Month: October 2013

Posted on

Estimating Time

Creating a schedule estimating time

You are at a meeting to help set up a project plan for a new undertaking. You have been asked to estimate the time needed for your documentation role in this particular project. How will you know how long it will take to complete the writing project? You could have researched before the meeting and studied previous project timelines, reviewed them, and then apply the same length of time (or you can adjust the timeline accordingly). If you were really organized, you could have created your own timetable and therefore be able to give a more accurate account when replying.

To create your own timetable:

  • Make sure you have kept a schedule of events and tasks and how long it took to complete previous projects; include benchmarks or target points as check points to see if you are on schedule.
  • Be sure to also indicate any resources that aided in the development.
  • Note any interruptions such as changes, updates, deadline movements, etc. that would affect deliverables.
  • Check availability of subject experts to gather information from.
  • Ensure the right tools are available to you.
  • Verify certain key dates with team members; such as when requirements, technical, training, etc. documents have to be done.

Also ask the following questions before replying as the responses might affect your schedule:

  • What is the purpose of the documents you are creating?
  • What types of documents are needed?
  • Has a pre-arranged date been set already? – Or do they just need a date from you.
  • Who are the stakeholders and will they need to approve the final documents?
  • Will any previous training be required?
  • Will translation be needed if this will also be a global document?
  • Who is your audience?
  • What format is required or can the standard organization style guide be used?
  • Will images, videos, etc. – any medium other than text be required for the project?

Creating a set timeline is not an easy task. Too many factors can affect the final deliverable date. So what should you do to try to avoid a missed date? Ask others at the meeting their opinion; what do they think of the timeline? Do they see anything that might affect what has been determined? Even though you are experienced, there may be other events in the works that you are not aware of and that might affect your outcome. So ask.

Also, as a final statement, create contingency plans. Even though you may have all your key elements in order and approved, you never know what else might pop up to interfere with your schedule. So make fall back plans for those ‘what if’ cases. Oh and one more item. Stay focused and monitor the workload and schedule. If either of them are out of line, then be prepared for unforeseen events to occur.

Good Luck on pin-pointing your project date.

If you have had problems setting project dates and keeping to them, please leave a comment.

Posted on

A Swan Song

Joyful woman on brown coat

SwanThe definition of a Swan Song is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song in the moment just before death, having been silent (or alternatively, not so musical) during most of their lifetime.
This metaphor came to me as I was thinking about how I was going to write my last entry for this blog and wanting to link it to an older movie I recently watched called Brain’s Song. Brian’s Song is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week (remake of the TV movie filmed in 2001) that recounts the details of the life of Brian Piccolo a football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro, told through his friendship with Chicago Bears running back teammate and Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, who helps him through the difficult struggle.
Despite his early death, Brian Piccolo’s legacy sings on. I looked up his legacy in Wikipedia and was in awe of how his mark in history is still impactful decades after his death. Courage awards, cancer funds and stadiums are being named after him to honor those after him who embrace his spirit for life.

Make our mark

We never how much time we’ll have on Earth to make our mark, so all we can do is appreciate the time we have and make the most of it. One comment that struck me about Brian from the movie is that when he found out he had cancer it didn’t cause him to change how he was living because he already was living life to the fullest. Right away I thought of that quote that goes something like it’s not about how much life you live it’s about how much you live during your life.

Really living life

Are you really living life; a life filled with your greatest desires and God’s greatest desires of your life? We will all at some point during our lives have an opportunity to have a Swan Song; the beautiful legacy that we will share with the world that honors our life. Unfortunately some of us will, what another famous quote says, will go to our graves with the music still inside of us.

Bring harmony to your soul

As you’ve noticed, I haven’t written anything on here for months. I was taking a sabbatical to work on a book. It’s a book that I hope someday will be part of my Swan Song. During this time away I’ve realized that my spirit is singing a different tune for my work, a new melody for me to follow.
As I retire from this blog, I would just like to thank Cater McNamara for this wonderful opportunity to be part of this blog and for Linda Ferguson, my co-partner who has been the “glue” for it all. I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to read my thoughts over the years and I hope that at least one thing I’ve written will bring harmony to your soul!

As your inspired life mentor, Janae Bower is passionate about helping YOU live a more balanced, purposeful and inspired life! Her writings, speaking and coaching are the spark of inspiration you need to energize you on your journey of personal transformation.
Posted on

What Can Grant Proposal Professionals Learn from the 2013 Best Companies to Work For?

Side view of company buildings from a building's sidewalk

When hikers get together, many of them talk about their boots. When chefs gather, they swap recipes.

What do grant proposal professionals do? Many of us talk about the proposal-generating work environments at our nonprofits.

What Good Companies Have in Common:
Grant proposal professionals can learn how to create good work environments by looking at Fortune magazine’s the “2013 Best Companies to Work For.” These companies vary in their size, products, and services, but they have three things in common:
• Employees trust each other in the workplace.
• Employees have pride in their work.
• Employees enjoy their colleagues.

Salaries, benefits, and perks are important, but nonprofit employees also need to feel that they are appreciated. No holiday bonus or annual picnic can replace the feeling that their day-to-day work is valued and that they like working with their colleagues, whom they trust. It is difficult to develop good grant proposals when there is a deficit in trust, pride or conviviality among the members of the grant team.

Improve your Grant Proposal Environment
If your nonprofit has a good work environment for proposal preparation, you are very fortunate indeed. But if you believe that your work environment leaves much to be desired, short of moving on there are steps you can take to make positive changes:
• Don’t work in a “war room.” These places are awful. They have
no privacy, no opportunities for thinking and solitude, and no
opportunities to build social capital with your colleagues. By
definition, a “war room” is a demeaning and unprofessional
environment.
• Find out what the best companies do to foster/create great work
environments and copy them.
• Start small. Make small changes at first because they are easier
to implement and may have big consequences.
• Suggest policies to senior management that make for happier, more
productive work teams. Provide evidence to support your argument.
Expect skepticism and resistance, but be quietly persistent.
• Become the change you advocate. This worked for Gandhi, and it’s
still good advice. You will have no credibility if you do not model
the changes you want to see in your proposal environment.
• Lead the charge – offer to help make the changes by taking a
leadership role.
• Get social. A bowling night or a pot-luck lunch with a prize for
the best dish will help employees build trust and friendships … as
long as this carries over into the workplace. This is foundation for
making changes, not a substitute for them.

Your goal should be to create a proposal preparation work environment where people feel appreciated, trust each other, like each other, and take pride in their work. If you can improve the quality of your work environment, you are likely to improve the quality of your grant proposals.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
We’re taking a short break for the long Columbus Day weekend.
See you next Thursday.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Dr. Jayme Sokolow, founder and president of The Development Source, Inc.,
helps nonprofit organizations develop
successful proposals to government agencies.
Contact Jayme Sokolow.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Look for Jayme’s ebook on
Finding & Getting Federal Government Grants.
It’s part of
The Fundraising Series of ebooks
They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap ($1.99 – $3.99) ☺
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you’re reading this on-line and 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. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

Posted on

Trainers, Government Shut-Down and Health Care

a-disappointed-trainer

doctor-oldThe current government shut-down is affecting everyone, especially trainers who depend on government contracts to stay alive. As a Federal worker, I went through several government shut-downs, and when it got down to dangerous territory one side caved–a compromise. Here, though President Obama has said, he will not compromise or even negotiate with the Republicans until the shut-down is over. To be fair, as my wife points out, the Republicans said they will not negotiate until they get what they want.

Politics. What a conundrum! And it affects all of us. It should, but in a good way.

In previous shut-downs, the contractors, including trainers, stayed afloat, often expanding their charge because the government agencies were not allowed to hire–just reduce their own budgets. We all got paid in the end. The uncertainty is disconcerting nonetheless.

It’s a little scary for everyone; however, the world knows no one is going to take over the government. That’s a good thing. For the economy: not so good.

Remember, I am apolitical here so don’t try to catch me on one side or the other.

While all this is happening, the debate is over “Obamacare.” I won’t discuss that it’s law and the Republicans should leave it alone. That’s politics. What is irritating for me is that it seems to be over that “word” and not what it entails, which are certain aspects of health care. The Dems try to explain it; I think for sympathy, but their stand is clear. The Reps don’t want to talk about why they don’t want it. Someone needs a good trainer.

If the Reps want to make points, they could at least go into why they don’t like it. They just want to kill it. So, the experts have told us what they want instead. Neither plan will bring costs down in America as much as consumers would like. They make it sound like it will, but it won’t. Why? The issue is health care–not “Obamacare.”

We know there are other big issues at work here. The political lobbies: insurance, medical, and drug companies are some of some of the strongest in Washington. Not only that, they are also the largest campaign donors. Naturally, these lobbies are too strong for government to take on, and a no-brainer for candidates and those currently holding office. I suspect it is easier to pass a bill legalizing marijuana and prostitution than it would be to regulate any industry under the lobby umbrella’s. However, that’s not what’s needed.

We expect government to tell the people the truth. We pretty much live by it. As trainers, the last thing we would do is tell an employee something that was untrue or not the full truth. It seems we Americans were too arrogant to look at how medical care is approached overseas. Please take a look at this terrific video. Why American Health Care Costs Are So High. It tells the fantastic truth about where we stand in health care and poses some interesting questions. The speaker, while sounding a bit nutty, is an American with good stats. Meanwhile, we trainers trudge onward. I’ve seen an upswing of trainer activity on LinkedIn. Most activity I doubt that it is government-related, but it is probably regarding the lack of faith in the government, breeding a lack of faith in the economy. Strike quickly before it gets too bad seems to be the idea. I wouldn’t rush though. The employers already feel the pressure; if you rush, it could be enough to push them away rather than pull them to you.

When the shut-down is over, there will be a big relief for the American public naturally, but also for business, consumers and government contractors as well as trainers and anyone who works in a service business. More contracts will have to be let to fill in the gaps not allowed to filled by government employees. And that will include trainers.

Someone should still talk about why American health care costs are still so high in comparison to other countries. We are told our health care is the best because of our system. Wrong. Our health care is not remarkably better when compared to other first world countries. A long wait to see someone. Check again. If you don’t believe me, check out the video again and his original sources.

Spreading the word is probably not up to trainers either. How could we speak out to those very companies that are a large part of our income, let alone our economy? I hope someone finds a way because we are blowing it.

A disclaimer. This commentary is mine and mine alone, and the opinion expressed here is not influenced by The Free Management Library in any way.

As the Host of the Blog site, I do get to ask that you take a look at my new blog that focuses on other topics than training. My training/speech blog is still out there, but I’m letting it die in cyber space. My best selling e-book, The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development is out. I need to tell you that I know Cave Man is not spelled that way and that is on purpose. The Cave is where we work, play and live. Read the book and you’ll get it. I hope to have two more following it soon. I also have a futuristic e-novel, Harry’s Reality, a look at what happens when society gives up control of the mismanaged dying planet to an evolving artificial intelligence. It is also available at any book store that sells e-books, and directly through Smashwords. By the way on my blog site you’ll find snippets of the novel and a coupon for a free download of my novel through Smashwords.

Happy training.

For more resources about training, see the Training library.

Posted on

‘Agile’ or ‘Waterfall’ ?

agile methodology

A few days ago, before the start of a meeting, a couple of developers where discussing ‘Agile’ project management versus the more traditional ‘Waterfall’ project planning.

A ‘Waterfall’ approach, you may recall, is the type of project that flows sequentially from stage to stage, much like a waterfall. It came from, and was heavily influenced by, the Manufacturing industry. The names of the stages vary, but roughly include: Proof-of-concept -> Initiation -> Requirements -> Design -> Implementation -> Testing -> Go Live (& Turn over to Operations). Although it does allow for change requests, it is definitely quite structured in progressing from stage to stage.

The ‘Agile’ approach on the other hand, came into being for software development, which often is non-linear, reactive, and has as an objective to deploy useful items very quickly. In an Agile project, the “product owner” decides which are the highest priority items to be included in the next iteration. The entire big picture, or thorough system requirements, may not be fully known . What is known, is that these high-priority features must be developed now. So the team delivers these items, hopefully with great quality control, and the next iteration is prepared after that.

‘Waterfall man’ was extolling the virtues of arriving at consensus on project scope from the beginning; agreeing timeline and costs; carefully tracking progress, then introducing change requests whose merit had been approved by all. ‘Agile man’, on the other hand, was calling him a dreamer, saying that such a staid and rigid approach was completely last century. That 21st Century projects need to deliver much more quickly than stodgy Waterfall projects could ever manage to.

I’ll have to say that both of these guys were making really valid points. If I am able, as a project manager, to lead stakeholders to consensus on features, priorities, total cost, total timeline, etc, doesn’t that yield a better price/performance project than deploying it ‘piecemeal’? If I have a good, decisive Executive Sponsor, who is able to map the project’s scope to company strategy, won’t that lead me to a successful and relevant implementation?

On the other hand, if my project deploys features before my competition does, and I get more customers as a result of small but important changes, doesn’t that trump the time required for sequential project planning?

Surely there is room for both methods then. If I can lead stakeholders to agree on crisp, prioritized scope items I should use the orderly “Waterfall”; I should deploy a project with the most requirements for the least effort. But if all we know is that there are critical features that must be deployed in the next 3 weeks −or something terrible will happen− then I should organize an Agile “Scrum”. It might be another case of that old saying: the right tool for the right job…

Posted on

Unleashing the Power of your Story: Working with your Story

A red paper boat leading the other paper boats

This post is a distillation from Chapter IV of Steve’s upcoming book: Unleashing the Power of Your Story

Smash Words, Fall/Winter, 2013.

Your Story at Play in your Leadership

Have you ever been in the middle of a leadership situation and felt, “I’ve been here before”? The content of the situation may be new, but nonetheless, the territory seems very familiar. Have you experienced a tough, high-pressure challenge that was important for you to deal with effectively, but you felt stuck? You may have experienced yourself trying the same things over and over again, each time trying a little harder, and each time feeling more stuck. Conversely, you have probably experienced leadership challenges that came out wonderfully despite huge problems; you performed to the max, your energy flowed naturally, and you were successful. You may or may not have known why things went so well, but you knew that they did, and you knew you felt great.

Experiences like those above are reflections of your deep systemic story at play in your leadership.

One of the most powerful ways to understand your leadership, to learn why you behave and lead as you do, and to discover ways of significantly increasing your effectiveness as a leader, is to understand your systemic story.

What is a Systemic Story?

Your systemic story is the story you have told yourself about your experience in systems, particularly the first system of which you were a part. It reflects how you learned to survive and operate in systems; for example, your story reflects how you learned to:

Relate to key players in your life system

Achieve Success

Get noticed, or avoid being noticed

Protect yourself and take risks

Respond to authority, and exert your own authority

Give and receive love

At its core, your systemic story is the internal narrative you have created about your experience of the human condition. As such, it is central to who you are as a human being, as a leader, as a coach, and as a consultant.

Seeing your Story

Sometimes, trying to see your own story without someone to reflect with is akin to trying to see your own face without a mirror. Working with your story requires the capacity to parallel process—to watch yourself doing what you are doing, the ability to reflect deeply and learn from that reflection, a great measure of patience, and practice, practice, practice. It also requires a framework to help you think about and understand your story. Hopefully, this material will provide you with the kind of framework and mirror that you need. Having a useful framework, deep self-reflection, and lots of practice can lead to powerful breakthroughs.

Reflection 1

In the journey of learning to see your own systemic story, start observing yourself. “Stand on your own shoulder”, “on the balcony”, and watch yourself in interactions.

Pay particular attention to how you handle challenging situations—what you think about them, how you feel about them, and what you do about them. Thinking, Feeling, and Acting (meaning, affect, and power) are the three fundamental components of your story.

Reflection 2

After doing the above a few times, continue practicing. Observe yourself doing what you are doing, particularly in important, high stakes situations. As David Kantor says, “learn to save 15% of your mind to observe yourself and let the other 85% deal with content.” Learn to pay attention to your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in these situations.

To see your story even more clearly, ask yourself “What is my self talk about this situation? What am I telling myself about it?” Start to think about your self-talk, what you are telling yourself, as a story. Answer this question: “What is the story I am telling myself about this situation?”

Ask yourself “is this way of thinking, behaving, and feeling new for me, or have I done them before? Many people respond to this question with an answer like, “Oh, I’ve always done that; I’ve always been this way.” If something like that is your answer, you can be almost certain that you are beginning to see the plotline of your deep story.

As you practice observing and reflecting, you will find that your thoughts, feelings and behaviors do indeed fit into a storyline that reflects how you have learned to survive and succeed in systems.

Next: Creating a New Story

For many, seeing their story is a breakthrough. As Peter Block once said, “The first step to getting out of the cage you are in is to see the cage you are in.” People often feel a sense of release and start spontaneously thinking, feeling, and behaving differently; they start creating a new story. There are also specific things you can do to create and refine a new leadership story for yourself. Those steps will be the topic of my next post.

Steve is a senior executive coach and consultant. He has developed and successfully uses a powerful approach to leadership coaching, Creating your Leadership Story, which enables leaders to make deep, lasting improvements in their leadership effectiveness in short periods of time. He and a group of partners created a breakthrough educational program, Coaching from a Systems Perspective, in which you can significantly enhance your abilities as a systemic leadership coach.

If you would like to learn more about systemic approaches to leadership or story work, feel free to call or email Steve:

Steven P. Ober EdD

President: Chrysalis Executive Coaching & Consulting
Affiliate: Systems Perspectives, LLC
Office: PO Box 278, Oakham, MA 01068
Home: 278 Crocker Nye Rd., Oakham, MA 01068
O: 508.882.1025 M: 978.590.4219
Email: steven.p.ober@gmail.com
www.ChrysalisCoaching.org

Leadership Blog: https://staging.management.org/blogs/leadership

Posted on

Shutdown Cripples CDC’s Ability to Assist With Salmonella Outbreak

Protecting the rows from falling

Well, that didn’t take long

The first crisis to be directly impacted by the U.S. government’s shutdown reared its head this week in the form of a Salmonella outbreak that’s affecting at least 18 states thus far. Wired’s Maryn McKenna reports:

While the government is shut down, with food-safety personnel and disease detectives sent home and forbidden to work, a major foodborne-illness outbreak has begun. This evening, the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the US Department of Agriculture announced that “an estimated 278 illnesses … reported in 18 states” have been caused by chicken contaminated with Salmonella Heidelberg and possibly produced by the firm Foster Farms.

“FSIS is unable to link the illnesses to a specific product and a specific production period,” the agency said in an emailed alert. “The outbreak is continuing.”

This is the exact situation that CDC and other about-to-be-furloughed federal personnel warned about last week. As a reminder, a CDC staffer told me at the time:

“I know that we will not be conducting multi-state outbreak investigations. States may continue to find outbreaks, but we won’t be doing the cross-state consultation and laboratory work to link outbreaks that might cross state borders.”

That means that the lab work and molecular detection that can link far-apart cases and define the size and seriousness of outbreaks are not happening. At the CDC, which operates the national foodborne-detection services FoodNet and PulseNet, scientists couldn’t work on this if they wanted to; they have been locked out of their offices, lab and emails.

Yes, the shutdown has effectively hamstringed the CDC’s crisis management, leaving the department without resources to monitor, provide information about, or combat an issue directly affecting consumer health. Now one Salmonella outbreak isn’t going to create mass chaos, but it is a sign of the dangers involved in the political drama being played out in Washington. Let’s hope they get it together soon.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, 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]

Posted on

3 Questions for your Life Purpose

Question mark on a yellow background
  • You want your work to be more meaningful.
  • You long for work that serves a higher purpose.
  • You feel a disconnection between what you do for a career and your calling, your life purpose.

If these describe you, you are not alone. From 20-somethings to Baby-boomers, more people are waking up from their slumber and searching for a life worth living.

This isn’t a recent phenomenon by any means. I recently ran across this wonderful poem from Hafiz, a 14th century Sufi mystic, called The Great Work

Love is the great work

Though every heart is first an Apprentice that slaves beneath the city of Light.

This wondrous trade, this magnificent throne your soul is destined for-

You should not have to think much about it,

Is it not clear an apprentice needs a teacher who himself

Has charmed the universe to reveal its wonders inside his cup.

Happiness is the great work

Though every heart must first become a student to one who really knows about Love.

(in “The Gift”, pg 74)

water with affirmation of Joy

Life Purpose is More than Your Job

Have you spent hours reading books and attending seminars on ways your work can fulfill your life purpose?

I’ll save you a lot of money and time right now…. Your life purpose is a WHOLE lot bigger than your job or career.

Pay attention here because this is important:

The secret isn’t to find your life purpose- it’s about living your life WITH purpose.

Your life purpose isn’t hidden somewhere beneath the covers of your bed, or in your clothes, your resume or diploma.

3 Essential Questions for Living WITH Purpose

Your life unfolds WITH purpose- if you are living intentionally.

If you are open to the nudges of your soul calling you to be awake, you live with purpose every day.

You live purposefully with every act, thought, and decision large and small, by dedicating your life to loving service.

If you want to know what your life purpose is just ask these three questions:

  1. How can I be more Loving today?
  2. How I can offer Joy today?
  3. How can I serve others today?

******

As an Author and Coach, Linda J. Ferguson, Ph.D. shares her life purpose by reminding people to walk the path of Love not fear.

www.lindajferguson.com – Sign-Up for valuable tools to live and work from the heart – Transformational Empowerment TM

Linda’s first book “Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service” offers stories and exercises for living with passion and purpose. Available from IndieBound, Amazon, and iStore.

Posted on

Who Should Make The Ask?

Person using a question mark signage to cover their face

A participant on a listserve raised the question: “What skills or personal qualities make one competent to ‘make the ask’ when meeting with a) an individual and b) a corporate representative?”

Because I have some very strong feelings/opinions about the issue, and didn’t want to be angered/frustrated/annoyed by that discussion, I didn’t read the rest of the posting or any of the responses.

Not having read the referenced exchange, I can write what I will without concern that I might be stealing someone else’s thoughts/words.

So, to answer the question, I’ll start with a question.

Could a stranger walk into your home/business and ask you for a “significant” gift to a nonprofit organization … and get it ??

Chances are, if you admitted that stranger into your home/business, that all you’d give (if anything) would be “go-away” money – an amount you could spare, just to get that person to go away.

On the other hand, if that person was not a stranger, but someone with whom you had a relationship, chances are that the check you write would be bigger than the “go-away” amount.

But, if the gift that’s being sought is considered (by you, the solicitor and the NPO) to be significant/major, it’s not likely to be solicited by someone who has just “showed up” at your door.

Before you can ASK for the major gift, there would have had to be created in the mind of the potential donor a reason, a motivation, why s/he would want to make that gift.

The idea is ludicrous that someone could just read an article or a book and become an effective solicitor. Asking for a significant gift has little-or-nothing to do with scripts, formulas, handouts or training.

I always ask my classes who they think would be the best person to ask me for a major gift … to get me to want to make a major gift. Then, after getting knee jerk answers (like a board member or the executive director), I ask who would know me well enough to know my hot buttons, my interests, my commitments and my ability to give.

Eventually, someone suggests that it might be my wife. Of course!

Now, obviously, my wife is not associated with every nonprofit that wants me to make a gift, but there are many other people who know me well enough to participate in my evaluation, cultivation and Ask. Certainly the people who know me can have a lot greater impact on my giving than could a stranger.

I can’t understand how people could think that reading a book on How To Make The Ask will make them more effective than someone who knows and/or is close to the prospect.

In case you’ve forgotten, Development is about relationships. If the book on how to ask doesn’t emphasize that building a relationship comes first, then the rest of the book can’t be worth very much.

So, back to the original question: “What skills or personal qualities make one competent to ‘make the ask’ when meeting with a) an individual and b) a corporate representative?”

The necessary skills are: the ability to build and maintain substantial relationships; the ability to read/understand people so that you’ll know when it’s time to Ask; and, the understanding that Asking means asking for a specific dollar amount. The personal quality most needed is the willingness to Ask.

When and where to do the Ask, and deciding what the Ask amount will be, come directly from the depth of the relationship between the solicitor and the prospect.

Without the relationship, without the knowledge and understanding, all you’re going to get is go-away money. Is that what you want??

I refer you to this blog’s series of postings on Major Gifts ….

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap !! ($1.99-$3.99) 🙂
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating
or expanding your fundraising program?
 AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you’re reading this on-line and 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. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

Posted on

What To Do When Your Presentation Goes Into Overtime

An hourglass

You are in the middle of a client meeting, presenting information that your client has asked for. As you progress through the material, she periodically stops you to ask for clarification or more details. You respond and move on to the next point. It’s going pretty well. Then, suddenly you notice the time. Yikes! It looks like you are about to run out of time. Quick: what do you do?

If you have a little time left:clock face

  • Summarize a few of the less-pertinent items, saving time and helping you get back on track.
  • Take a quick time out to let the client know what is happening. Ask if she is willing to run over by a few minutes, or if not, how to proceed.

If you are completely out of time:

Don’t just keep going. Note the situation and ask your client what she would like to do. Offer options such as these:

  1. Is there some information that can be skipped over?
  2. Is there some information that can be reviewed after the presentation?
  3. Could we schedule a follow up meeting, or perhaps a phone meeting to cover the last few items?

Next time:

  • Be sure you have scheduled a reasonable amount of time for the content. If not, let the client know what to expect and tailor your content accordingly. For example, you may need to limit the number of topics discussed, or the level of detail, or both.
  • During the planning stage, estimate how much time each segment will take. Be realistic; we so often think we can do more than we really can. Build in a little wiggle room for questions.
  • Put important items up front so you are sure to get to them. Think about which items will be most important to your client.
  • Prepare detailed documents that can be left behind if needed; this will be really useful with clients who want to see all the details.
  • Decide ahead of time what items can be ditched if needed. These are often “nice to know” items that can be included in leave-behind materials or in another meeting. Since you already know which ones might have to be discarded, it shouldn’t distract you too much to do so.
  • Check time throughout your presentation so you know if you are on track. If you have the habit of checking in at the midway point and then again at about 75% of your time frame, you should be able to finish right on time.

******

They say timing is everything. By planning ahead and staying alert, you should be able to stick within your time frame, projecting a highly professional image to your clients.

I would love to hear from you. How do you manage your time in informal or formal situations?

Author Gail Zack Anderson, founder of Applause, Inc. is a Twin Cities-based consultant who provides coaching and workshops for effective presentations, facilitation skills for trainers and subject matter experts, and positive communication skills for everyone. She can be reached at gza@applauseinc.net.

Web site: www.applauseinc.net

Blog: www.managementhelp.org/blogs

twitter: @ApplauseInc