of Working Papers

It is hard to imagine a society functioning in the absence of trust. From the smallest incident—crossing the street when the light is green—to the most consequential events—a government fulfilling its pledge to pay Social Security—individuals must be able to rely on individuals and institutions to behave in a reliable and trustworthy manner.

When trust is absent, chaos ensues. Of course, trust should not be given blindly; authentic trust needs to be earned and renewed.

Read the remainer of this article in PDF format »

leadership, trust

Informal Learning - the Untapped resource of Enterprise Training Departments

If you look around yourself, it seems that informal learning is completely ignored in most organizations and that no tools, facilities or appropriate working environments are made available to further support and facilitate independent and self-driven informal learning activities by high performers inside the organization.

This is why the best cure in this direction is to to encourage your organization to start questioning more the validity of providing learning opportunities and facilities that satisfy only a very small percentage of its workforce while greatly handicapping the high performance workers and self-directed learners within it.

Read the whole post

training

Strengthening Business Processes through Rapid User Adoption andWorkflow Learning

Workflow learning describes the process through which individual users of enterprise software learn how their roles, functions and use of enterprise technology contribute to the execution of larger business processes.

This white paper examines the importance of workflow learning and identifies the components of an effective enterprise software training platform to strengthen business processes and enable organizations to keep their competitive edge.

Traditional enterprise software training routinely fails to teach people how their individual activities – and their use ofthe new technology – support larger business processes and strategic corporate objectives.

Employees who fail to make that connection are less likely to understand the larger,more costly ramifications of mistakes and delays that occur in their area.For example,many accounts receivable (A/R) managers may not understand how an A/R entry error can cause a spike in day’s sales outstanding, which marks a crucial financial performance metric for most companies.

Workflow learning shows A/R managers and other users of enterprise software systems how their activities affect organizational performance.

Workflow learning also expedites software implementations by delivering more effective training to end users earlier in the process – and sustains that training and application support well after the go-live date has passed.

Knowledgeable users of enterprise software systems can leverage technology to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of an entire business process,not just of their individual contribution.

A process-savvy A/R manager,for example,is more likely to recognize and point out efficiency improvements that can improve the entire order-to-cash cycle.

For those types of improvements to occur, however,individual employees must know how their activities support larger business processes.

They must also know how to use their enterprise software systems.An effective workflow learning platform addresses both needs and ultimately enables an organization’s people to leverage large technology investments to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes that propel companies past theircompetitors.

Read the whole white paper

workflow,

Connecting the Corporate Dots: Social Networks Reveal How Employees and Companies Operate

What do Wharton faculty members and the workers who spy for the National Security Agency have in common? More than you might think. The Wharton scholars aren't analyzing links among billions of telephone calls to identify terrorists, a controversial NSA activity that caused a stir after it was disclosed recently in news reports. But they, too, are interested in mapping social networks.

Social networking is a hot topic. Ordinary Internet users take advantage of networks when they turn to well-known websites like MySpace and Friendster to link up with other people. But more serious interest in social networks can be found among academics, consultants and corporations seeking to deepen their knowledge of how companies operate; how employees and board members interact; how key employees can be identified; and how relationships can be better understood to improve productivity and the dissemination of ideas.

>> more

social networking, corporate networking

Easy Fundraisers

Everybody wants easy fundraisers. The problem is that you also want good results. So, how do you get the best resultsfrom an easy fundraiser?

Three things to consider in evaluating easy fundraisers:

Read on ...


fundraising

Mission Impossible - a report and reference collection of charity mission and visions

Remember doing exams at school where you just wanted to look other people's answers without the hard work of revising?

Well "Mission Impossible" lets you do just that - for other charities' vision statements.

It takes away all the hard work of trawling through their organisations' websites. Or as they say in the ads - we've done the hard work so you don't have to. "Mission Impossible" brings together over 80 vision statements from a range of organisations in the charity and not for profit sector. We don't claim it's exhaustive or representative, just useful.

Even so the full version is over 100 pages long. We added analysis to the beginning of the collection to give you our thoughts on examples of good practice.

(full report and reference)

mission statements, vision statements, charities

How to get the best out of your next meeting or event.

This industry guide for the professional management of conferences, meetings and events is a useful tool in bid documents for MEA members either via this downloadable version or via the glossy, colour printed hard copy version available from MEA.

The guide outlines the role of a meetings manager in the wider industry mix; lists the range of areas a Meetings Manager may cover; how to choose and brief a meetings manager; contract and commission information; benefits of using accredited meetings managers and associate-fellows; the MEA code of ethics; and more.

A pdf, downloadable version of this brochure is available (right click on the link then "save target as")

events, meetings

Cause for Complaint?How charities manage complaints about their services

The Charity Commission is the independent regulator for charitable activity. This is one of a series of reports that present our case-working experience, supplemented by additional research. Their purpose is to help increase understanding of an issue. They are part of our mission to help charities maximise their impact, comply with their legal obligations, encourage innovation and enhance effectiveness.

This report presents the findings of our research into charities’ working practices and contains ideas you may wish to consider adopting, taking into account your charity’s own unique situation.

Read the report

charity, charitable organisations, complaints,

Resources for Families

This blog is devoted to helping you manage your organisation.

But are you also managing a family?

Then you may be interested in my Resources for Families blog.

Posts cover news and trends in families, tips and information about parenting, family nutrition, homework help, marriage and much more.

Bronwyn's Resources for Families

families

e-fundraising

From a blog called "fundraising - interesting but essential ...

'This will be the future of fundraising. Email is free to use as a means of marketing your fundraiser and has the ability to stay in touch with people interested in supporting your organization no matter where they are. Thankfully an email account usually follows your fundraising friends around. '

Read the whole post

fundraising

Social bookmarking on a corporate intranet

"We describe a technology exploration of social bookmarking within a closed, corporate environment. We hypothesize that such a tool would be valuable for information sharing, information management, and social networking in our organization."

Laurie Damianos, John Griffith, Donna Cuomo, The MITRE Corporation

Read the whole report

social bookmarking, intranet

Free downloads for non-profit organisations

If you're like most busy nonprofit professionals, the last thing you want to do with your time is spend it searching for free software.

While free software abounds on the Internet, actually identifying programs that will meet your needs is a difficult process. That’s where TechSoup’s new Free Downloads section can help. In this section you won’t find a comprehensive list of every free program in existence. What you will find is a short list of excellent applications (for both newbies and geeks) that will meet most nonprofits’ needs for software -- no 30-day downloads, no guilt-trip messages, no crippled features.

The downlaods can be found at Tech soup

non profits

Web Update

I have just updated the Organisation Management web pages - added the folowing articles:

Hiring for Executive Intelligence

Leadership:Leadership: Leading Your Business

Fundraising:Foundations Funding – If The Slipper Fits

leadership, management, fundraising

Learning Styles

The Learning Styles Profiler Software (LSP) is the computerised version of the well known Learning Styles Profiler designed by a leading internationally renowned expert in learning and personality development, Assoc Prof. Chris Jackson.

Twelve years of academic and applied organizational research have gone into the development of this instrument. See definitions of scales and understand item scoring here.

Key Features

Based on a well-developed theoretical model of the neuropsychology of learning

Diagnoses functional learners, dysfunctional learners as well as various other types of learning

Goes beyond the weaknesses of the learning cycle.

The model of learning measures real psychological processes.

Sophisticated questionnaire design

Produces a tailored, useful and well-constructed self-development report

Designed for use within organizations, education, training, community and clinical use

Known reliability and validity: All the stats are clearly reported in the free manual!

360 degree appraisals of learning available to account holders

Management options provide full flexibility of delivery

You can try before you buy!

The LSP is designed to measure how people learn and provides a written report on their learning style and how it can be developed. The LSP is used in business across the world to promote learning and a learning environment.

See the LSP Manual for full information (email us for your free copy) and try a free demonstration report today.The most important thing about the LSP is that it is based on the most up to date and validated biological theory of learning. There is simply no other learning styles questionnaire for business and education with such a good theoretical and design pedigree. Read the detailed and fully referenced section on the development of the LSP based on the neuropsychology of the brain and be reasssured by the sophisticated psychometric properties of the LSP which are also fully reported..Visit the LSP website

learning styles, Organisation management

Getting Your Message Across - an online guide

by Russ Grayson

Guide to producing and publishing information for community, small business and non-government organisations.

A useful online guide for small organisations wanting to get information before the public.

Getting Your Message Across includes:
The Big Picture
Reporting
Online media
News gathering
Strategy

For more information

organisation Management, non profits, NFP,

Voluntary Treasurers' Handbook

A resource from the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia to help small organisations who rely largely on volunteers.

This publication is intended to help small non-profit organisations.

While the financial resources and skills of personnel will vary enormously, some principles are fundamental to all. Many small organisations have few, if any, paid staff and rely on the work of volunteers.

This handbook has been written to help small organisations and particularly the person carrying the financial responsibility. It attempts to cover, in broad terms, matters that honorary treasurers need to know about in order to keep their organisations on an even financial keel and out of trouble.

Topics covered in Voluntary Treasurer's Handbook:
Finance – A team effort
Legal responsibilities
Record keeping
Classifying Information
Reporting Management
Planning
Cash Management
Shoe-box Accounting
Taxation Issues
The Australian Business Number
Goods & Services Tax
Fringe Benefits Tax
Pay as You Go System
Deductible Gift Recipients
Superannuation Guarantee
Other Taxes
Checklists for Treasurers
Shoe-box Accounting
Find the link here

non-profits, treasurers

Windmill News - The Development of a Community Magazine with A Difference

The development of a community magazine - an exercise in community building focussing on community based assets, social entrepreneurship , developing social connectedness and maintaining a vibrant community.

Windmill News - a Vision of Connections or a Connection of visions?

In September of 2004, a seed of an idea was finally watered with a number of volunteers coming together to start what was to become known as “The Windmill News”- a community magazine with a difference. Read on ...

organisation

community

non profit

Innovation Strategies Summit: Know your brain

"Gerald Haman from SolutionPeople gave a presentation entitled “Know Your Brain” at last week’s Innovation Strategies Summit.

Gerald believes most people do not spend as much time as they should thinking about how they think. So he walked us through an exercise designed to help us to better understand our individual thinking style, and to recognize and honor thinking styles that our different than our own.

Here are some selected thoughts from his presentation that resonated with me: ..."

Read on ...

thinking, innovation

Give your community organisation a home on the web

Community Geographic Domain Names (CGDNs) provide the world's first intuitive, standardised naming system to enable better access to local community, tourism and business information to help facilitate social, cultural, economic and sustainable benefits.

The names reflect the geographical address of a locality and provide one website address for that community: placename.state.au. The use of the CGDNs will be restricted to community website portals.

Read more ...

community organisations

domain names

Blogs for idea mining

From Dorai's Learnlog
Blogs are a great source of ideas.

Some of the bloggers are the smartest people I know. They comment about products. They track trends. They predict future products. They compare and categorize. And they share it all free.

So how about mining ideas from blogs? And using them to improve your products, projects.

For example if you look at a list of mashups, you will certainly get ideas for other mashups. If you enjoy using Web 2.0 products, you already know a specific user interface you like. By tracking the most popular Web 2.0 products, you are getting some free market research.

All these are talked about in the blogosphere.

creativity, innovation, blogging, organisations

Public Speaking support for you

Overcome your fear of public speaking, Polish your presentations. For tips, quotes, articles and links to much more, visit Pivotal Public Speaking

Tags:public speaking, organisation

The 6 Cs of leadership

From Oren Harari’s Blog

I just came back from Mike Milken’s Global Conference in Los Angeles, where I participated in a panel discussion of how small to medium sized businesses can capitalize on the opportunities of globalization. Great conference, though I confess it’s daunting to be in a hotel surrounded by Nobel laureates.

But I digress. No matter what subject was discussed during the three days—national security, global warming, health care, corporate competitive advantage, etc.—the subject of leadership was never far behind.

Unsurprisingly, the need for leadership today is more important than ever before. Rafael Pastor, the ex-President of USA Networks and current CEO of Vistage International, and Barry Sternlicht, the ex-CEO of Starwood Hotels and current head of Starwood Capital Group, both had some astute comments on the subject.

Coincidentally, and surprisingly, both of them summarized their perspectives with concepts beginning with a “C”, so it’s really easy to combine their viewpoints and come up with a "C" list of leadership attributes necessary for success in the 21st century.

I wish I had enough poetry to come up with this list, but at least I can use my own words in describing the six elements:

1. Courage: Great leaders take risks. They are willing, even excited, about entering unchartered waters. They face their own fears, their own demons, the doubts of naysayers around them, the very real structural and financial hurdles before them—and they go forth anyway. That takes planning and discipline, to be sure, but most of all it takes courage.

2. Creativity: Great leaders embrace imagination. They foster innovation. If they themselves don’t possess those attributes, they surround themselves with people who do. They exude impatient with the status quo. They understand that doing the same-old, same-old is a recipe for decline. Their message to the troops is-- challenge conventional wisdom and break new ground. Do it with economic logic and operational discipline, yes, but do it with creativity.

3 and 4. Compassion and Caring. Sternlicht used these words in one phrase. For great leadership, he emphasized the importance of caring deeply about what you’re doing, about the welfare of your people and customers, and about doing things with a strong moral fiber. What that tells me is that analytically detached, amoral executives need not apply. Great leaders have emotional and ethical as well as intellectual integrity. They love, and they love ethically.

5. Curiosity: Great leaders come to the party with a sense of wonder and awe. They restlessly and repeatedly ask questions like-- What’s out there? (let's check it out!) What’s behind there? What’s underneath there? What if? Why not? When can we try it? What will happen? What did happen? What did we learn? What’s our next step?

6. Consistency. Sternlicht noted that great companies “consistently surprise customers.” I believe the issue of consistency is essential for effective branding and sustained competitive success. Great leaders create an environment where C’s #1-5 aren’t a one-shot flash-in-the-pan deal, but so steady and ingrained that people inside and outside the organization can count on them. They can count on the leader, and the organization manifesting traits like courage, creativity, compassion, caring, and curiosity.

Six C’s. Easy to remember. Do you have the conviction and commitment (two more C’s?) to carry (sorry, I couldn’t resist) them out?

tags: leadership, organisation,

Conflict: Constructive or Destructive?

What creates conflict in your organization?

Different views on business decisions and strategy?
Disagreement about tactics?

Poor relationships and personality clashes?

Conflict occurs for many reasons. But, by changing how you respond to conflict, you can reduce its harmful effects and maximize its useful ones.

"If it is well managed, conflict can have positive outcomes," says CCL's Brenda McManigle. "Conflict can lead to better decision making, expose key issues, stimulate critical thinking and fuel creativity and innovation."

Read on ...

tags:
conflict, management

Leaders are those who recognise it

"Are leaders born, or can you make the decision to become one? Whether your view is from the bottom up, the middle or the top – It's clear that your decisions make the difference."

Read on ...

Tag: leadership

Top Management Lies

From the Creating Passionate Users Blog

Nobody says they want to hire "yes men". They say they want employees who are bold, creative, self-directed, take initiative, and aren't afraid to speak up. But what managers say they want and what they actually want (and reward) can be very different...

Read on ...

Tag:management

Leadership - a job to be done alone or as part of a team?

Bruce Hoppe writes:

Structural Holes: The Source of Good Ideas

What does it take to lead a successful company?

Corporate executives today face a growing array of challenges fed by revolutions in technology and globalization. It’s enough to make an executive wonder if leading a successful company is more than a one person job.

Actually, in most cases it is.

As Tom Malone recently put it in The Future of Work, “As managers, we need to shift our thinking from command and control to coordinate and cultivate -- the best way to gain power is sometimes to give it away.”

Coordination, cultivation, and collaboration are increasingly the mode of work at every level.

Read on ...

Tags:
leadership

Communication Success Tip

How will you gain the attention of the person with whom
you wish to communicate?

Whatever the method you use, it will set the tone for the communication, whether it be, for example, formal, friendly, relaxed, assertive or aggressive.

It will also have a major effect on whether your message is received favourably or not, and even on whether the person gives you their attention of not.

So whatever your form of communication - writing a letter, sending an email, beginning a telephone conversation or making a speech, be aware that the way you attempt to gain that person's attention is vitally important.

More on Communication

Tag:

communication

Ethics & Leadership

From CCL:

Shoddy ethics. No integrity. Poor character. Untrustworthy.

In this age of high-profile corporate scandals and growing government scrutiny of business, these phrases are all too often associated with leaders and leadership. The gap is widening between many organizations and the faith the public has in them. In this issue of Leading Effectively, we explore ways in which that gap might be narrowed by paying closer attention to ethics, character and integrity and their connection to leadership and leader development.

Read on ...

tags:

leadership

Writing reports - part 3 - Presenting the report

Welcome to Part 3 of this series on Writing reports.

We have looked at Preparing the Report, and at Construction and Style. In this post, let's look at the Presentation of the Report

The report needs to go to the right person at the right time. "Right" may be determined by a set schedule. You may have a schedule of reporting to a certain person at particular times. Or someone may have commissioned the report and asked it to be presented by a particular date.

Obviously you need to deliver the report on time. Other operations of the organisation may depend for their success on that timing. But whether the report is on time or delivered late will also impact on your image within the organisation. Do you want to be seen as reliable and efficient? Then report on time.

If the report is presented verbally, then all of the techniques of public speaking come into play. Speaking clearly and loudly enough to be heard are obvious, but make sure you can be heard, and understood, or your content will be lost. You will need to convince, again, of your image - sincerity and professionalism are important. Use eye contact to convince of your sincerity and commitment. Use it, too, to emphasise points you are making. Employ variation in pitch and pace, and use pause to emphasis points, too. But they will also keep our audience's attention, even if it is an audience of one.

Only read what is written. Keep extraneous comments, explanations or last minute thoughts for the time before or after the presentation.

Remember that no matter how hard you worked at your job, however efficient you may have been, however good your idea, if you cannot communicate effectively, it will have been lost. This report is your communication link, use it well.

The fourth and final part in this series on reporting will finish with a list of the main Taboos and Dos of Reporting.

Tags:

reports
organisations
communication

Trust in organisations - the morals of leadership

Trust within an organization, a community or a unit of any institution is primarily established by the leader. When leaders fail their people, or worse, betray them, trust is eroded or destroyed. Read on …

Tag:

leadership

Are you a teacher or interested in education?

Visit the Ed News Bytes blog for news and articles about education and teaching.

Tags:

education
organisations

Meeting Success Tip for the Week"

You can use confrontation. Turn it around. Approach it without apologies, avoid emotional involvement and use facts. Then turn it into a joint problem solving exercise.

Tags:

meetings

organisations

How Organizations Create Social Value

by Manda Salls

A recent study on the factors that contribute to successful high-performance social enterprises finds a connection between enterprises that link economic value with social value.

This was the focus of a study presented at the colloquium, "The Social Enterprise Knowledge Network: Seeking Success in Social Enterprise," ending August 1. This two-year study was the second carried out by SEKN since it was founded in 2001 as a research partnership between HBS and leading business schools in Latin America and Spain. SEKN's research centered on smart practices by social and business organizations in Latin America and Spain.

This research will be published in Harvard's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies book series through Harvard University Press.
The goal of the colloquium is to help leaders in businesses and society create social value for their communities, while in parallel strengthening their organizations.

The study centered on forty organizations—twenty NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and twenty corporations—deemed to be high performers in social enterprise (SE). Through interviews, field research, and comparative analysis, HBS professor James Austin, HBS senior researcher Ezequiel A. Reficco, UNIANDES professor Roberto Gutiérrez, and INCAE professor Enrique Ogliastri presented what the SEKN researchers found to be smart practices for organizations wanting to create social value.

The researchers stressed the importance of synergies between Economic Value (EV) and Social Value (SV), calling them "two sides of the same coin." By aligning EV and SV, both nonprofits and corporations can: ...

Read on ...

Tags:

organisations
management

Web pages for kids

Whizz kids pages include games and puzzles, books and reading, homework help and an ezine.

Tags:
kids
organisations

Meeting success Tip

When you are using speech to convince at a meeting, use hard-hitting words like think rather than terms such as feel or hope.

Tags:

meetings
organisations
communication

Leadership self-assessment

This questionnaire is based on the 4E's Leadership Framework, and was designed by Mick Yates. It helps you self-assess how well you are doing in using the 4E's Leadership activities, and provides directional pointers on how you can improve.

Please answer each question on a scale of 1-5 (1 being the lowest score and 5 being the highest).
Consider the context in which you are answering the questions - are you answering to help yourself lead better, with a view to helping your work team, or with the aim of comparing notes with others taking the self assessment? Keep this context in mind as you answer each series of questions.

Check it out …


Tags:

leadership
organisations
management

Effective reporting part 3 - the presentation of the report

Welcome to Part 3 of this series on Writing reports.

We have looked at Preparing the Report, and at Construction and Style. In this post, let's look at the Presentation of the Report

The report needs to go to the right person at the right time. "Right" may be determined by a set schedule. You may have a schedule of reporting to a certain person at particular times. Or someone may have commissioned the report and asked it to be presented by a particular date.

Obviously you need to deliver the report on time. Other operations of the organisation may depend for their success on that timing. But whether the report is on time or delivered late will also impact on your image within the organisation. Do you want to be seen as reliable and efficient? Then report on time.

If the report is presented verbally, then all of the techniques of public speaking come into play. Speaking clearly and loudly enough to be heard are obvious, but make sure you can be heard, and understood, or your content will be lost. You will need to convince, again, of your image - sincerity and professionalism are important. Use eye contact to convince of your sincerity and commitment. Use it, too, to emphasise points you are making. Employ variation in pitch and pace, and use pause to emphasis points, too. But they will also keep our audience's attention, even if it is an audience of one.

Only read what is written. Keep extraneous comments, explanations or last minute thoughts for the time before or after the presentation.

Remember that no matter how hard you worked at your job, however efficient you may have been, however good your idea, if you cannot communicate effectively, it will have been lost. This report is your communication link, use it well.

The fourth and final part in this series on reporting will finish with a list of the main Taboos and Dos of Reporting.


Tags

communication
organisations
reports

Communication skill - consider personal space

Consider personal space when you are involved in communication. Look for signals from the other person or group that indicate that you may have violated personal space or made yourself too distant. Both have the power to detract from your communication success.

tags:

communication
organisations

Building expert power - lead from the front

By James Manktelow

There are many types of power that leaders can use.

These include problematic ones such as the power of position, the power to give rewards, the power to punish and the power to control information. While these types of power do have some strength, they put the person being lead in an unhealthy position of weakness, and can leave leaders using these power bases looking autocratic and out of touch.
More than this, society has changed hugely over the last 50 years. Citizens are individually more powerful, and employees are more able to shift jobs. Few of us enjoy having power exerted over us, and some will do what they can to undermine people who use these sorts of power.

However there are three types of positive power that truly effective leaders use:
Charismatic power, expert power and referent power.

This article teaches the technique of building expert power.

Read on


Tags:

leadership
management

Organisation Success Tip - hypermanics

Begin the Hunt for Hypomanics!

From Tom Peters

Reread: "These men were outrageous—arrogant, provocative, unconventional, and unpredictable. They were not 'well adjusted' by normal standards but instead forced the world to adjust to them. ... Without their irrational confidence, ambitious vision, and unstoppable zeal, these outrageous captains would never have sailed into unknown waters, never discovered new worlds, never changed the course of our history." To survive competitively in the turbulent decades ahead we need to find & cherish such people. What—exactly—is your "Hypomanic Recruitment Plan?" (No kidding. It may be the most serious question you ever try to answer.)

Tag:

Management

Organisation Success Tip - Do unto others

Do Unto Others ...

The goal of every action, every meeting, every project:MAKE OTHERS SUCCESSFUL!

Can you honestly say that the questions you asked at the very last meeting you attended were ... directly & unequivocally ... about making others successful?

Read on ...and click on Success Tips

Management

The Qualities Of Skillful Leadership

By Jim Rohn
If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself.

Leadership is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills, and opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manager, as a parent.

I call leadership the great challenge of life.

What's important in leadership is refining your skills.

All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective.

Here are some specifics:

Read on ...

tags:
leadership
management

Build your communication skills

Are you interested in developing your communication skills?

Do you love to write?

Are you interested in reading?

Visit my Pivotal Communication pages.

tags:
communication

Leadership Success Tip

Your planning and delegation will be so much more effective if you can estimate accurately the amount of work, time and effort needed to accomplish a task. Start by consciously evaluating your skills in this area.

Marketing Strategies

Marketing Strategies Revealed - ADMA Forum 2006
The Australian Direct Marketing Association's ADMA Forum 2006 offers marketing strategies from some of the world’s leading brands and a learning experience for the Not for Profit sector with a flexible conference program as well as free seminars and exhibitions.

The three-day conference program and exhibition is being held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour from Wednesday 24th to Friday 26th of May.

Effective organisational reports - construction and style

This is the second part of a series of posts on Writing and Presenting Reports that are effective.

Part One looked at preparing for the report.

Part Two will give you tips on construction and style.

To get your report read and used, be sure to include the date and reason for the report.


Formatting can vary between organisations, and between reports, depending on protocol, precedence and the reason for the report. But in general the sequence should be:

The title must indicate who is reporting and the subject. Follow this, if necessary, with an address, if the report is addressed to the specific person or group.

The opening of the report gives the reason for the report - the terms of reference. It includes the problem to be investigated, who authorised the report, and the names of the person/people responsible for the report.

The body covers details of the investigation, including timing; and the points discussed, a summary of the information obtained, opinions formed and the action taken or decisions made.

Finally, the conclusion covers recommendations for action or results of action taken.

Style

Reports should be in the third person.

Use a logical structure to present the information so it can be understood and have the required impact.

Avoid long and complicated verbiage.

Be as brief as you can while keeping accuracy and covering the necessary points.

And be explicit, so that there is no opportunity for misunderstanding.

Truth leaders need truth tellers

When former Enron VP Sherron Watkins testified in court about her role in warning higher-ups that the house of cards was sure to fall, you realize the important role that truth tellers can play for leaders when they listen! Read on ...

Public speaking resources

Learn to make speeches with confidence, how to write a speech and how to create an impact with your audience. Pivotal Public Speaking has resources, tips, articles and courses to help you overcome your fear of public speaking and polish your presentations.

Leadership success tip

We must always be alert to the problems team members may cause, and their weaknesses. But the strength of the team and its leader will be based on the ability to also see the best value in each other. We must not waste that value. And as individuals, we will always rise to the best value people see in us.

Are you management material?

Many people end up in managerial roles by default, not necessarily because they had all the attributes that a great manager really needs. You have to have certain skills and abilities to manage others successfully.

Discover if you have what it takes to be a highly effective manager.

Take our Free Assessment today click here

Turn a massive breakdown into a powerful business breakthrough

There I was. Depressed, frustrated, and overwhelmed. Despite my best efforts to have a smooth running ship and organize my event, I realized I had a significant breakdown in my process. I admit, it wasn’t the end of the world, but come on, I teach this stuff! It was one week before we went live on our new program, we were preparing the workbooks for production, and I realized, no one ordered the right tabs! Yikes!

It got me thinking how a client of mine had shared a great story about their direct mail marketing campaign. A lot of money had been invested in buying a list of qualified candidates. But every step of the way there was breakdown in the process – the guy who formatted the list didn’t set it up right, the assistant didn’t have the proper envelopes, and they had no postage when they needed it. My client laughed as he told me this, but I knew he was frustrated!

Well, I’ve learned over the years that a breakdown means that something very valuable is happening – I have new insight into how I can improve my process, my attitude, or my belief so that problem never happens again.

Let’s look at a few examples of how breakdowns can occur in our business or life.

Read the whole article

Meeting success tip

The mover of a motion does not have to vote for it. Putting a motion on the floor is a technique to facilitate control of discussion and to focus the meeting on making that discussion productive.

NFP Communications Research and Toolkit offer

A recent US survey of Not for Profit organisations has found that many NFPs are lacking effective marketing and communications with current and would-be supporters.

The study, conducted by Not for Profit consultation group Cause Communications, found only one in five respondents knew what their peers were doing in the area of communications, and 90 percent of respondents said their organisations did no market research on their target audience.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents answered that their communications budget could be better; 12 percent said they had no such budget at all.

Lisa Witter, the executive vice president of a New York consulting firm says that while both large and small NFPs have been traditionally excellent with organisation, policy, and fundraising, communication and media relations remains at a deficit.

Those tasks, experts say, are essential to widening recognition of an organisation's goals and broadening long-term support.

The situation in Australia is expected to be very similar.

The result of this research has seen Cause Communications produce an exhaustive Communications Toolkit that translates well to the Australian scene. Called A Guide to Navigating Communications for the Nonprofit World the 70 page hard-bound toolkit offers information and advice - everything from research basics, branding and message development and budgeting to advertising, campaigns, guerilla marketing and media relations. It cleverly offers 'roadside assistance' sections in each chapter offering website addresses, publications and fast facts.It has work sheets, planning sheets and pro forma release forms…everything to make the NFP marketing and communications job easier.While some of the examples relate to the American scene, the information is non-country specific and there are plenty of websites links that are internationally based.

Apart from all this, it is a beautifully designed and laid out publication with a heavy duty cover that is meant for the hard work required in any Not for Profit organisation. The book was made possible by support from The Annenberg Foundation, The California Endowment, The James Irvine Foundation and The Marguerite Casey Foundation.

As well the electronic version of the Toolkit can be download FREE in PDF format from the Cause Communication website at http://www.causecommunications.org/CC/CC_news06_1.html. Just register your details.

(Editor's note: The registration form doesn't have a code for Australia so I chose sunny California, but all the other info was true and correct!) Hard copies are so far only available in the US.

From ProBono Australia: http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/new/default.asp?a=2&b=1343&d=1

AOL to pay bulk email fees for nonprofits

AOL considers charging high-volume senders of eMail to ensure delivery

Update: Responding to sharp criticism about a proposed bulk-eMailing fee, America Online Inc. said nonprofit organizations will not have to pay to send mass messages to their members after all.

Article continues

Organisational reports - be prepared

Presenting a report involves all of the techniques involved in other forms of communication. They all involve getting a message across – and that may involve just your content, but it may also involve a message about yourself.

During any event or meeting or project, store notes on each stage to aid in compiling reports. These may be stored in your PC or laptop, or simply in paper form in a folder. Remember, information not reported is almost as though it never happened.

So a report is vital to the evaluation and growth of the whole organisation. It can motivate as much as it can inform. It keeps members informed so they are prepared for the future and are aware of the past. It gives higher officers the input they need to function effectively and to inform the Board. And because written knowledge can be saved, it is a record for the future.

Report writing and presentation is a vital aspect of any organisational member’s training. It provides practice in clear logical expression. Thoughts are organised so they can be presented in a more meaningful, accurate and complete form. It can also be practice in self-promotion and promotion of the organisation.

Meeting success tip

Before you go ahead with your meeting, ask “Is this meeting necessary?”  Look at alternatives in terms of cost effectiveness, what need is to be filled more effective formats, levels of accountability and the possibility of using policy or procedure checklists instead.  

Communication success tip - constructive criticism

Everyone appreciates constructive criticism.  But it is so much more palatable and therefore effective if it is couched between two layers of well-deserved praise.

More on Communication

Getting Noticed on the net

Getting Noticed on the Net- Web Site Registration
 
Have you "Googled' your Not for Profit and found that it doesn't appear on the search results? Or are you relegated to page seventeen among thousands of competing sites? Correctly registering a Not for Profit with major search engines and web directories is the way to get noticed on the Net!
Article continues

Discover the leader within you

"Learn to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You"
Everyone has seen a good leader in action. And, as we have all witnessed, he or she seems to easily create a vision, influence others to commit to the vision and then empowers these same individuals to succeed in achieving the vision.
Additionally, he or she simultaneously wears different hats, acting as teacher, cheerleader, even as a sounding board, as the “team” works to make the vision a reality.
In watching this phenomenon, most of us have wondered: Can strong, effective, productive, successful leadership be learned?
The answer to this question is a clear, definitive “Yes.”
In fact, some leadership skills and behaviors are already present in you. You just have to learn to tap into them fully. Some of them may be foreign to you now, but with a little bit of perseverance and application you can learn to cultivate them.
Article continues

Keeping up to date with critical issues

Westlaw Watch streamlines the process for keeping your organization up-to-date on critical business issues, legal topics and competitive matters. This easy-to-use, interactive tool allows the monitoring and management of clips across your organization with the ability to deliver results via e-mail distribution or through seamless links on your intranet or portal. Individual users, a select group of users or the entire organization can receive relevant news or legal information in their preferred format when they want it

Personal Internet surfing at works costs heaps

Personal Internet surfing at work costs Companies over $300 billion a year
According to a new survey by America Online and Salary.com, summarized by Dan Malachowski, the average worker admits to wasting 2.09 hours per 8-hour workday, not including lunch and scheduled break-time. The survey indicates that employees are wasting about twice as much time as their employers expect. Salary.com calculated that employers spend $759 billion per year on salaries for which real work was expected, but not actually performed.
The biggest distraction is personal Internet use by 44.7% of the more than 10,000 people polled. Socializing with co-workers came in second at 23.4%. Conducting personal business, "spacing out," running errands, and making personal phone calls were the other popular time-wasting activities in the workplace.
 
Read the whole article
 

National roundable of nonprofit organisations

Nonprofit Roundtable aims to enhance the extraordinary work and effort already undertaken by nonprofit organisations in Australia. It seeks to promote and strengthen the reputation and recognition of the sector and to increase the infrastructure and capacity of the sector to deliver important economic and social contributions to Australia and beyond. The objects of the Roundtable include:· - to encourage voluntary and philanthropic endeavour · - to enhance the recognition of and promote support for the work of nonprofit organisations· - to provide a national forum for the exchange of information, research and knowledge· - to undertake, initiate or coordinate research to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of nonprofit organisations· - to inform decision makers in respect of issues affecting nonprofit organisations· - to be a voice on issues which affect nonprofit agencies· - to enhance the cooperation and engagement between business, government and other sectors of society with the nonprofit sectorVisit the website

Corporate social responsibility

Corporate social Responsibility  -  Forum 2006

2-3 March Marriott Hotel, Sydney

Corporate Social Responsibility Forum 2006” is a highly interactive two day event addressing strategic issues confronting organisations dealing with the latest developments and challenges in corporate social responsibility. This forum brings together a group of leading practitioners from a variety of backgrounds to discuss key challenges confronting organisations. They will speak candidly about their experiences, sharing lessons on what worked, what didn’t and what the future might hold. Each in different ways, our presenters will highlight the strategies, key programs and the  infrastructure required to:

• Successfully engage stakeholders

• Measure the effectiveness of existing approaches and
identify areas in need of improvement

• Bring the values to life throughout the organisation

• Develop strategic partnerships

• Effectively communicate CSR

• Use CSR as tool for competitive advantage

• Attract and keep the right people

More Information

Launch of Australian Philanthropy Journal

From ProBono Australia



NSW Govt Promotes Corporate Philanthropy

The NSW Government is encouraging greater corporate philanthropy with the launch of a special NSW edition of the Australian Philanthropy journal.DoCS’ Communities Division Executive Director, Sonja Stewart, says that while there are signs that increasing numbers of trusts and foundations ware being established in the State, local research had shown Australians were not giving as much as they could.

Stewart says that with approximately 7,000 Not for Profit organisations providing community and social services in NSW, the potential for collaborative partnerships between these organisations and the philanthropic and business sectors is almost limitless.She says the NSW Government has recognised this great potential for cross-sector collaboration to make a significant contribution to the people of NSW; whether through direct financial assistance or donations, or businesses providing in-kind resources or encouraging their employees to volunteer their skills to non-profit organisations.Stewart says that combined with the growing interest in Corporate Social Responsibility in recent years, it is hoped that this new publication will spark further interest in this area.
The NSW edition focuses on philanthropy in NSW and includes a number of articles show casing partnerships between the philanthropic and business sectors, and NSW Government agencies.It provides excellent examples of how government agencies and the philanthropic and corporate sectors can collaborate on projects that contribute in to community and individual wellbeing.One innovative and successful project is the Lawyers Encouraging and Assisting Promising Students! (LEAPS!) mentoring program which has been making a difference in the lives of vulnerable young people in NSW since 2002.
Through this project, which is run through a partnership with the NSW Department of Education and Training and the Sydney legal profession, selected students are partnered with lawyers and other employees of participating firms and meet regularly to discuss career and life goals.

DoCS contributed $16,500 to the cost of producing the special edition. The journal is published by Philanthropy Australia, the national membership and peak organisation for trusts and foundations, and is usually distributed three times a year to its members.An electronic copy of the journal is available at www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au

How to give to your community

The new Giving Bikes page is just the latest in a series of improvements made to the Australian Giving Centre, which is supported by our alliance partner Westpac. The Giving Centre now has information on just about everything you need to know when it comes to giving to your community: from giving money and time, to giving organs and blood, to giving blankets, clothes and furniture, land, computers, and mobile phones. It’s
online at www.ourcommunity.com.au/giving

Nine Steps of Planning in your organisation

Nine Steps of Planning in your Organisation

Even though everyone in your organisation may be fairly aware of what is to be achieved, and what your organisational goals are, the goal-setting, planning process is useful to focus awareness on the aims and processes and to ensure that everyone knows exactly what their roles are. These steps can also be used in any decision-making situation, or any problem solving session.Planning, must, however, never stop. It is constantly adapting to new situations.1. Assess the situation2. Select objectives and strategies to realize objectives. 3. Develop action plans for entire long-range plan4. Develop detailed action plans for current year5. Establish a way to monitor activities and insure feedback (reporting).6. Develop a budget and implement ways to meet funding requirements.7. Measure performance; analyse feedback; compare progress with plan.8. Act on findings: give green light to successful activities, take corrective action when needed.9. Signoff on completed plans - abandon ones not achieving your objective or when the objective changes (as they do).

Leadership Success Tip

No person will ever be a great leader who does not take genuine joy in the success of those with whom they serve.

Fundraising - is hand-written best?

Steve Hitchcock discusses whether hand-written addresses on the outer envelope and hand-written notes inside are worth the expense and bother:
"Almost all of the organizations we work with at Mal Warwick & Associates are using some form of hand-written mailings. The percentage of donors who respond to these mailings is very high -- two, three, or even four times as high as in response to conventional lasered or printed appeals. These hand-written appeals -- which cost two, three, or four times as much as a standard appeal – are ….  Read on

The WHODO

The WHODO

Before you walk into a meeting, send an email or start a call, take a minute to think about what you want to achieve.1. WHO are you talking to? This is the decider, your prospect, the person who, by direct action, can get you the result that you want.2. What do you want that person to DO? This is your call to action – the single, specific action you want him to take.

Meeting success tip

Before you go ahead with your meeting, ask "Is this meeting necessary?"  Look at alternatives in terms of cost effectiveness, what need is to be filled, more effective formats, levels of accountability and the possibility of using policy or procedure checklists instead.