Month: April 2012

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Listening for a Crisis

A man stresse4d out of crisis arising in the offive

[Editors’ Note: We’re pleased to bring you this guest blog post by Bernstein Crisis Management contractor Chris Syme, excerpted from her new book.]

Keep your ear to the ground, and catch crises early

One of the best ways to avert a listening for a crisis is to see one coming and be proactive. Savvy crisis managers monitor online conversations and are ready to respond if needed. When it comes to setting up a listening dashboard online, there are a variety of tools available that fit any budget from free to enterprise level. Your crisis communications plan should include the people, resources, and time necessary to monitor the digital space.

Listening tools can be simple or elaborate . They can be free or expensive. If you’re a beginner or a small business or organization, I recommend starting with a free “suite” of tools and evaluate what people, time, and resources you can dedicate to listening before buying an application.

Below are recommendations for tools in three price categories. There are tools for listening in the “open space” and crowdsourcing tools that work in the already-established communities that reside on your social channels and website. Consider both. Use open space tools if you only have budget and time for one set.

Open Space No Budget: Hootsuite, Google Alerts, Social Mention, and others

If you’re a beginner, start with free real-time applications for a month or so.

I’ve found that Hootsuite is the most comprehensive (and reliable) free tool for monitoring basic social media applications. Hootsuite also has a good mobile app. The service is “in the cloud” meaning it isn’t housed on your device, so you can basically login to your account anywhere, at any time, and from any device.

With the free version of HootSuite, you have the ability to monitor accounts from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Ping, WordPress, MySpace, and mixi. You are allowed one admin to control those accounts, and you can monitor (and post to) a maximum of five social media accounts.

Also, Hootsuite offers a free “click summary” of links you have tweeted. The report gives you basic information about number of clicks by day and ranks your retweets and clicks during the reporting period. If you’ve never looked at any of your social media data before, this is a good way to get started. You can set up searches to monitor your brand, a hashtag, or any set of words, similar to Google Alerts.

In addition to monitoring, you can also post to each account using Hootsuite. It also includes a scheduling feature so you can write several posts at one time and schedule them throughout the day or week.

Google Alerts are easy to set up and cover online mentions on the web, but the search giant is not as strong for social platforms. Google does not monitor Twitter or Facebook posts, so you will be missing social platforms if this is your only tool. You can set-up keyword searches to monitor, and also control how often you get notifications: as it happens, once per day, or once per week. If you are monitoring for crisis, we suggest you use “as it happens.”

Social Mention offers real-time searches in the social media space around specific search terms, but doesn’t monitor the web like Google Alerts.

Open Space Low Budget: Sprout Social , Hootsuite Pro

When we say small budget, we mean less than $50 month. Hootsuite Pro is only $5.99 per month and offers unlimited profiles (in the platforms Hootsuite supports—see above), an additional admin, integration with Google Analytics, unlimited RSS feeds, Facebook Insights integration, an archive option, and access to more data reports. Additional admins can be added for $15 each per month. The downside is the lack of ability to search the internet in general. You’d need to supplement with an internet search of some kind.

Sprout Social is an inexpensive, but very comprehensive social monitoring and posting dashboard. They have two smaller plans—the Pro at $9.00 per month and the Small Biz at $39.00 per month. There is quite a jump in services between the two plans so you will want to look at their pricing plans to see what works for you. Sprout Social offers an enterprise-level program as well.

For CKSyme.org, I use the “Pro” version of Sprout Social. In addition to the Sprout Social analytics dashboard, I also have several Google Alerts and Twitter searches that are run through the Sprout Social dashboard. This single-administrator system works well for my business.

Resource Alert!

Tripwire also published a comprehensive list of monitoring tools in July 2011. Some are free, some are pay-per. You’ll have to read through the list to find out which is which. As you do, you’ll notice that many of these tools are platform-specific to Facebook or Twitter or the web. Look for one that can give you at least all of the major social platforms, if not all.

If you’re already listening to people who are in your social media space , you might consider a crowdsourcing tool that helps you connect as well as listen. Two good ones are GetSatisfaction (which integrates with Salesforce) and UserVoice. Both have pricing plans that start low and go to enterprise level.

Trouble can start in your own backyard. Smart companies are using social media to listen to their customers as well as monitoring the “open space” on the internet.

Open Space Big Budget: Radian6, Scout Labs (Lithium), Meltwater Buzz, Argyle Social, Wildfire, Expion, and many more)

If you are interested in enterprise-level monitoring systems for businesses or organizations, Jeremiah Owyang released a report in January, 2012 detailing the best SMMS tools out there. This detailed slide presentation includes many helpful insights gleaned from his research on social media monitoring.

Crowdsourcing Tools:

If you have communities built on several social platforms already , you might consider a crowdsourcing tool that helps you connect as well as listen. Two good ones are GetSatisfaction (which integrates with Salesforce) and UserVoice. Both have pricing plans that start low and go to enterprise level.

Trouble can start in your own backyard. Smart companies are using social media to listen to their customers as well as monitoring the “open space” on the internet.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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Excerpted from the coming e-book, Listen, Engage, Respond: Crisis Communications in Real-Time. Watch http://www.cksyme.org for the release in May. Use by permission. Author Chris Syme has over 25 years experience in the communications industry and is currently principal at CK Syme.org. The agency specializes in real-time communications, including reputation and crisis, social media, and media training.

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A Global Technical Writer

A woman writing on a paper with a laptop in front of her

With social media connecting us to more people globally, technical writing was sure to follow the same path. What does it take to be a global technical writer? How much the global clients need and what they need has to be clearly defined. The key will be in understanding the local culture and language. But how will this interpretation and translation of terms be understood if you are not there? Think of this as providing e-training and you are providing a distance learning program – it might help you in figuring out new ways to get your information across. But here are some ideas to think about.

In terms of writing:

  • Create a standardized dictionary of terms (including terms to avoid) and spelling (remembering spellings such as ‘color’ vs ‘colour’).
  • Be flexible in adjusting your use of words depending on whom you’re writing for. One culture may like explicit detailed longer explanations, whereas another may like short succinct definitions. As with many target audiences, another culture may prefer illustrations instead of words, or both, or videos or webinars instead.
  • Plan out your documents and create outlines for approval.
  • Determine ahead of time how you will be managing changes or updates.
  • Give appropriate examples within explanations; make it pertinent to the product or application. Do not use examples that the client’s culture may not understand.
  • Get your first draft authorized to ensure you are writing the way you are supposed to be and are relaying the correct information using the correct terms. It is better to find out the problem areas up front than have bottlenecks later on and be late on delivery

In terms of managing:

  • Make sure you have all the information you need before you begin writing.
  • Prepare questions ahead of time for meetings to ensure there’s no misunderstanding before you begin producing your document.
  • Make sure the same tools or technology is being used for sending and receiving information. It would be a waste of time if you wrote, illustrated, created videos or used other means to transfer knowledge in one particular format and the client didn’t have those applications.
  • Have open lines of communication to ensure knowledge and comprehension is correctly conveyed
  • Make sure that deadlines and milestones are understood by all parties- hold intermittent status meetings to ensure that everyone is still on the same page and that the project is progressing as it should.
  • Be flexible with time schedules depending on whom you’re meeting with.
  • Be sure to answer the question ‘how to handle security of the document’ if that is an issue.
  • Invest in a document managing system if the need arises to maintain organization.

As a gobal technical writer, you have to envision or put yourself in the place of the stakeholders. There will be a lot of translation hindrances or obstacles, but being vigilant about maintaining direct communication will decrease the number of error and barriers.

If you have had experience being a global technical writer, please share your experience.

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3 Criteria to Correctly Classify Employees by Dominique Molina

employees-in-an-organization

Please enjoy this guest post from Dominique Molina.

When your business grows to the point where you need to start hiring people to work for you, you know you’re doing well. It means you’re growing, and it’s a big step forward in terms of just how successful your business can be. It also means you need to spend some time figuring out exactly what those employees are going to do, and how they’re going to do it. Do you need part-time employees? Full-time? Do you need occasional help? How you answer those questions will help determine how those employees are classified.
Employee or contractor?
Everyone who works for you is going to fall into one of two classifications: employee or contractor. The first thing you need to determine when hiring a worker is whether the individual is an employee or contractor.
The IRS looks at three specific areas to determine whether a person is your employee or whether they’re a contractor:

  • Behavioral issues. This has to do with who makes the decisions about how, where, and when a worker performs a task. If you specify exactly what is to be done, when, and where, and you even go so far as to specify which tools that the worker has to use to do so, you’re more in employee territory than you are in contractor territory.
  • Financial issues. How finances are taken care of during the course of business matters, as well. For example, a significant financial investment required by the worker puts them more in the contractor category. Whether payment for services is guaranteed, or whether pay is on an hourly or flat basis matters, too. Even the question of whether the worker has the opportunity for financial profit or loss during the endeavor factors in here. The more financial responsibility that rests on the worker, the more likely they should be classified as a contractor.
  • Relationship. Your intent, as well as the worker’s intent, matters too. Things like written contracts, whether you’re paying for benefits like vacation time or a retirement plan, your terms for discharging or terminating the worker, and whether the work that the worker does is integral to your business all determine the relationship. Someone who does a job that can’t be done by others that’s business-critical is probably an employee, as is someone to whom you pay for sick days.

As you can see, it’s not always cut and dried. While there are some obvious types of workers that are employees, for some it’s more nebulous.

Which is better?
From a financial perspective, it’s usually better for a business to classify workers as independent contractors whenever possible. That’s because there are many rules and regulations that apply to employees that don’t apply to independent contractors. For example, with employees you have to:

  • Withhold payroll and federal income taxes.
  • Pay your share of the employee’s FICA taxes.
  • Pay the employee’s FUTA tax.
  • Provide benefits as required by law, such as overtime pay or even health insurance.
  • Meet any state requirements for employees, such as withholding state taxes.

These are things that you don’t have to hassle with for independent contractors.

The penalty for misclassification
If you classify one of your employees as a contractor without a verifiable and reasonable basic, you can be looking at a number of penalties. You can be liable for the worker’s employment taxes, as well as uncollected Social Security and Medicate Tax. This can create a bit of a tax nightmare, leaving you with a significant tax burden that can be very difficult to pay. On top of that, you’ll likely be looking at penalties and fees.

What to do when it’s not entirely clear
If you have some doubt about how to classify a particular worker, you should most certainly talk to your tax advisor. They can help you make sure you get it right.
Beyond that, you can also work together with the worker to determine their classification. If the worker is amenable, you can develop a contract that explicitly addresses some of those three categories of evidence. That will certainly help you build your case, should the worker’s classification ever be challenged.
Finally, you can fill out the SS-8 form. This form is sent to the IRS, who will then review your worker’s circumstances and determine whether or not they can be classified as a contractor or must be classified as an employee. It does take about six months to get a determination.
Getting your employees correctly classified can have an impact on your bottom line, as well as your tax burden. Do it right the first time.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Author bio

Dominique Molina is President of the CertifiedTaxCoach.org, a professional organization that helps tax professionals deliver thousands in tax savings to their clients. Dominique has compiled many resources for members, including powerful accounting templates, a tax-specific engagement letter template, and the most comprehensive tax training in the industry.

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Flapping of the Wings

A duck flapping its wings on a pond
Soon after arriving at the beautiful Johnson Lake Home (our retreat center) on Lake George in the northern woods of Minnesota, I felt drawn to go down to the lake. The stillness of the lake was breath-taking along with the reflection of the clouds and trees in the water. We were in awe that the lake was even opened as it’s normally still frozen in March.
My best friend Julie and I were continuing our conversation when we saw a bald eagle fly to a towering pine tree by the lake’s shore. Soon it was flying again, soaring above the water only to come near to our shoreline this time to a different tree. The lone eagle found a mate and together they and we experienced magic; a divinely-inspired occurrence with nature and these majestic birds.

Dancing in Harmony

The eagles were dancing in the sky with one another as they soared in harmony right above the lake. We were fully present watching them, sitting still with awe. Back and forth they danced and soared. Then they started flying toward our direction. Sitting on the dock these two eagles soared no more than 10-20 feet above us still in perfect harmony. These eagles were so close to us that we actually heard the flapping of their wings. I can still feel that breathtaking moment when they soared above us; chills filled my entire body as I knew that this was a holy encounter. Psalm 18:10 says “He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.”
Julie and I looked at each other in amazement and she said that in all the years that she’s been coming here as a young girl she’s never experienced anything like this. The two of us, along with my other best friend Sara, have created and called ourselves WINGS for nearly 15 years. We are about helping each other soar in our lives through growing spiritually.
I knew that God had graced us with the presence of these two eagles, dancing and soaring in harmony. Sitting there more that night, we also saw two ducks, two swans and then the next day we saw two geese. We were graced again with the beauty of God’s nature during a walk. Just like the eagle’s the day before, two geese flew above us close enough to hear the flapping of their wings and we could hear their honking of course. I’ve read how geese are known for their teamwork and encouragement, just the same as what our WINGS group symbolizes.
This lake home is special for Julie’s family, one of the most cherished places for her mother who passed away a few years ago. I felt her Julie’s mother Patty’s presence this whole weekend; her spirit, faithfulness and encouragement to keep on living our dreams.

The Deeper Message

Driving home we encountered more bald eagles (pictured) and I felt like they had a deeper message for us. I soon found out what that was. When I was sharing this experience with a friend, she shared with me a passage about the significance of eagles from her book Animal Speak: The Spiritual and Magical Power of Creatures Great and Small by Ted Andrews. Until this one and a couple of other recent interesting animal experiences, I hadn’t thought much about messages that animals might be sharing with us.
As soon as she shared more, I felt the chills again like that moment. Here is a little of what it says that really speaks to me. “The bald eagle is a long-time symbol of spiritual power and illumination; eagles inspire people of all societies. Their energy is healing and aids in creation. Eagles teach a balance of being of the Earth but not in it. Both the bald eagle and the golden eagle have come to symbolize heroic nobility and divine spirit. These eagles are the messengers from heaven and are the embodiment of the spirit of the sun.
Then get this what is says about the eagle’s dancing in the sky. “The mating ritual of the bald eagle is one of its most mystical and intriguing aspects. A powerful form of sky dancing occurs. The birds soar, loop and plunge into deep dives.”
New vision will open. Eagles often perch and wait using their great vision to let them know when to take flight and see their opportunities. It’s about a willingness to use your passions to purify (flying into the sun) and to use your abilities even if it means being scorched a little.
According to the book, to align with the power of the eagle is to take on the responsibility and the power of becoming so much more than you now appear to be. From a karmic aspect, it reflects that the events will now fly faster, and the repercussions for everything you think, do or say (or fail to think, do or say) – positive and negative – will be both stronger and quicker. To accept this is to accept a powerful new dimension to life, and a heightened responsibility for your spiritual growth. But only through doing so do you learn how to move between worlds, touch all life with healing and become the mediator and the bearer of new creative force within the world.
“You will learn to swoop, to soar, to dive, and to hover – to use the winds within your life and your own developing wings to ride them to your own benefit.”

The Push

Once again with this new insight of the significance of eagles, I am in awe and somewhat overwhelmed as it speaks so clearly to where I am right now in life. How can you and I take on more of the divine essence of the eagle? Sometimes we need “a BIG push” to do that.
The book The Push, is my other previous experience with Eagles. Written by David McNally and published by Simple Truths, is more about what the Eagle is telling us. I’m blessed to have a story published in it as well about how to find God’s purpose for our lives. If you haven’t yet, take a look at this inspirational movie and this book for more encouragement for your life for taking flight with God’s insights and soaring to new heights that you ever imagined flying!

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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.

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John Kremer: Marketing Magician

Marketing concept on a board

Guest Post by Steve Olsher

For many entrepreneurs, marketing is simply viewed as a necessary promotional tool. The successful subscribe to the notion that marketing is business. For example, consider the following ad campaigns:

Steve Olsher, Author

– “When E.F. Hutton talks…”

– “Where’s the …?”

– “Plop plop fizz fizz …”

When implemented correctly, marketing not only tells a company’s story, it serves to establish bonds with customers, differentiates their product from the competition, and secures brand commitment.

One of the world’s foremost marketers is John Kremer. An Internet authority and award-winning author he understands, and consistently implements, cutting-edge strategies.

A Look Back
Today, John is well known among marketers and authors across the globe. It wasn’t always this way. John started his career handling marketing for a friend who owned a toy company. Though he knew little about the subject, he dove in headfirst. Over many years, he honed his skills and eventually left the company to become a writer. Given his marketing expertise, he opted to self-publish his titles.

He was soon selling 5,000-10,000 copies of each of his books.
Due to his noticeable success (the average self-published title sells less than 100 copies), others contacted him to learn more about replicating his process. As a result, he wrote the now-famous industry bible, 1001 Ways To Market Your Books, which Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen largely credit with helping them sell more than 200 million copies of the massively successful Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

In addition to writing, John has become a leading voice for cultivating inexpensive online traffic. He currently operates dozens of sites, including BookMarket.com which is ranked #1 on Google for virtually every keyword it targets.

Let’s dig deeper.

1. The Value Proposition: Don’t underestimate the value of providing information for free.

When John released 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, it cost $27.95. If you were to ask the authors of Chicken Soup if the price was fair, they’d likely say they would’ve gladly paid 100x that amount for the results realized. Creating happy customers leads to long-term profitability. This process begins with over-delivering for clients. Providing free merchandise, learning materials, ebooks, and other products not only attracts attention, it helps ingrain your brand into the customer’s mind.

Further, in order to receive the free product, contact information is provided. This data has immense value. For example, Daily Candy, which sold to Comcast for $250 million, or $50 per subscriber.

Though metrics vary wildly, consider Internet marketing standards:

  • Marketing response rates hover around 2%. As an example, for every 1 million impressions, approximately 20,000 visits are generated.
  • Of the 20,000 visits, 11.5% opt-in to join a mailing list or receive a free product.
  • In addition, 3.5% convert to paying customers within three months.

Therefore, for every 20,000 visitors or 1 million impressions:

  • 700 customers are secured.
  • 2,300 potential clients are added to one’s database.

2. Guerilla Traffic: Consider creating a directory and drive traffic to others.

There are three proven strategies for generating traffic online:

  • Spend millions on traditional and online media.
  • Create a site that Google and other search engines love.
  • Create an interactive forum that promotes stickiness and contribution.

Assuming the first choice is out of the question, let’s move to the engines. While there are a multitude of SEO techniques that can be leveraged to land on page one, the easiest way to make this happen is to establish authority in your niche and feature massive amounts of content related to the subject matter. One of the most powerful ways to accomplish this feat is to build a directory.
A directory features scores of related providers. Google loves directories.

By creating the directory, you now ostensibly own the category. And, you have complete control over the order in which the practices appear, the ads are displayed, and the content is featured.

3. Interaction = Transaction: Create a sticky site that fosters user participation and content contribution.

Building a community of followers, content providers, and visitors is crucially important. Today’s most successful online marketers look for ways to start discussions, open up message boards, create user groups, and involve their audience. TripAdvisor.com is a prime example of a site that plays this concept to the hilt. By cultivating user-generated content, they have built one of the industry’s largest businesses. Monetization is realized through brand placement, booking fees, and pay per click revenue.

In 2010, TripAdvisor grossed $486 million, an increase of 13% over 2009, and earned $260 million. TripAdvisor is sticky, as the average visitor spends around four minutes on the site. While not nearly as impressive as Facebook (24 minutes per visit), Yahoo (eight minutes per visit), or eBay (14 minutes per visit), it far exceeds the average time spent on a web page—which is 58 seconds, as reported by Nielsen.

4. Leverage the value of relationships: Model John’s two no-cost, proven strategies for driving traffic.

Contribute to blogs you admire:

Leaving thoughtful comments or interesting information under your signature not only contributes solid content for their readership, it has the potential for driving traffic to your site and opens the door for future collaboration.
The most popular bloggers generally receive hundreds (if not thousands) of comments per post. As a result, they may not read more than the first 10 or 20. To grab their attention, post early.

Write a Column

Online, content rules. Website owners desperately need fresh, quality material that keeps their audience engaged. A powerful way to build your brand and add value to others is to create your own column. Columns vary from interviews with industry experts to original posts or a Q&A format. Written daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly, columns achieve four objectives:

  • Adds value and no-cost, high-quality content for the site that features it.
  • Drives traffic to your site/business.
  • Establishes credibility and increases search results.
  • Can often be sponsored, which provides revenue based on the size of the audience.

Ultimately, creating a profitable business requires a pinch of luck, a handful of focus, and a ton of effort. John has provided the recipe for creating magical results. Time to get the apron on.

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

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Steve Olsher is the author of Internet Prophets: The World’s Leading Experts Reveal How to Profit Online and creator of Internet Prophets LIVE!, which takes place June 8-10, 2012 in Chicago. Featuring 27 of the world’s leading Internet, Mobile and Marketing experts such as Jay Conrad Levinson, Mike Filsaime, Mike Koenigs, Larry Winget, Marc Ostrofsky, Dan Hollings, Janet Bray Attwood, Armand Morin, and many others, Internet Prophets LIVE! provides small business owners, solorpreneurs, and infopreneurs with proven strategies, tools, and tactics for cultivating leads, dramatically increasing conversion rates, and generating massive, passive income. Save $250 by using promo code ‘250’ at checkout and attend for only $247. For more information and to reserve one of the VERY limited number of remaining seats, please visit www.InternetProphets.com.

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More Military Crisis Management

young-soldier-affected-by-ptsd-effect.

Newly surfaced photos bring reputation damage

More damaging photographs of U.S. soliders surfaced last week, hot on the heels of the controversial Marine “SS” flag picture crisis. This time, the photos depicted soldiers in what they apparently thought were comedic poses with dead Afgan insurgents.

How did the public come to see these pictures at all, you ask? A quote, from a USA Today article by Tom Vanden Brook:

The photos, published in the Los Angeles Times, purportedly were taken in 2010 and show a soldier with the hand of a dead insurgent on his shoulder and another with soldiers holding the legs of a corpse.

The Times obtained them from an unnamed soldier who served with the 82nd Airborne Division in a province south of Kabul. Military officials had requested that the newspaper not publish the images, saying they would put troops at risk.

 

The soldier, the Times reported, gave the photos to the media because of concerns about “a breakdown in leadership and discipline that he believed compromised the safety of the troops.”

We have long spoken about how the Internet has resulted in widespread public knowledge of situations that, before Internet-centered communications became so easy, would have remained unpublicized. What these soldiers did was horrific, but also completely typical for any location where there has been warfare for an extended period of time. The psychological impact of constant combat and the perpetual threat of instant death break some people, mentally. At the same time, I seriously doubt those soldiers received much training (and refresher training) to the effect that “whatever you do out there could end up posted on YouTube.” Maybe that would have made them think twice – and maybe not.

One thing the Army may want to consider is taking some tips from its brethren in the Navy, who are are making great use of social media to build good will with the public that can be banked for future crisis management.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

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Your Best Foundation Funder is not your Best Funder Forever

Business executives with their funder in a board room.

Just as grade school friendships don’t usually last forever, neither do relationships between nonprofit organizations and their foundation funders. Most grant makers don’t want to provide ongoing operating support; i.e. – they don’t want to be your BFF (Best Funder Forever).

Many foundations don’t make grants to the same organization every year. They may allow you to apply every other year, or every third year, and this is usually clearly spelled out in their guidelines. Here is a real example from the St. Louis Philanthropic Organization, “if you received grants in 2010 and 2011 (two consecutive years), you are not eligible to apply for funding this year.”

A good number of foundations will allow you to apply annually, but are less likely to fund your NPO in consecutive years. Often, this is not spelled out in their guidelines, so your relationship with a foundation trustee or its manager is important. Give them a call before applying and ask for their advice. They might hint at this, saying something about providing grants to NPOs across the community. They might even tell you directly.

A lot of foundations look to fund something innovative. They will provide “seed money” to launch a new project or program; but, once the program is up and running, they expect the nonprofit to fund its ongoing operation.

This funding priority will also usually be spelled out in their guidelines — as with the Allen & Josephine Green Foundation: “…seed money to launch a new project or program is a desirable type of grant.” A discussion with a trustee or foundation manager prior to submission can also provide that information.

And, if you have to pass up a grant one year because you don’t have a new project that needs funding, that’s OK. Don’t fall into the trap of designing a new project or program just to get grant money. For more information on this topic, see my post, “How To Better Manage Your Grant Program,” from February 2, 2012.

You also need to remember that the economic climate affects foundations. And, as foundations give 5% of their assets, typically calculated on a 3-year rolling average, increases in their giving will lag any economic recovery.

All these factors need to be taken into account when budgeting annual foundation income. And because the foundations that fund your NPO don’t want to be your BFF, you need to continuously prospect and cultivate new sources of foundation funding in order to maintain a steady income stream from this important revenue source.

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Lynn deLearie Consulting, LLC, helps nonprofit organizations develop, enhance and expand grant programs, and helps them secure funding from foundations and corporations. Contact Lynn deLearie..

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If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting.

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25 Ways to Develop Your Stars and Keep Them!

succesful-business-man-presenting-good-evolution-company-using-digital-tablet

Do you have exceptional performers on your team? If you do, it can be a wonderful gift to have people who you can count on to get the right results; who thins about what else needs to be done without being told; who are always asking to do more.

You Don’t Want to Lose Them!

One cost-effective retention strategy is to stretch and challenge them. It’s not necessary to change someone’s job to build capabilities. The Center for Creative Leadership has generated developmental challenges that add professional and leadership opportunities to a person’s present job. These challenges will either:

  • Require working with new people or high variety or time pressures.
  • Call for influencing people with no or limited direct authority or control.
  • Demand a “take charge” attitude that can lead to obvious success or failure.
  • Involve building a team, starting something from scratch or solving a problem.

Three Types of Opportunities
Pick and choose the ones that “fit” your people, your company and your budget.

A. Small projects and start–ups:
They offer learning on the run, dealing with time pressures and dealing with groups not worked with before.

1. Be part of a task force on a pressing business problem
2. Handle a negotiation with a customer
3. Integrate systems across units
4. Supervise product, program, equipment or systems purchase
5. Go to college campus as a recruiter
6. Present a proposal to top management
7. Work short periods in other units
8. Serve on a new project / product review committee
9. Plan an off-site meeting, conference, etc.
10. Manage the visit of a VIP
11. Go off-site to troubleshoot problems
12. Be part of the company’s trade show booth team
13. Do a project with another function

B. Small scope jumps and fix-its:
They offer team building, taking responsibility, developing subordinates and dealing with time pressures.

14. Manage ad hoc group of inexperienced people
15. Supervise cost-cutting
16. Design new, simpler effectiveness measures
17. Assign to work on something they hate to do
18. Manage ad hoc group of former peers
19. Assign a project with a tight deadline

C. Small strategic assignments:
They offer developing influence skills and coping with uncertain situations with little control and few rules.

20. Spend a week with customers; write a report
21. Do postmortem on a failed project
22. Evaluate the impact of training
23. Write a speech for someone higher in the organization
24. Write a proposal for a new system, product, etc.
25. Interview outsiders on their view of the organization

Management Success Tip:

A paycheck is what helps people get to sleep at night, not what gets them going in the morning. It motivates employees to an extend. But for your stars they need more,. Remember help them to grow or out they go! Also see How Not to Motivate Your Best and Brightest

Which two or three “fit” your people, your company and your budget? Do you have others to add? Reply below.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

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Cherish Dear Colleagues

two persons shaking hands as a sign of goodwill

I recently received an email from my mom saying a dear colleague of hers had a heart attack and was in failing health. I was truly saddened by this news. This woman had become an aunt of sorts; she was a long-time family friend, having worked with my mom for more than 30 years.

It is a blessing and rare gift indeed to have precious colleagues who become old friends. Perhaps you worked with someone years ago and you still stay in touch, sharing news of your life. Maybe you have colleagues you socialize with outside of work. Perhaps you even have a few dear colleagues who are old family friends now.

This week’s blog post is a reminder of all the friendships you have at work. Share your gratitude for those friends, especially for your particularly close colleagues.

  • Tell them how they have touched and supported your life as well as your work.
  • Call them up to recount a few stories, share some laughs, let them know how much they helped you.

It’s never too late to let someone know how much you care about them and how much they mean to you.

P.S. We celebrate Administrative Assistants day this week, so please take time to thank them for their support.

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

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Now available!! Linda’s new book, “Staying Grounded in Shifting Sand” – Click here to order.

Click this link to order Linda’s 10th Anniversary edition of “Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service”.

Visit Linda’s website- www.lindajferguson.com for information about her coaching work, keynote presentations, seminar topics, and books.

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Four Career Challenges That Can Bring Your Down!

business-people-discussing-team-roles-in-a-meeting

Let’s admit it – most of us are on cruise control! Then suddenly we realize our career may be in jeopardy. All of a sudden we’re scrambling to do something fast!

The Solution: Pay attention to these four situations that can put you in the “hot seat” and your career in a potential down spiral.

1. New Boss: Don’t Rest On Your Laurels.
Realize that the person has to size up quickly each of her direct reports and make decisions about her team. Start managing up. Be prepared when she schedules a meeting to “get to know you and what you do better”. You need to make a good first impression.

Develop a short presentation focusing on your accomplishments -the problems encountered and how you handled them. Ask about her priorities for the department. Now start making the connection between the priorities and how you can meet them.

2. A Big Mistake: What Do I Do Now?
The good news is that mistakes, even big ones, don’t have to be a career setback or leave a permanent mark on your career brand. The key is to recover quickly and put in place actions that will correct the situation. Here’s what one senior leader said during a leadership retreat:

“Who among us doesn’t make mistakes? I love employees who fess up, treat the mistake as a learning moment and move on. I don’t want them to stop experimenting or holding back because of fear of making another misstep. Therefore, I have to accept a mistake now and then so that they will keep learning and getting better.”

3. A Big Promotion: Are You Over Your Head?
Did you know that nearly half of all new leaders fail in the first 18 months? Many of them were surprised to discover that what got them there wasn’t enough to keep them there. I’ve seen many careers get derailed because the person was promoted into a position that required additional and different skill sets. You can’t rely solely on you high performing technical experience. You also need to develop your leadership skills.

4. Feeling Stuck: You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling
You start out excited with where you are and what you’re doing. Then after a couple of years you’re unchallenged, unenthusiastic and just got passed over for a promotion.

If you career stalls, don’t wait for the career fairy to appear and make everything better. It’s up to you. What career options can you start exploring for challenge, variety, or greater personal satisfaction? What internal training or external seminars will enhance your marketability? Who can mentor you to get your career moving?

Career Success Tip:

To avoid getting blindsided, every year and perhaps even twice a year, conduct a career assessment no matter how confident you are that things are going well. Too many people try to manage their careers without having a sense of how they are seen by others – particularly by those who have influence – your boss, your peers, upper management and even your customers. Also see Challenges You May Face In Your Career and My Boss is a Control Freak.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?