Month: November 2010

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Capital Campaigns #9: Leadership

business colleagues in a board meeting

Leadership is the key factor in any capital campaign – leadership that energizes the process from its onset. So, to start a campaign, the first donors must be Board Members.

These individuals must set an example with their level of giving so they have the credibility/leverage to solicit the other Board Members and so they can legitimately recruit and solicit the Campaign Chair.

Ideally, the Campaign Chair makes the largest commitment … so s/he can legitimately solicit commitments from anyone else, but it doesn’t always work out that way.

The largest donor, in any case, should be one of the first few to make his/her commitment, and should be available to lend his/her “clout” to the recruitment and/or solicitation of the top campaign leaders and (possibly) to that of some highly visible community leaders.

(Recruiting leaders includes educating them as to their responsibilities in “setting an example,” recruiting other leaders to participate in the process, asking others to make commitments of specific dollar amounts, and adhering to the campaign timetable.)

Sticking with the hospital as the example, once the Campaign Chair has signed on and made his/her commitment, s/he and (possibly) one-or-two Board Members will recruit the Hospital Family Chair. They will then work with that Chair to identify and recruit the Chairs for the “campaigns” for the Board and the Administration.

Then, with the advice and counsel of the Administration, the Hospital Family Chair will recruit and solicit the Chairs for the Medical Staff, Nursing Staff and each of the other Sub-Divisions of the Family.

When the time is right, the Campaign Chair (often with “assistance” of one or more Board Members) will recruit and solicit those individuals who have been identified as the best candidates to be Division Chairs – keeping in mind that no Division Chair should be recruited until close to the time when their “services” will actually be needed.

The Campaign Chair, the various Division Chairs, a representative of the Board (to ensure compliance with Organizational Policies) and the NPO’s CEO (to advise on matters relating to the Hospital Family and the NPO’s mission) will comprise the Campaign Cabinet – which will have total responsibility for conducting the Campaign.

[In addition, one other member of the Cabinet should be a Campaign Treasurer – a non-Organizational-Family person whose stature in the community will lend credibility to his/her oversight of Campaign income.]

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Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving,
I’m taking a few days to do nothing more than enjoy my family.
See you next Tuesday.

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Have a comment or a question about starting or expanding your basic fundraising program, your major gifts fundraising program or a capital campaign? Email me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll likely be able to answer your questions.

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The Egoectomy Procedure

Man Wearing White Dress Shirt and Black Necktie

Greg Law is a long time friend and one of the many people awakening now on our little planet. Greg has worked as an I.T. person most of his life, while quietly offloading a very persistent ego. He hopes to interest medical researchers in making the egoectomy procedure the next big thing in medicine. He says it makes a great pre-requisite to any other medical procedure you might be considering.

Greg is a guest blogger this week and offers his thoughts below about the crying (and laughing) need of our time.

  1. Definition of ego
    Ego is the false self. It is the thinking mind, the voice in your head that is constantly labeling, criticizing, and making up strategies – pretending all the while to be you. It’s main concern is “What’s in it for me?”. It says “I am [your name]. I am a pure spirit, and I have this body and mind. I have this history, these beliefs, these likes, and these dislikes.” You generally believe what it says and let it speak for you. It seems rational, objective. It seems to make sense.
  2. Egoectomy
    Egoectomy is the removal of ego, the unseating of it from the driver’s seat of your life. This is accomplished by simple observation.
  3. Why remove ego?
    That is certainly ego’s first question! The short answer is that ego makes trouble. Whenever things don’t go the way ego wants them to go, you can feel it rising up to resist. If things do go the way ego thought it wanted them, it soon finds that too unsatisfying. Thus does ego create unhappiness, problems, and all manner of conflict. In short, ego brings suffering upon its host and generates hardship for others in the process.
  4. Trying
    Trying to remove ego directly is very trying indeed! What tries IS ego, and its survival instinct is very strong. Ego may even say “Ego is now gone from me!”. This is frequently experienced in the early days of an egoectomy. Ego disguises itself as you, and everyone believes it IS you. Even you believe it!
  5. The real you
    The real you is what notices and not what is noticed. You locate things in space and events in time, yet you cannot be located in space and are eternally present outside time – without beginning or end. While ego runs your life, the real you stays in the background – mesmerized by ego’s drama – lost in the show – unconscious. Read this point again, please.
  6. Noticing nastiness
    Nastiness is a very strong clue that ego is acting out. At first, the real you will probably notice ego in you AFTER you said something really nasty to someone you love. Soon, you’ll be noticing that reactive force rising up BEFORE you begin to actually act it out. You stop identifying with ego very naturally by noticing it in action, because it is very obviously ‘not right’, not you, though it defends its rightness and its ‘me-ness’ at every turn.
  7. Noticing unhappiness
    Less obvious is ego as the quiet critic. Notice how frequently your thoughts find fault. Pay attention. Notice the words “should” and “shouldn’t” in your thoughts. Notice what this feels like in your body. If there’s agitation or tension, ego is at work. Now see how your merely noticing turns agitation to peace and tension to relaxation. When you notice you have a choice, you naturally choose peace.
  8. Biomedical research
    Ego’s direct effects in the body are felt, for example, as increased heart rate and sweaty palms. These and other biomedical indicators are easily measurable through non-invasive means.
  9. Why research?
    Verifying reduced egoic functioning through biomedical research will make evident the pervasive benefits of the egoectomy procedure. It will take ego-free living out of the realm of philosophy and mysticism into the practical everyday life of the individual. Yes, it’s about marketing.
  10. Purposeful living
    With ego removed, your purposes are universal rather than selfish. With the false “I”, “me”, and “mine” gone, the “What’s in it for me?” is gone as well. Free of ego, what flows through you is that universal intelligence that keeps all things in order everywhere: the planets, the stars, the galaxies, the cycles of nature, the many processes that keep our wonderful bodies functioning. You start truly purposeful living.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Don’t Assume in Training Workshops

Male-speaker-giving-a-presentation-in-a-training-workshop

Do prepare your speakers with all the information you can about the conference, including theme, size and organizational expectations. Don’t let speakers assume it’s business as usual. Sometimes, those of us who speak or train need reminders that we shouldn’t assume too much either.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking at a conference, and I was the one who did the assuming. I have no excuse. It was a last minute affair and I admit the occasion was most important for me as a visibility opportunity. As a speaker who talks about communicating–and a trainer, too, the process seemed a no-brainer. No insult intended for the organization. I caught myself assuming way too much. Normally, I address subjects on presenting, on training, on getting an audience to listen, on the “how-tos” and “why-fors” of communication in general so I should have known better.

As anyone–trainer, seminar leader, facilitator should expect when invited to present at a workshop or conference, there are some basic logistical details to begin with and then more details, those about your audience, for example, once you know. This was a group I thought I knew. As a trainer, I was sure I could handle any situation that might arise from not having a microphone or projector or screen, but what I had not counted on were audience expectations in how I would present that material. This particular workshop was for coaches, trainers and training developers, sales managers, etc–so pretty much communicators themselves. While it seemed to me I was to be speaking on the topic of the workshop–communicating credibility, which I did, I hadn’t thought I’d be expected to “walk the walk” of the trainer to demonstrate my own credibility by using icebreakers, activities and discussion. Apparently, my slide show didn’t reflect the latest trend in slide preparation and my talk, although engaging, was not what was expected…from me anyway.

While all the other speakers and presenters who were speaking on similar topics at the conference took the standard route of interactive speech and presentation as I did, I was expected to use all the training tools in my arsenal instead of just talk. Had I known the expectation ahead of time, that I would be viewed as the speaker/trainer extraordinaire by the audience, I could have given the audience more of what it expected. Granted, it was my fault, but now I will remind myself and others that, when it comes to training and planning training, there is always something we can’t know unless we ask.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

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6 Strategies to Ensure the Security of Your NGO’s Financial Resources

Person doing financial review with graphs and charts

I read an article today about and Executive Director of a non-profit in the District of Columbia, who is charged with embezzlement of $506,000. The man is accused of using the organization’s debit card to make withdrawals of cash while on personal cruise holidays and when out gambling. This blew me away.

In my many years in the non-profit world, one of the most important things we ever did was to ensure that we had transparency where the organization’s money was concerned, and to put safety measures in place to ensure the security of the organization’s financial resources.

So I’d like to share with you my readers, what kinds of safety measures your organization should have in place when it comes to the handling of your organizations financial resources. You should:

  • Set up your bank account right – You bank account should not allow any cash withdrawals in any form from the bank. Any withdrawals should be made in the form of a cheque made out to the bookkeeper for petty cash. No organization should have a debit card for their bank account. The bank will issue you a debit card number, but you can turn down the physical card, and only keep the debit card number in your safe.
  • Require two signatures on a cheque – Every cheque written by a non-profit should require two signatures. Whenever possible both signatures should come from board members who have been given signing authority. When not possible, then one of the signatures can be the Executive Director, but not if the cheque is issued to the Executive Director.
  • Balance and review petty cash disbursements regularly – Your petty cash should be reviewed regularly by the signers of the cheque for petty cash and if that is not possible, then once the petty cash has been dispersed, then the receipts should be reviewed by the Executive Director before another petty cash cheque is written.
  • Use a credit card for purchases – Sometimes, cheques are not accepted, if you are buying something from a retail store. In that case, the organization should have a credit card. All the receipts for purchases by credit cards should be turned in and balanced against the credit card statement when it comes in, to ensure all money is accounted for.
  • Put someone you trust in charge of cash – When your organization holds events; try to create one place where people purchase their tickets from. Make sure that at least two people are working together on the cash handling, so they can monitor and vouch for each other. Have the people handling cash, count the cash they took in at the end of the event and turn it into your bookkeeper, along with any paper documentation of number of items sold and at how much.
  • Have one drop centre for skimming cash – If you are having an event, have a prearranged location for money to be stored safely and securely when skimming becomes necessary due to a lot of cash transactions occurring. Limit who knows the details of this to only the people handling cash. The fewer people know, the more likely you are to keep your funds secure.
  • Develop a policy against signing blank cheques – Some NGOs allow blank cheques to be signed in advance if they have difficulty getting their board members out to sign a cheque. But this is bad financial practices, and it would be far better to ensure that you have 4 signing authorities. Three should be board members and the fourth should be the Executive Director. In that way, you are far more likely to always have two signers available and the use of blank cheques becomes unnecessary.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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By Ingrid Zacharias, Managing Director, Envisioning the Future International, Website: http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

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Meaningful Minutes

Board members having a meaningful conversation in a meeting room

Board conversations should not be comfortable, routine exchanges of information concerning pre-agreed topics, facts and interpretations. They need to test the boundaries of the known to enable the organisation to profit from uncertainty whilst conceiving and avoiding risks that are emerging.

Such conversations are inherently dangerous and require a degree of trust among the participants. Challenging the status quo whilst supporting the current management and developing the next generation of managers requires boards to have a wide range of behavioural and conversational modes. As knowledge is developed through these conversations it must be recorded so that it is not lost; if records are not kept then knowledge will need to be regenerated in every meeting, wasting valuable time and undermining progress.

Recent trends and tendencies threaten this process by restricting the information contained in board minutes so that only ‘safe’ records are maintained. Legal advice to record only the issue and the decision protect boards if minutes are disclosed in legal proceedings. They also render the minutes virtually useless as a means of developing corporate memory.

This process has led many directors into the habit of making their own records, often by annotating their board papers or in a private ‘board diary’. These documents then leave to company and are stored as each individual director sees fit. Whilst these personal notes assist individual directors when they need to remember the nuances of difficult conversations about risky decisions they participated in, they can be a source of great embarrassment if they fall into the public domain.

Some companies manage this risk by requiring all board materials to be returned to the company secretary or some other person) for secure disposal. They enter into a ‘deed of access’ which gives the individual directors a right to examine the official records should a need arise. The most sophisticated companies manage this process by using ‘electronic board packs’ which allow directors to make notes on a version for use up to and during the meeting but then destroy all marked papers and retain only a clean copy for the company register.

Other companies request that directors destroy their papers after a pre-agreed period of time.

Neither of these risk mitigation strategies controls personal diary notes or compensates for the loss of qualitative data about the factors that were considered in reaching each decision. Some governance advisers have called for boards to record in the minutes which directors voted for or against each decision. This information is useless without a background of the facts presented and the interpretation given to these facts during the board’s conversation. Disclosing individual votes serves only to weaken board unity. All board members are responsible for all actions of the company taken pursuant to a decision of the board, regardless of whether they voted for or against it.

Rather than recording votes (although abstentions should be recorded where this information serves as evidence of the board properly managing a conflict of interest) it would serve the company better if the minutes recorded the key elements of the discussion so that these were available for later review. Far better to have the assumptions clearly recorded so that decisions can be revisited if key assumptions prove to have been wrong. Most boards are more likely to revisit a decision than they are to be called upon to defend it in court.

If you do end up in court it is better to be able to state that the board considered a range of issues before making its decision when, with the benefit of hindsight, unfriendly barristers are suggesting that the decision was negligently or recklessly made.

A side effect of such record keeping is that the truly negligent boards would then be easy to identify.

The downside, of course, is that dangerous and radical ideas would be recorded and, from time to time, could surface in public records, exposing the board members to ridicule or retribution. One director said that, when her company was being criticised for slow growth compared to rivals she reviewed past minutes and found that the board had considered collateralised debt instruments but had decided not to use them as they couldn’t understand them and it appeared from the board discussion that management didn’t understand them either. The original board decision was reviewed several times but never overturned; each time the opacity of the instruments deterred the board from approving their use. The board members felt no qualms about recording their inability to understand the CDOs even though the information could have been used against them if it became public. The GFC passed and the company then performed well compared to peers. Several billion positive reasons to record dangerous ideas in board minutes!

What do you think?

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Julie Garland-McLellan has been internationally acclaimed as a leading expert on board governance. See her website and LinkedIn profiles, and get her book Dilemmas, Dilemmas: Practical Case Studies for Company Directors.

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Metaphors Be With You: The Strategist as Poet

Bright idea concept illustrated with light bulbs

Strategy-making begins with an idea. Without a guiding idea there can be no sense of direction. Yet many articles and books about strategy do not address a most important matter: how to generate ideas. To conceive the essential set of ideas that we call strategy, the strategist must understand and master the art of the metaphor. As Aristotle said in Poetics, “the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor.” It is “a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars.” Effective strategic thinkers display openness to new and different ideas, and one way to generate ideas is through the use of metaphor, or its close relative analogy, perhaps the most advanced form of human thinking.

Good strategy does not fall out at the bottom of an equation. Yes, analysis is necessary… Yes critical thinking is essential… But in the end, great ideas about “what to do” come to us through inspiration.

In a wonderfully insightful book called An Alchemy of Mind Diane Ackerman says that “Metaphor is one of the brain’s favorite ways of understanding the ‘this and that’ of our surroundings, and reminds us that we discover the world by engaging it and seeing what happens next. The art of the brain is to find what seemingly unrelated things may have in common, and be able to apply that insight to something else it urgently needs to unpuzzle.”

In their Harvard Business Review article entitled “How Strategists Really Think,” Giovanni Gavetti and Jan W. Rivkin show that reasoning by analogy plays a major role in the thinking of successful strategists. As an example, these writers point to Intel chairman Andy Grove’s story of how he came up with an important business strategy. Attending a management seminar, Grove heard the story of how fledgling “mini-mills” in the steel industry began in the 1970s to offer a low-end product—inexpensive concrete-reinforcing bars known as rebar. Establishing market share with the low-end products, these steel companies then began to migrate up the hierarchy of products toward the higher-end, more lucrative steel products. U.S. Steel, which had ceded the low-end products to the smaller and seemingly insignificant players, was caught unawares by the companies attacking the market for their core business and lost market share over a number of years.

An epiphany struck Andy Grove as he sat in that management seminar, thinking about the steel industry. Using what Gavetti and Rivkin call “analogical thinking,” Grove saw that Intel was sitting in a similar situation to that of U.S. Steel in the 1970s. Intel had theretofore leaned toward ceding low-end computer chips to niche players, a strategy that, Grove now realized, would put Intel in a dangerous situation. He began to see low-end computers as “digital rebar,” a metaphorical image that helped him in articulating his strategy to Intel management. “If we lose the low end today,” Grove said, “ we could lose the high end tomorrow.” As a result of this thinking, and the deliberations that followed, Intel redoubled its efforts to market the low-end “Celeron processor” for low-end personal computers.

As Diane Ackermans says “… the brain forms metaphors in order to understand ‘one kind of experience in terms of another,’ as new metaphors create new realities…” It is the leap of thought from one set of conditions to an analogous one, that brings us that truly great idea for action. As Ackerman concludes, this is “what metaphor does so well: illuminate some of what can’t be wholly understood. “

Kenichi Ohmae says in The Mind of the Strategist, “In business as on the battlefield, the object of strategy is to bring about the conditions most favorable to one’s own side, judging precisely the right moment to attack or withdraw and always assessing the limits of compromise correctly. Besides the habit of analysis, what marks the mind of the strategist is an intellectual elasticity or flexibility that enables him to come up with realistic responses to changing situations, not simply to discriminate with great precision among different shades of gray. In strategic thinking, one first seeks a clear understanding of the particular character of each element of a situation that makes the fullest possible use of human brainpower to restructure the elements in the most advantageous way. “

To conclude? Perhaps a poem…

We’re coming to the edge

running on the water

coming through the fog

your sons and daughters…

Let the river run

let all the dreamers

wake the nation

come, the new Jerusalem

… by Carly Simon

For more thinking about strategic thinking, see Mark’s website; http://strategybydesign.org

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How to Write a Compelling Change Vision Statement

Strategic business vision concept

Any business serious about Change needs to create a Change Vision which is an expression of the harsh reality and the change intention. Executed well, a Change Vision Statement will send a strong message for everyone in your business to rally and support the the transformational journey.

This is not to be confused with a company Mission Statement that may already exist within the business. A Change Vision should be crafted specifically to gain support and gather momentum relating to the Change Agenda.

To help you come up with a “Killer” Change Vision for your business first you need to understand a few things about what motivates people to take action about a business situation. Though this entirely depends on individuals, it’s safe to deduce that in general:

  • A few people are inspired by a desired outcome.(e.g. number 1 in your market segment, or first to launch product XX)
  • Some are inspired mainly by avoiding an undesirable outcome. (e.g. company shutting down / redundancy / retrenchment)
  • Most people however are motivated by a combination of both.

Try to come up with a Change Vision Statement that addresses both the desired positive outcome and the “to be avoided” negative outcome in your business today.

10 Things a “Killer” Change Vision Statement should accomplish

A CI Vision Statement Should:

  1. Be Short and to the Point
  2. Be Motivational and Inspirational
  3. Captivate the intended audience
  4. Be Timeless (must still be applicable months or years into the Change Journey)
  5. Be a Unified Voice of the business (not a departmental opinion)
  6. Identify with a Common most urgent goal
  7. Cross Boundaries and Diversities
  8. Create a Sense of Urgency
  9. Be A Call to Action
  10. Be Genuine, Believable and spoken straight from the Heart

Having created a compelling Change Vision Statement, what’s the best way to share it with everyone across the business? Do you just hang a poster at reception?

We asked uk immigration solicitors in london the same question

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For more resources, see our Library topic Quality Management.
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Business New Years Cards

happy-new-year-beside-mandarins

Another Alternative to Christmas Cards

In the last post, we discussed an outside-the-box idea for businesses to reach out to their employees, associates and customers during the Holiday rush. By sending Thanksgiving cards, you can pre-empt your competitors, send a message of thanks, and avoid any unintended religious offense.

If you like the idea, but it’s too late to coordinate that this year (Thanksgiving is next week, after all) consider another alternative and have the last word.

Send a Message Wishing Business Prosperity

When to send this? News Years Day! When the holiday festivities are over, and the parties are a memory, we turn our thoughts to the New Year and all the possibilities. It’s a time of hope and positive thinking. It’s the perfect time to send your heartfelt wishes for health, happiness and prosperity.

Example New Years Greetings

If you’re able to print cards with a custom message, try one of the following (thanks to GiftCardMessages.com):

  • Our Thanks to You and Our Best Wishes for a Successful New Year.
  • Our Best New Year Wishes to You, Who Make Our Progress Possible.
  • To our friends old and new, best wishes for peace and prosperity in the New Year.
  • During the Holiday Season, it is a great pleasure to share greetings with those whose good will and friendship are so highly valued. Our best wishes for a bright and prosperous New Year, filled with happiness for you and yours.
  • One of the pleasures of the Holidays is the chance send our thanks and best wishes to you for a wonderful New Year.

If these don’t quite suit you, why not ask your employees for modifications or suggestions? It might be fun to have a contest and choose the message that best ‘fits’ your company’s personality or brand image. By engaging your employees, it truly becomes a personal, heartfelt sentiment.

Your company gets the last word. You stand out from the crowd – to be remembered for a very positive prosperity message.

What have you done in a unique, memorable way for the holidays?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

Ms. Chapman’s new book, How to Make Money Online With Social Media: A Step-by-Step Guide for Entrepreneurs will be available very soon. With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

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Capital Campaigns #8: Beyond The Organizational Family

a-division-leader-addressing-colleagues-for-a-capital-campaign.

Once the “Quiet Phase” has been completed and the various “campaigns” for the Hospital Family are well under way, solicitation can begin in the next group of prospects – corporations, small businesses and the individual prospects assigned to Divisions tasked with obtaining gifts in various specific dollar ranges (i.e., $3,000-$5,999 and/or $6,000-$9.999). But … there is still no public/media mention/evidence of a campaign-in-progress.

In doing your pre-campaign planning/analysis, you would have come up with realistic dollar goals (and, for some, dollar ranges) for each Division … goals that you know, based on research, cultivation and knowledge about the people in each Division, will be attainable.

Only after commitments (from the Quiet Phase, the Hospital Family, and other Divisions tasked with raising significant percentages of the campaign goal) have reached the “Safety Point” (80% or more of the goal has been committed and you know where the rest is coming from) can the Campaign go “public.” But … “going public” doesn’t mean that everything you know must instantly become public knowledge !!

A good rule under which to operate an extended campaign is that you should be able to reach your Campaign Goal without gifts/pledges from the “lower-rated” groups of Individuals, but you proceed with each individual “campaign” until everyone you want to have involved (and everyone who might want to be involved) has become involved.

Remember, no matter how well planned and how well led your campaign might be, there’s always a chance that something can go wrong; and, since the large base of lower-rated prospects is the group you know the least about, you can’t rely on any particular outcome of that “campaign.”

Some years back (too many for me to want to count) in counselling a capital campaign for a hospital, the person recruited to chair the Division responsible for soliciting pledges from $5,000-$9,999 made the decision that all of the people assigned to that Division as prospects weren’t going to be solicited.

We had prepared pledge cards for each of those 150 prospects, the Chair took those pledge cards … ostensibly to assign prospects to his various team leaders and solicitors, then informed the campaign leadership that he wasn’t going to do what he had agreed to do.

It was a good thing we had Plan B in the safe. Luckily/happily, the campaign reached its goal. The point being: The more extensive the Planning Study and the greater the depth of campaign planning, the more likely you’ll be able to ensure success.

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Have a comment or a question about starting or expanding your basic fundraising program, your major gifts fundraising program or a capital campaign? Email me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll likely be able to answer your questions.

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O = Oneness

Happy people excited to talk to each other

Here are four examples of how different authors and inspirational teachers approach the topic of Oneness. See what themes you find and what resonates with you.

ONE Unforgettable Philosophy

In fact ONE is how I’ve been resonating with and sharing ONEness through the work I’m doing with Project GratOtude. Here is our Project GratOtude philosophy, the six beliefs and values that drive our vision.

  • The “ONE Thing” – What is that “ONE thing” – the secret to life? We believe that gratitude is ONE of the most important secrets to living your best life! Gratitude enhances your love for people and appreciation for life. It’s the “ONE thing” guiding this challenge and inspiring us to make a difference.
  • ONE Life to Live – Why is Project GratOtude important? We have one life to live here on Earth, so why not make the most of it by living our lives fully and gratefully. We don’t want to live with regrets and wait until it’s too late to let someone know how they make a difference in our life. So let’s go for IT and truly live as if our lives depend on it!
  • The ONE Above – Divine guidance from the ONE above – God, angels and the universe – is who inspires, leads and guides us.
  • The Power of ONE – One idea, one person, one word. The power of ONE is all it takes to make a tremendous difference in the world. Just like a pebble creates many ripples in water, so too can ONE person – YOU – create a ripple-effect of love and appreciation when becoming more grateful.
  • ONEness is the Way – While it only takes one person to create a ripple effect, becoming ONE with each other creates an endless amount of ripples and impact. When 1 + 1 are alone they add up to equal 2. However when you combine 1 & 1 together that equals 11, creating a much more significant impact. Being grateful helps us feel more connected to one another, bringing us closer to ONEness.
  • ONE Step at a Time – How will we all do this? ONE step at a time. All we ask is that you take ONE step at a time as we are doing the same thing – just one step ahead blazing the trail for Project GratOtude. Together, we’ll trust that each step we take brings more gratitude into our lives by the end of this Project GratOtude journey.

One-sidedness Verses Oneness

Authors Danah Zohar and Dr. Ian Marshall in the book Connecting with our Spiritual Intelligence, discuss how our spiritual intelligence is like “unitive thinking.” The unitive ability is the key to understating holistic thinking, an ability to connect the context that links the components to parts.
“When we cut off from the deep center of ourselves – through fragmentation, onesidedness, pain or distraction – it is as though we are walking on a muddy path in the dark with only a small torch to guide us. We move along warily from one-pothole to the next, our perspective limited to one faltering step at a time. When we are using our spiritual intelligence we are seeing things from the center, from the light. We are able to see things in a larger, more unified context. This allows us to see and relate to things that once seemed separate to seeing and creating relationships and patterns as a whole.”

Interconnectedness

When asked what spirituality means to you, many respondents shared that it is the fact that everything is interconnected with everything else, according to Authors Mitroff and Denton in the book A Spiritual Audit of Corporate Amercia. Everything affects and is affected by everything else. “Spirituality is the feeling of interconnectedness with the basic belief that there is one supreme force that governs the entire universe.”

Claiming Oneness

Spiritual people know that “anything created by God is one with God” and that there is no separation between themselves and their divine source. James Twyman of The Moses Code says to consider the possibility that God doesn’t perceive separation. In other words, everything is contained within the whole we sometimes call God and there is nothing outside that whole.
He suggests this exercise to claim oneness, to see through the eyes of your soul and see how God sees. “As often as you can, observe the world around you. Observe the people and things as if they are part of you. You know that it’s true that you’re one with everything and everyone. Doing this gives you the chance to apply and feel it with your whole body. It’s one thing to say that you’re one with God, but your goal is to literally feel this reality, thereby knowing it’s true.”

How will you claim YOUR oneness?

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Janae Bower is an inspirational speaker, award-winning author and training consultant. She founded Finding IT, a company that specializes in personal and professional development getting to the heart of what matters most. She started Project GratOtude, a movement to increase gratitude in people’s lives.