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.