Author: Carter McNamara

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MASSIVE CHANGES PROPOSED TO THE COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN (CFC)

If Implemented As Proposed, Changes Could Cut CFC Revenues to Nonprofits by at least 50%

HELP SAVE THE CFC !!

POST YOUR COMMENTS ON THE PROPOSED CFC REGULATIONS

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has proposed massive changes to how the Combined Federal Campaign works. There are more than 40 pages of proposed regulations, and my analysis of the changes can be found at the SAVETHECFC Linked-In Group and on my blog at http://www.cfctreasures.wordpress.com.

There is a public comment period for all proposed government regulations, and the comment period concerning the Combined Federal Campaign proposed regulations closes June 7, 2013.

There are two ways to comment: Send a written letter to Keith Willingham, the OPM’s Director of the Combined Federal Campaign, or submit your comments via the electronic comment function of the Federal Register. I recommend, strongly, that you use the Federal Register method so that other members of the nonprofit community will be able to see your comments.

Subject/Reference Number: RIN 3206-AM68, Solicitation of Federal Civilian and Uniformed Service Personnel for Contributions to Private Voluntary Organizations

HERE IS THE SPECIFIC PAGE TO COMMENT ON THE PROPOSED CFC REGULATIONS: http://www.regulations.gov/…

Here’s one example of a proposed change that will have dire consequences for the Federal CFC donor, for CFC charities, and most importantly the people that receive the services from those nonprofit organizations.

Example of a Proposed Regulation Missing the Mark and having wide negative consequences:

In the CFC-50 Commission meetings there were many people and organizations that spoke to the benefit of extending the campaign to January 15th from the current December 15th end. The reasons for this include, both, year-end charitable giving and federal personnel schedules.

In watching all eight hours of video testimony, reading all the recommendations and appendices in the CFC-50 report, not a single person said “Shift the Campaign” from September-to-December to October-to-January.

“Shifting” is not the same as “extending…”
and there are many negative consequences to shifting, but since there was no mention of this at all in four public meetings over many months, the idea was not addressed.

Hidden Regulations – Federal Retirees Section
Some of the proposed regulations are poorly organized, with no logic behind them, and they have the effect of hiding significant and important changes. For example, the section dealing with Federal retirees, instead of being in a “Donors” section, is hidden in the “establishing Regional Committees” section, ignores the CFC-50 Commission recommendations, and makes a multi-million dollar error in judgment … all in less than a paragraph.

Here’s the link to the section that deals with retirees, hidden in the phrase “and also eliminates restriction on soliciting non-Federal personnel.” 950.103 Establishing Regional Coordinating Committees.

Will Cut CFC Revenues in Half:
If implemented as proposed, these untested changes will have the effect of cutting in half the CFC revenues for thousands of CFC charities, which is what has already happened when such massive changes were tried in workplace giving campaigns at the city and state level.

To see how much revenue was raised in your state through the CFC, please see my worksheet showing the state-by-state totals: http://cfctreasures.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/combined-federal-campaign-2012-results-by-state.

If you have questions or concerns about how you can help save the CFC as one of the most useful programs for millions of Americans who benefit from the $260 million dollars generated annually by this workplace giving campaign, please don’t hesitate to contact me at Bill Huddleston or by phone at 703-434-9780.

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During his 25-year career in the Federal sector, Bill Huddleston, The CFC Coach,
served in many CFC roles. If you want to participate in the Combined Federal
Campaign, maximize your nonprofit’s CFC revenues, or just ask a few questions,
contact Bill Huddleston
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Click this link to find descriptions of all the titles in
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
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How to Manage Resistance in Consulting — Part 1 of 3: What is Resistance?

business-consultant-with-her-clent

Welcome to this 3-part article on managing resistance in consulting projects. This Part 1 describes resistance and how to recognize it. Part 2 will describe how to deal with resistance from your client. Part 3 will describe how to deal with your own resistance as a consultant.

What is Resistance? What Causes it?

An important skill for you to have as an organizational consultant is to effectively recognize and address resistance from clients. This is true whether you are an external or internal consultant. Resistance in a consulting project is when your client (a person or a group in the organization) reacts against recommendations from you or against changes in the organization that seem threatening to them.

Resistance is quite common in consulting projects that focus on changing a significant part or process in the organization. After all, the way your client’s organization has been operating in the past is because one or more people felt strongly that their organization should be operating that way (even though that way they were operating may have caused their problems and is actually what needs to be changed). Thus, any perceived change in their organization can be threatening to them.

Direct and Indirect Resistance

The resistance can be direct or indirect. Direct resistance is your client’s authentic (direct, honest and open) expression about the perceived threat and why they are not going to follow the recommendations or support the change. Indirect resistance is when your client does not authentically admit their concern and, instead, does not cooperate with you. Usually, resistance is indirect and, therefore, can be difficult for you and your client to effectively address.

How to Recognize Another Individual’s Indirect Resistance

Peter Block, in his book Flawless Consulting, provides elegant advice about how to deal with resistance. The first step is to recognize the resistance. Indirect resistance, in consulting projects, can be occurring when:

  • Your client does not return your calls.
  • Your client continues to question the same piece of advice, even after you have repeated your answer several times.
  • Your client tells you that they will have to think about your advice, then takes a few weeks to think about it, and still does not come to a conclusion.
  • Your client postpones meetings with you.
  • Your client suddenly calls you on the phone to say, “Everything’s fine now. You do not need to come back. We’ll send you your check. Goodbye.”

If you do not see resistance, look again. Resistance is useful because it tells you that your client perceives that something must change soon or is already changing. If there is no resistance at any time during your project, it might be that the project is not really addressing the root cause of issues in your client’s organization — or it may be that your own resistance is blinding you to the reality in your consulting project.

What are some other forms of resistance from clients? Are you experiencing any with your clients now? What are you doing about it?

In Part 2, we will describe how to deal with resistance from your client. In Part 3, we will describe how to deal with your own resistance as a consultant.

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For more resources, see the Library topics Consulting and Organizational Development.

Information in this post was adapted from the book Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD. For training on consulting skills, see the Consultants Development Institute.

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250 Read my blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, and Strategic Planning .

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Simple Steps to Small Business Savings

A person stacking coins

(Guest post from Brittany Evans)

It’s amazing how much small purchases can add up when they are being done by an office. That’s because of the volumes involved. For example, a house may have five or 10 lamps inside, but an office can easily have 50-100 bulbs running during operating hours.

Therefore, it’s important to pay attention to these sorts of things so they don’t become stealthy profit killers. Here are a few ways you can lower your operating overhead without compromising operations:

Use a Thermostat With a Timer

To maintain productivity and health, the office thermostat should always be set to comfortable levels during working hours — but you shouldn’t bother heating or cooling an empty building.

If your company is always closed at night or on the weekend, set the thermostat to shut down the climate control during those hours. Make sure to have everything come online about an hour before people arrive for the next workday so no one has to be uncomfortable when the shift starts.

Get Rid of Energy Vampires

If you’re using standard incandescent lighting, switch to compact fluorescent bulbs or LED lights. Fixtures that already use fluorescent tubing should be checked to make sure that bulbs and ballasts are working properly.

If either component begins to fail, it loses efficiency and fails to provide the proper lighting. Flickering fluorescent tubes will also cause lower productivity among workers who are sensitive to the flashing effect.

Go Paperless

Buy supplies online. To ensure that you have purchase protection, get a business credit card at American Express. Online stores often have much better rates than their physical counterparts. Don’t avoid small businesses either — these often have the best deals of all.

Eliminate Disposable Cups

Make everyone bring their own mug to work. This will eliminate both the expense of the cups and the need to make someone do all the dishes. If someone wants to let his mug go until it looks like it’s tar coated, it won’t affect anyone but him.

Carry the Right Amount of Insurance

If your policy is too low, you can find yourself on the hook for unexpected costs — but most businesses don’t need a policy that covers everything, either. Pick a level of coverage that will take care of anything you couldn’t afford to pay for yourself, but no more.

Also, make sure you’re covered against specialized, local disasters like floods or hurricanes. Remember, hurricane insurance usually doesn’t cover water damage — if you’re in a hurricane zone, buy flood insurance too.

Buy Nonperishable Supplies in Bulk Whenever Possible

It’s almost always cheaper to buy a big package instead of a small one, and the savings are even greater if you can get a truly huge package. For items like toilet paper, ear plugs or other things your company will always use, buying small units is just throwing money away. Use a business credit card to make it easy to buy wholesale quantities and keep track of the purchases.

By taking common-sense steps like these, you can save your company a surprising amount of money every month. Other tips include always seeking bids for contracted work and reviewing contracts for ongoing services on an annual basis. Even if you’re satisfied with your current providers, having competitive information handy can allow you to negotiate a better deal.

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How Constructive Conflict Can Supercharge Teams

team work

We often talk about good teamwork as everyone getting along and coming together with the same vision. It may sound counter intuitive to say the best way to promote teamwork is through conflict.

Teamwork coaching rhetoric often tells us conflict is something to be avoided, but the truth is that a healthy amount of discord will help your team perform at its best. Conflict can feed your team’s creativity. Using it effectively allows you to mold your team dynamic into something that is collaborative and intensely productive.

Constructive v. Destructive Conflict

Many leadership training manuals focus on how to resolve conflict, but in truth, this approach fails to recognize the need for constructive conflict. There is such a thing as positive confrontation, and though destructive conflict hurts the team, constructive conflict drives it forward.

When two team members have a personality conflict or when one refuses to respect another, this is destructive conflict. The things fueling this are generally not related to the project at hand but competition and individual egos. Destructive conflict involves personal attacks and insinuations that people are not doing their jobs based on personality traits.

On the other hand, constructive conflict allows people to move forward together, attacking weaknesses in processes and designs without attacking each other. They have the same goal; they just disagree on the best way to get there. When kept under control, this can be very synergistic.

Spurs New Ideas

Studies show that better policies emerge from groups where dissent is welcomed than when there are a lot of people in a room who think exactly the same way. When people know they can safely express their own opinions, new ideas are forthcoming.

To jump start this kind of culture, a team leader may ask members to formulate their opinions on a matter and write it down before a meeting of minds. This allows them to organize their thoughts and gives them confidence to defend their own position while critiquing others’ ideas intelligently.

Acts as a Vehicle for Collaboration

Constructive conflict allows people to take a good idea, bang it around, and reshape it into a great idea. The result is that teams can benefit from each others’ strengths and different points of view.

As a team leader, you may need to referee to make sure confrontation stays constructive. Sometimes it means staying out of the way and letting arguments run their course. Other times it means wading in and restoring focus to the discussion. This type of leadership encourages teams to talk and to share ideas freely, but it allows them to feel safe doing so because they know you will not let things get out of hand.

Conflict Keeps Energy High

We’ve all been there. When you’re eight weeks into a project it can feel like all the teamwork coaching in the world could not keep your people motivated. The issue is that we are all prone to lose energy and motivation as projects draw out or become repetitive. We all get tired, and there is nothing wrong with that.

However, when people have something to spur them forward they can stay much more energized for extended periods of time. Team members challenging each other to constantly look for new and better ways of doing things, talking through road blocks, etc. helps feed the creativity and the synergy of the team. In this way teams can be their own sources of energy during the long hauls.

Gives Everyone a Voice

The strength of constructive conflict is that everyone has a chance to give their two cents. Instead of one or two people blazing forward through trial and error, a focused team can often whittle away at dead ends until all that’s left is the right way. A diversity of voices and solutions is necessary for growth in a competitive environment.

Keep in mind that it’s common in charged discussions for a couple of dominant egos to take over the room. It’s the manager’s job make sure everyone gets a chance to speak. Call on people, or find another way for them to make sure their words are heard and you are benefiting from their expertise.

As a team leader, the better you can set the ground rules for conflict in your team, the sooner individuals will learn to live within them. This will make conflict a tool of productivity and unity among team members, not just a problem to be avoided.

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Matthew Goyette is a team leaders and a lifelong student of team building. He also serves as a blogger for Moementum, a company that provides organizational coaching and consulting.

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Timeless Principles versus Technology, Why Workplace Giving Works

Workplace giving has been around for a long time. Indeed, you can make the case that the person who invented workplace giving was Benjamin Franklin … but that’s an analysis for a different venue.

The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) was established in 1961, and has been going strong for the past 52 years; and one reason that is so is because an integral part of a CFC campaign is face-to-face communication.

In a CFC campaign there are multiple opportunities for face-to-face communication, including some that non-profits may be able to participate in – i.e., the kickoff events and charity fairs.

One of the aspects about the CFC that is often overlooked, is that one of the “tasks” of the federal CFC volunteers (including those making the direct solicitation – called: keyworkers) is to engage in face-to-face communication with their colleagues.

Aside from the dollar goal(s), a major objective a CFC campaign is to have a 100% rate of asking people to participate.

This face-to-face communication is one of the reasons that the CFC continues to be successful. More than 50 years after its creation, it just keeps chugging along, generating millions of unrestricted dollars for thousands of local, national, and international non-profits.

I have a mouse pad that I got at a charity fair years ago that lists the ten reasons people give – as follows:

WHY PEOPLE GIVE

  1. People are inherently generous.
  2. People give to people.
  3. People give because they are asked.
  4. People give in relation to the person who asks.
  5. People respond to a specific request for support.
  6. People give to peers.
  7. People give to people in a campaign atmosphere—annual or capital.
  8. People give to positive, enthusiastic solicitors.
  9. Most people want, and all donors deserve recognition for their gifts.
  10. People give to successful and beneficial programs and to make an investment in advancing good work.

When you look at this list, you see that workplace giving actual hits 9 of the 10 reasons listed, the only one that does not take place in a CFC campaign is Number 5, because the keyworkers are not asking for the donors to support a specific charity, rather for the donor to support the ones he or she cares about. Also note that Numbers 2,3,4,6, 7, and 8 all relate to face-to-face communication.

Meanwhile, some private companies that have attempted to move their workplace giving campaigns to 100% online, have seen significant drops in the amount of money raised and in the participation rate … a decline that has often been more than 50 percent in both categories.

This doesn’t mean that the CFC hasn’t kept up with technology, at this point all CFC campaigns have a website, and in most cases the listing of the CFC charities for a region is searchable online as well, and these are just a few basic examples. Many are also on Facebook and are using other tools of the 21st century to help accomplish their goals.

Within a CFC campaign, the central contractor to the government that is responsible for the campaign management is what is called the Principal Combined Fund Organization, or PCFO. (I know it’s a jargon term, but it is a government program after all). The PCFOs are the organizations that manage the overall campaign (and later are responsible for the disbursement of funds – hence the “Fund” part of the name), print the campaign materials, and organize regional kickoffs. The Federal government periodically recompletes the contracts for non-profits that wish to apply to be the PCFO for a given region.

Earlier this year the contract for the largest CFC in the country which is the National Capital Area CFC, and effective April 1, 2013 the new PCFO is EarthShare. The CEO of EarthShare is Kal Stein, who was a member of the CFC-50 Commission that held hearings on ways to improve the CFC during its 50th Anniversary Year.

I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Stein and the several areas that he said EarthShare intends to concentrate are: ways to increase the awareness of the CFC in the community, to implement more of the social media tools in campaigns, and to make sure that Federal employees are recognized for their contributions to the non-profit world via their CFC participation.

He also expressed a commitment to finding ways to help CFC charities by increasing the emphasis on finding ways for Federal employees to volunteer with the charities they support.

If you have suggestions for EarthShare, please share them by posting comments on the blog, or by sending them directly to me, and I will be glad to share them with Mr. Stein.

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During his 25-year career in the Federal sector, Bill Huddleston, The CFC Coach,
served in many CFC roles. If you want to participate in the Combined Federal
Campaign, maximize your nonprofit’s CFC revenues, or just ask a few questions,
contact Bill Huddleston

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Have you seen … The Fundraising Series of ebooks.

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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.

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Introversion Isn’t Something to be Managed

Introversion-Isnt-Something-to-be-Managed

(Guest post from Jan Terkelsen )

Have you ever thought that managing people with introversion is challenging? Or that you have to “manage” them in some way. I’m guilty. Yes, guilty of seeing introversion as something that you have to change or manage.

As a Myers Briggs practitioner and workshop facilitator I am often asked to run team sessions so teams can understand how to communicate more effectively with each other and with external clients.

When I first began my career running these workshops and prepping for workshops, I would start to collate the workshop participant’s type reports, and see if the majority of their preferences were for introversion or extraversion. If I knew that the majority of people in the workshop were introverts, I caught myself saying “Oh no, how am I going to keep the energy up, or the discussion going? How can I get the discussion happening so we can really flesh out issues, or How am I going to keep my energy up so I can deliver a great experience?” (Yes, that last one was all about me.)

Notice the comments were about energy, engagement and discussion. This is what most people consider to be important inputs into a workshop, meeting and team environment; however, an introvert may see it differently. This is where we have one the biggest dichotomies in the corporate workplace.

The corporate workplace is set up to congratulate and validate extraversion yet 50% of the people in the corporate workplace have a preference for introversion and the gifts of introversion is exactly what the corporate workplace needs.

People who have a preference for Introversion:

  • Get their energy from the inner world of ideas, concepts and emotions.
  • Tend to think then talk then think. Yes, these are the people who never, or rarely, put their foot in it, or regret what they say.
  • Tend to be brief in their communication and dialogue.
  • Prefer to have one on one or intimate interactions with people.
  • Like to reflect and analyze information before commenting.
  • Tend to get deeper insight after a conversation.
  • Prefer to share well thought out or near perfect thoughts and ideas.
  • Usually have a depth of interests and are subject matter experts.
  • Prefer written information ahead of time so they can reflect and process the information.
  • Tend to have contained body language.

After facilitating and coaching thousands of people, I know that introversion is just a preference and the gifts and talents that introversion offers is just as relevant and important as the gifts of extraversion.

As a manager you will need to accommodate a variety of styles, preferences and competing demands.

By increasing your level of self awareness and understanding of your communication style and strengths, you can then use this knowledge to manage and coach others in your team, so they can demonstrate their gifts and talents. This is the best way the team can leverage from each others’ strengths.

It isn’t that introversion needs to be managed; it needs to be validated and acknowledged. Understand that people with a preference for introversion do not show the outside world their strong suit; we are not privy to their best, most dominant process or way of thinking. Introverts leave that for the inner part of their world.

Isabel Briggs Myers, the co -creator of the MBTI and author of Gifts Differing, likens it to a General and an Aide. The Introvert’s General is inside the tent and we, the outside world meet the Aide so we see their least dominant preference or process.

Only when the business is very important, or the friendship is very close, do other people get in to see the General himself. As a result, the outside world can underestimate an introvert’s abilities and also get an incomplete understanding of her talents, wishes and point of view.

So, if you are managing a team with introverts, be mindful that by having just ordinary contact with them they haven’t necessarily revealed what really matters to them. If there is a decision to be made, they should be told about it as fully as possible and if it is important to them the General will then come out.

Let’s start to see introversion as a gift and talent and something to be celebrated and validated. Perhaps then the general will come out more often.

People open up and do their best work when they know like and trust the people they are dealing with. Be that type of manager.

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Jan Terkelsen is an Executive Coach helping business managers to become business leaders and their staff to become high performing teams. Using a range of modalities – Executive Coaching, Team Coaching and Facilitation and Corporate Speaking – Jan also specialises in the use of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), for one-on-one coaching purposes and for improving team dynamics and communication. http://www.janterkelsen.com Ph 0425 795 938

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Five Challenges Your Company Will Face When Using Virtualization to Store Data

A man in suit working in an office

(Guest post from Dawn Altnam Follow her on Twitter! @DawnAltnam )

Some analysts would argue that virtualization is either having, or getting ready to have its big moment in the data storage world. Companies in large numbers are starting to see the clear advantages of implementing sophisticated and basic virtualization technology into their data storage solutions.

Even with all the tools that virtualization provides – IT simplification, boosted computing power and increased server management efficiency – there are some key challenges that will keep virtualization from advancing into the next phase of technological advancement. In this post, we’ll uncover five of the biggest challenges facing virtualization for businesses in the years ahead.

The Top Five Challenges Facing Data Virtualization

1. Meeting the Demand of Virtualization Technology –

The hard reality of virtualized server management is that the environment itself is highly dynamic. This is a complicated technology, which will require an advanced IT team to be able to understand and manage the virtualization system. Since the technology is always evolving, individuals maintaining the systems must stay informed on developments and breakthroughs in the industry.

2. The Hard Reality of Server Management –

According to a recent white paper published by Morgan Stanley, contrary to popular belief, virtual server management isn’t any more timesaving than a physical server. In most cases, a company is dealing with several virtual servers at once, which can put a heavy burden on the IT staff.

3. Infrastructure Issues –

There are several selling points that make a virtual server environment attractive. Developing a virtual server is fairly easy, and deploying applications within this environment is even easier. The problem is that most organizations don’t have the proper infrastructure in place to keep up with the demands of the constantly evolving virtualized environment that runs their servers.

4. Economics –

It’s hard to argue with the fact that virtualization has significantly lowered IT costs associated with server management in recent years. The problem is that as much money as virtualization saves companies, there’s the reality that hypervisor and virtualization costs take up a large chunk of the IT budget on the datacenter level.

5. Virtualization Procrastination –

Finally, there are many companies that continue to drag their feet when it comes to virtualization adoption. A large chunk of these virtualization procrastinators are perpetually stuck in the test and development stage, and they never really make that next step to implement.

These companies are often afraid to make the switch because they feel that virtualization hasn’t “arrived” on the security and stability front. What they don’t realize is that virtualization adoption is more sophisticated and stable than ever.

While these are significant hurdles for many companies to get over, these are not debilitating for the virtualization industry as a whole. Companies can upgrade their infrastructure in a way that scales to meet the demand of their dynamic virtualized server solutions.

They can also overcome economical barriers by rearranging their IT budget in a way that balances out costs. More importantly, they can leap right out of the test and dev phase, and fully adopt virtualization as their server management solution of choice.

About the author: Dawn Altnam lives and works in the Midwest, and she enjoys following the business tech world. After furthering her education, she has spent some time researching her interests and blogging of her discoveries often. Follow her on Twitter! @DawnAltnam

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Some Pitfalls for Action Learning Facilitators — and How to Avoid Them

A-group-of-female-colleagues-colloborating-in-a-businee

I have facilitated Action Learning groups for several decades and taught others to facilitate, as well. While there are numerous pitfalls that a facilitator can fall into, here are some of the most common, especially among new facilitators. Each of the pitfalls can detract from the participation and responsibilities of members in the Action Learning group. Each usually occurs because facilitators mistake their own needs for those of the members. Near the end of this post, I share my ideas for avoiding or recovering from these pitfalls. I encourage you to share your ideas, as well.

Refuge In the Role of Expert

There is tremendous inertia among new facilitators to fall back on the “expert” role, which shores up the facilitator’s confidence, but too often cultivates passivity among group members. Usually, a facilitator is perceived as an expert during the training about the Action Learning process. Therefore, it is natural for members to continue to perceive the facilitator as sharing wisdom from a training role — a role that can inadvertently cripple the success of the facilitation when it should be bringing out the wisdom of the group.

Hijacking the Action Learning

Similarly, it is very seductive to begin padding the Action Learning process with seemingly small and incremental “assignments” which, while shoring up the confidence of the facilitator, also insidiously mutate the Action Learning process into a traditional instructor-led training program. For example, consider an Action Learning program designed to resolve a complex issue in an organization. The new facilitator might have read various articles about a certain new organizational change model that seems very interesting to the facilitator, but that the client and sponsor insist are not compatible to the nature and needs of the organization. Still, the facilitator assigns the model to the group members.

Rescuer Syndrome

This occurs when a facilitator succumbs to the urge to “rescue” a group member who is struggling with a particularly difficult issue. This can occur especially when the struggling member is considering thoughtful questions posed from other group members in a meeting. On those occasions, the facilitator might mistake the struggle to be the result of the failings of his facilitation, the Action Learning process or of other group members. So the facilitator might rescue a member by asking very leading questions or even answering the questions for the member.

Loses Love for Learning

Sometimes a new facilitator also takes refuge in using the same, very comfortable techniques and tools. For example, the facilitator finds a particular set of coaching questions to be especially comfortable and so he consistently asserts that set for the group members. Perhaps Hughes, in Pedler’s “Action Learning in Practice” (p. 109), puts it best, “If and when I begin to … become expert, thinking `I’m getting competent/good/slick at this Action Learning set advising business’ then I think it will be time for me to stop, for certainly my own learning will have stopped then.”

Abandoning Group Wisdom

It is natural for facilitators to have bad days — days when it is very difficult to feel centered when facilitating. On those occasions, it is also natural to sense issues in the group where those issues might not even exist. For example, because the facilitator is feeling especially irritable or impatient, he might conclude that members need to “go deeper” in their questioning. He might interrupt them to insist that they do a better job of questioning because “there’s a deeper level that you’re not reaching yet.”

Some Suggested Practices to Address These Pitfalls

The following practices can help facilitators and group members to avoid, or address, all of these piftalls.

  1. When training group members about Action Learning, empower members to regularly share questions and opinions about the quality of the a) Action Learning program, b) facilitation, c) resources/articles, d) meetings and e) individuals’ results.
  2. Build in time in each meeting for members to share their opinions and reflections about the above aspects.
  3. Build in intentional and systematic program evaluations near the middle and end of the program, that ask about the quality of the above aspects.
  4. When training about Action Learning, also clarify the differences between the roles of the trainer and facilitator, and when each role is best used.
  5. When training group members, show them examples of when the facilitator’s intervention is helpful and when it might not be so helpful.
  6. Review ground rules at the beginning of each meeting, including a ground rule that all opinions are honored.
  7. Have a very brief portion of the agenda dedicated to sharing interesting materials that are not directly related to the program, when needed, but be sure to clarify the purpose of the materials and to review them outside of the meeting.
  8. If the facilitator senses that the presenter is struggling or is not getting value during a meeting, then ask the presenter, “Are we being helpful to you?” and then let the presenter reflect on the quality of the help that he is getting. The presenter might be finding tremendous value, even though the facilitator does not think so.
  9. If the facilitator is asked by the group to train about a certain practice that typically is not part of the Action Learning program or process, then he should make time outside of the meeting to do that training. On those occasions, the facilitator might say, “I’m putting on my ‘trainer hat’ for now, and will put on my ‘facilitator hat’ when we’re back in our Action Learning session again.”
  10. When the facilitator feels excited about offering a new article or other resource, he should always collaborate with the client, sponsor and group members to be sure that the resource is focused on the aims of the program.
  11. Join a peer group of facilitators to share feedback and learning from these experiences and pitfalls.

Summary

Paulo Freire, in “Pedagogy in Process: The Letters to Guinea-Bissau” provides what might be the most accurate description of the most effective form of help provided by the facilitator role: “Authentic help means that all who are involved help each other mutually, growing together in the common effort to understand the reality which they seek to transform. Only through such praxis — in which those who help and those who are being helped help each other simultaneously — can the act of helping become free from the distortion in which the helper dominates the helped.”

? What do you think? Are there other pitfalls? Other ways to avoid them?

Thank you!

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Here are more resources on Action Learning

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD is a principal consultant in Action Learning Source, an alliance that offers Action Learning workshops and services. For more information, see ActionLearningSource.com

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The Dog That Didn’t Bark, and Should Touchdowns be worth 10 Points?

Hand writing the word REGULATIONS

This posting by: Bill Huddleston

Massive CFC Changes Proposed

…Riveting Reading in the Federal Register
I realize I’m mixing metaphors in the headline, but the intent is to get your attention about something that is very important to any nonprofit that is enrolled in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), or is considering applying in the future.

During the 50th Anniversary of the Combined Federal Campaign in 2011, there was a special advisory council formed, named the CFC-50 Commission with the charter to hold several public hearings and make recommendations to the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on ways to improve and streamline the CFC.

As I write this (in late January), the draft CFC regulations have been proposed, but they have not yet been published in the Federal Register, which is the government site where all proposed government regulations are posted. The standard window for public comments is 60 days from the date of publication in the Federal register.

By the time you’re reading this, the regulations will probably be published, and I will have information on my website about them and how to comment. As citizens, anyone can comment and suggest improvements or concerns about proposed government regulations, which by law, the sponsoring agency must consider.

I realize that this is different than all of my other postings on how to use the CFC as one of the tools in your development toolbox for generating unrestricted funds, but this is a rare opportunity to make the case about ways to improve the CFC for both charities and donors. Regulations have been updated over the years, with the most recent being in 2007 when the CFC code numbers went from 4 digits to 5 digits and many of the application hurdles were eliminated.

These proposed cfc-50 rule changes are a much bigger deal. They’re on a par with changing the rules of football so that touchdowns are worth 10 points, but it’s now to be played on a 120-yard field.

The proposed regulations print out on 53 pages so I can’t cover it in detail in this post. The intended goal of the proposed regulations is to “streamline the operations and increase the effectiveness of the program to ensure its continued growth and success.”

I certainly agree with that goal, but I do have two types of concerns with the draft regulations, one type is that I think some of the proposed regulations will not have that effect, and indeed will instead have a negative effect, such as the proposal to completely eliminate the printed catalog of CFC charities.

The second type of concern I have, and this is even more fundamental is what is not included in the proposed regulations, and there is no mention about whether it was considered or not. As fans of Sherlock Holmes will recognize from the headline above, in the case of the Silver Blaze Mystery the major clue was the fact that the watchdog did not bark. In the case of the proposed CFC regulations, what’s missing is any consideration or approach for allowing retirees to continue to contribute to their favorite charities through the CFC, if they wish to do so. Given the amount of Federal retirements that have already taken place, and will continue to occur as the baby boomers retire, this has huge consequences for the CFC and the charities the Federal donor supports.

Another proposed rule change is to have some type of application fee associated with the CFC, but the amount and how this would work is not specified.

Another example of something not mentioned, is that when the 2007 regulations were proposed, one of the stated reasons for going to a 5 digit code was so that any Federal employee could donate to any nonprofit, regardless of where he or she lived. For example, if someone living in the Washington DC area wanted to donate to mom’s favorite CFC nonprofit back in Iowa, they could. This is not allowed under the current organization for local charities, and it is not mentioned in the proposed regulations.

I will have a detailed analysis of the proposed regulations on my website by the time you are reading this. Please check it out for both the analysis, and instructions on how to comment on proposed regulations through the Federal Register.
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During his 25-year career in the Federal sector, Bill Huddleston, The CFC Coach, served in many CFC roles. If you want to participate in the Combined Federal Campaign, maximize your nonprofit’s CFC revenues, or just ask a few questions, contact … Bill Huddleston
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Have you heard about The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
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What is Action Learning?

A-lady-taking-notes-while-having-an-online-lecture

Simply put, Action Learning is a group-based process that is proven to generate innovative and creative solutions to address complex problems and opportunities for individuals, teams and organizations.

  • Action Learning is an ongoing, highly focused process among 4-8 group members who help each other to address real, current, important problems or opportunities in their lives or work – and learn at the same time.
  • In highly structured, Action Learning meetings, members help each other, primarily by sharing thoughtful questions to help report, clarify and frame the priorities and then to generate relevant and realistic actions to address the priorities. The questioning is a hallmark of Action Learning.
  • Another hallmark is that members take those actions between meetings. The actions are selected to make an impact on the priority and to generate learning.
  • Members accomplish deep and significant learning, especially from reflecting on the questions and the results of their actions between meetings.

There are different perspectives and “schools” of Action Learning, for example, so people believe that Action Learning should include only questions and that any statements are only in response to questions. Others believe there’s a role for advice. This diversity adds to the richness and applicability of Action Learning.

Reg Revans originated Action Learning in the 1930s in the United Kingdom. Today, it’s commonplace in the vast majority of highly effective learning and development programs of organizations around the world.

Here are several quotes that can enhance your understanding of Action Learning.

  • “…. learning … consists mainly in their new perceptions of what they are doing and in their changed interpretations of their past experiences.”
    — Reginald Revans, original developer of Action Learning
  • “Action Learning is a process underpinned by a belief in individual potential: a way of learning from our actions, and from what happens to us, and around us, by taking the time to question, understand and reflect, to gain insights, and consider how to act in the future.”
    — Krystyna Weinstein, in “Action Learning: A Practical Guide”

Mike Pedler and Christine Abbott wrote “… the acid test is whether people concerned are helping each other to take action on their problems and challenges, and whether they are learning from this work” (Facilitating Action Learning, McGraw Hill, 2013, p. 20).

For more interpretations of Action Learning, see Wikipedia’s definition .

Here are more resources on Action Learning

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250 Read my blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, and Strategic Planning .