A Planning Study Is Research

A Planning Study Is Research

In my August 12th posting, I provided a link to a three-part piece on Planning Studies. In that series, I discussed how/why the Planning Study is the best way to determine what programs/activities donors are likely/willing to support, and for identifying which donors will support which program/activity.

In a Planning Study you are interviewing people/donors who have agreed to be interviewed. People who are amenable to being asked detailed questions, many of which will touch on the personal. Without question, the Planning Study is Research.

Keep in mind that the people who are the best interviewees are likely to be former and prospective major donors; and, it is also likely that they have participated in previous studies … for yours or other organizations. It is also likely that they know and understand the “Study Process” and its purpose.

The Study, therefore, should be designed with consideration for all of that.

Questions should be similar to the following:

“Of which programs/activities is the community most aware?”
“Which program/activity do you think should get funding priority?”
“Which programs do you think your colleagues/friends/peers would support?”
“What about this program appeals to you?”
“Would you like to name that program after you and/or your wife, or you parents?”
“What would you do to make ‘that’ happen?”

Often, the best questions are:

“What can we do to get you to want to support that program?” and,
“What can we do to get you to get your others to support that program?”

But you can’t ask those questions in a vacuum. There has to be a relationship between the organization and the potential interviewees. Those people have to “want” to be interviewed. They have to feel that granting an interview will satisfy one-or-more of their needs; and, they have to feel that the interview will produce the results they desire.

Next Week, a piece on “Funding for Donor Acquisition & for Donor Research”

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[Infographic] The Impact of Food Recalls

A-food-delivery-man-with-his-bike.

How do food recalls affect your business?

Food recalls are the most common type of recall we see. Just because they’re common doesn’t render their impact any less though. Indeed, food recalls have an affect on many aspects of business you may not have ever considered.

If you haven’t given too much thought to exactly what a food recall might do to your organization, this infographic from CheckIt.net will open your eyes:

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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, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is vice president for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

– See more at: https://staging.management.org/blogs/crisis-management/2015/09/22/our-media-training-manual-keeping-the-wolves-at-bay-now-100-free/#sthash.22ANbpGG.dpuf

Law of Attraction: Release your Judgments and your Pain

happy-business-colleagues-using-mobile-phones-chatting

I have worked with several Coaching clients this year who recently lost their job. Like so many people in that situation, their fear over finances started to suck their energy, and drag them into a downward spiral.

To add salt to the wound, they also beat themselves up over losing their job. They add extra layers of blame, shame, and judgment to their current life situation. This only compounds their pain.

Typically my clients come to me emotionally wounded and mentally fatigued. They lack self-confidence to move forward and need an emotional boost to find their next job.

I help my clients step back from their experience enough to see it through a different lens.

Often just a few key insights helps shift their energy, re-gain their confidence, and provide hope for their job search.

Law of Attraction – How to use it and Understand it

Two of these Job Coaching clients have worked with me to use and understand Law of Attraction better.

I can share dozens of stories where Law of Attraction was vividly demonstrated. It Works and It Is Real.

Whatever we project into the world, we attract (good and bad). Our thoughts, feelings, energy are magnets. So you need to be careful what you think, feel, do because it will be returned to you.

  • If we think self-ish thoughts or act self-ishly, we’ll attract self-ish people into our life.
  • If we think helpful thoughts or give generously, we’ll attract helpful people to us.
  • If we think we want to die or kill some aspect of our life, we develop a series illness or injury.

stairway to rainbow circle in clouds

Note: This point is important because it speaks to the deeper level that Law of Attraction works.

Our life works at a Soul AND Ego level – in everything we think, say or do. To live more joyfully, become intentional and aware of what you think, feel, and do. Then you can consciously draw to you what is for your Right Highest Good at your deeper soul level.

The key is to align your thoughts, judgments, behaviors, and emotions with your soul growth and Inherent Divine Nature more consciously.

The challenge at our ego/conscious level is to release judgments that our life experiences are ‘good’ vs. ‘bad’.

If you see your job loss as horrible, unfair, unwanted, etc., you’ll experience more pain because of those judgments and beliefs.

Instead, you can affirm a job loss was in your Right Highest Good at a deeper soul level. Hold the awareness that your experience is helping you grow spiritually, increase your faith, and aligns you more with your True Nature.

You’ll then shift from pain to hope.

Suffering and Judgments

Now I’ve been through a divorce, lost a job I loved, had financial hardships, lost beloved pets and dear friends. So I know how painful all these experiences can be. I’m not saying you won’t grieve or go through a time of feeling really awful. I’ve been in that pit of despair and know how much it really sucks.

What I AM saying is that how quickly you move through your grief, pain, judgment, blaming, shaming, clinging to the past – that all determines how quickly you shift the spiral of emotions…. and hence shift what you attract going forward.

Whether you’re going through an illness, job loss, ending a relationship etc., you’ll experience greater pain to the extent you add extra layers of judgments to what happened.

You can give yourself a bad emotional or mental lashing for what happened…just know that only adds salt to the wound.

If you continue to feel bad about what happened, feel disappointed, feel ashamed, your judgments and beliefs will keep pulling you in that direction.

It’s your judgments and thoughts that are perpetuating your pain, not the fact that you lost your job.

And…. Your judgments and emotions fuel the Law of Attraction to attract similar pain.

Reframe your Thoughts and You Shift your Experiences

This is why I remind my Coaching clients (and you here) to re-frame your thoughts around losing your job, relationship, home etc. Divine Discontent man image

Once you shift gears and reverse your judgments and emotions, you’ll shift what’s attracted to you. You can either keep spiraling down with your negative emotions and judgments, or you can catch yourself and reverse the spiral.

 

To shift the spiral of pain:

  1. Notice the judgments you are putting on the situation – are you continually saying how awful things are, how badly you were treated, or how crappy you feel?
  1. Affirm that what is happening is for your soul development and conscious evolution. Your soul growth comes from letting go of your judgments, emotional self-lashing, victim consciousness, poor pity me thinking.

Affirm that what is happening for your Right Highest Good and move forward from there.

 

Law of Attraction and Soul Fulfillment

If you understand Law of Attraction at a deeper soul level, you then see and understand that you are being guided, nudged, perhaps pushed to another expression of yourself that your old job/relationship/home etc didn’t allow you to have.

There is extra responsibility living in conscious awareness of how Law of Attraction works.

There is also more power in it too. When you learn to catch yourself in a negative spiral, you have more control to reverse it and pull more positive experiences to you.

Play with this over the coming week. Start with something less challenging and see how you do controlling and shifting your thoughts, emotions, judgments.

When something disappointing happens, notice your thoughts, judgments and emotions. See when you shift those judgments and emotions, things shift in your life.

Have fun practicing this over the next few days and weeks.

Bright Blessings.

~ Linda ~

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Linda J. Ferguson, Ph.D. is a Job and Life Coach. Her Coaching provides guidance and fresh perspectives to help you succeed at work and live joyfully. Visit www.lindajferguson.com/coaching/

Like Linda’s FB page for more blog posts and updates of Linda’s work.

Share Linda’s 10th Anniversary edition of “Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service”as a gift for a colleague, friend or family member who desires to integrate their spiritual life and their work life. Available on Amazon- Click HERE

Sign-Up on Linda’s website for her Transformational Empowerment series to live and work from the heart – www.lindajferguson.com

Looking to Improve Your Media Interview Skills?

A-woman-undergoing-an-interview-session

A quick guide to get you working on this priceless crisis management ability

Speaking in front of any group of people is a fear most humans share. Add cameras, and you push the stress levels straight into the stratosphere.

You won’t find articles touting “That One Crazy Trick Media Trainers Hate!”, or books selling “Five Minutes to Media Mastery” because the one real way to reduce these fears and manage your performance is to put extensive effort into preparation and practice.

There are a number of skills involved in delivering a strong media interview, and it helps to have some guidance to set you down the right path. With that in mind, we’d like to share an infographic, created by Udemy and Elena Verlee, that does an excellent job of answering the question, “where do I start when I’m looking to improve my media interview skills?”

[Click to expand]

Kowal Udemy Media Interview Checklist 2015-06 final

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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, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is vice president for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

– See more at: https://staging.management.org/blogs/crisis-management/2015/08/26/ashley-madison-using-cash-for-crisis-management/#sthash.zGXcOf4Q.dpuf

PR Skills – Engaging Journalists via Social Media

Social-media-live-blogger-in-a-session-with-a-female-online-podcast

Making connections using social technology

Crafting the perfect press release or determining the ideal story goes a long way, but although we have many tools to self-publish today it still can’t quite compare to the clout a journalist for the right publication carries. Knowing that your average journalist is a heavy social media user, it’s an obvious avenue of communication to pursue, and this infographic from Text100 will help you figure out how to get results:

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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, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is vice president for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

– See more at: https://staging.management.org/blogs/crisis-management/2015/08/26/ashley-madison-using-cash-for-crisis-management/#sthash.PckgZM7G.dpuf