Category: Organization Development

Yesterday, I wrote an article about what was important to include in a board orientation package http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/2010/09/07/6-important-items-to-include-in-board-orientation-packages/ . While some people felt that it would be overwhelming to give new board members all that information. I continue to reiterate that it is important that your board be well informed in order for them to make good decisions.

In one of the LinkedIn groups that I belong to, two people offered up some great additional ideas on what should be included. They are:

Angineeki Jones suggested the following also be included:

• A copy of the Executive Director’s job description because the board does oversee the ED.
• Goals that have been set for the previous and present years.
• A copy of the organization’s bylaws, as this is the basis of all their decisions and how the organization will function.
• A copy of the articles of incorporation.
• A list of other board members with term end dates.

Sally Witte suggested you also include a copy of the most recent audited financial statement.

These suggestions sparked one more idea on my part. That is to include your most recent and previous year’s Annual General Meeting Reports.

Question of the Day: Can you think of anything else that should be included in your board orientation package?

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

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It’s important that a lot of thought and consideration go into the development of your organization’s board package. A board package is an organization’s first opportunity to orient their new board members to their organization. Therefore, your board will be as well informed about your organization as you make them.

Board packages are not just information; they are an opportunity to brand your organization with your new board members. It gives them insight into the type of organization you have how it operates and what it focuses on.

A good board package should include the following:

• Introduction – An introduction to your organization that includes its mission, vision and values and information on what approach it takes in achieving its goals.
• Backgrounder – Educating your board about how your organization began and any changes to its structure and goals during its life span. This should also include information about what and who stimulated the creation of the organization, as well as the process followed to create the organization.
• Board meeting minutes – It should include minutes from the past year’s board meetings, financial reports and any attachments that go with those minutes.
• Organizational Chart – It’s hard for an individual to make good policy decisions for an organization if they don’t have a good handle on what the structure of the organization. That is why supplying an up-to-date organizational chart is important.
• List of funders – Board members should be provided with a list of who the funders of the organizations are, what their investments are in the organization and whether the funding is annual, multi-year or one time.
• Organizational Policy Manual – Board members should be given a copy of the organizational policy manual in either hard copy or electronically. A board member should be able to become familiar with existing policies to be able to make good decisions about adjustment to policies or the creation of new policies.

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

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Good crisis management is rarely about attracting a lot of attention and staying in the news. In fact, many fine examples of crisis management have gone nearly unnoticed except for the parties involved. This quote from a NY Times article explains:

“Companies that typically handle crises well, you never hear about them,” says James Donnelly, senior vice president for crisis management at the public relations colossus Ketchum, who — like many practitioners contacted for this article — required elaborate promises that he would not be portrayed as speaking about any particular company. “There’s not a lot of news when the company takes responsibility and moves on. The good crisis-management examples rarely end waving the flag of victory. They end with a whisper, and it’s over in a day or two.”

While “over in a day or two” may be a slight exaggeration in most cases, it is true that most successful crisis management campaigns do not end with a bang. The media has little interest in continuing to hammer an organization which is committed to honesty and making amends, so the issues of those involved are settled and public interest tapers off. Additionally, in some cases, we crisis managers are able to actually help a crisis-struck organization avoid news coverage altogether.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

One of the biggest concerns companies have about venturing onto social media is a fear that detractors, competitors or others who dislike their brand will comment publicly, venting their problem and leaving open the door for a lot of negative viral buzz. Their thinking is that if they aren’t on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or any of the other major sites, those naysayers or disgruntled types will have no public venue through which to flog them. The fatal flaw in this strategy is that angry consumers or clients don’t need a home base through which to damage a company and its reputation. They have their own home base through their individual social media platforms.

This quote is from a featured article in the latest Crisis Manager newsletter. Written by much lauded online branding and marketing expert Cindy Ratzlaff, the article explains in clear terms why avoiding social media not only fails to stop stakeholders from speaking poorly about an organization but actually inflames what would otherwise be minor issues because they are left unheard and unresolved.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

In a move aimed at improving both skills and image, higher ups in the Philippine police forces have directed commanders to review their forces for crisis management capabilities. The Manilla Bulletin reports:

Police Regional Office 6 (PRO 6) Director, C/Supt. Samuel D. Pagdilao Jr. during last Tuesday morning’s turn over of command ceremony at the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) specifically mentioned the “continuous retraining of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and Public Safety Battalion units on anti-hostage and terrorism operations especially in bus, building, boat and airplane assault tactics.”

Following the recent hostage debacle top cops in the area had little choice but to take action, but it remains to be seen whether this is a true overhaul or merely a well-timed PR move.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

 

I came across an article on “The Chronicle of Philanthropy” dated back to March of 2009 about non-profit deficits and how in the USA, the deficits are resulting in loss of programming, staff and services. You can find this article at http://philanthropy.com/article/Nearly-a-Third-of-Charities/63052/ .

In the non-profit world, “deficit” is almost a dirty word, falling into the ranks of other taboo words like “advocacy”. The article speaks of how one third of the non-profits in the USA had operating deficits in 2008. While in Canada, when I did research a few months ago, most said in census that they expected their funding to remain stable or actually increase. But non-profit deficits are what you have to deal with no matter where you are located in the world.

Some organizations that I have worked with, have run deficits for short times, but immediately developed a plan on how to get rid of the deficit. The most I have seen in a deficit is about 3% of the organization’s annual income. This is still manageable. But there are probably other non-profits in the world that run a deficit more often and with a higher percentage of their annual income. But if a non-profit is running a deficit, there are a few actions they can take. They are:

• Reallocate some core funds – If your non-profit receives core funding, then you may be able to reallocate some of the core funds to cover the deficit, by finding economies in your core expenditures.
• Donor fundraising – If your organization relies on donors, then it’s important to kick up your advertising campaign and get your board tapping into their contacts to help raise money to cover the deficit.
• Grant fundraising – There are some grants out there that don’t have a lot of turnaround time. Most funders will not cover deficits, but if you find a funder who will pay for a part of a program that your core funding now pays for in the fiscal year that you are running the deficit, then you can direct those extra funds where you need them provided it abides by the agreement entered into with the first funder.
• Bank line of credit – You could go to your financial institute and see if your organization can get a line of credit. Keep in mind, banks don’t lend you money when you need it, they loan it when they know you have income that will come in shortly that will cover the loan. So if your deficit occurs because of the timing of funder payments, you may be able to get a line of credit from your bank.
• Go to your funder – If all else fails, contact your funder and explain the situation and see if there is anyway, your organization’s next funding cheque can be sent out sooner, explaining that it is a result of cash flow problems, if that is the problem.

Question of the Day: What strategies have you seen non-profits use to rid themselves of a deficit situation?

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

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Hotels in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a popular tourist destination, were given a scare this week when the eye of Hurricane Earl passed within 65 miles of heavily populated St. Thomas island. While the clear need for crisis management was acknowledged by all, the way individual hotels handled the situation varied widely. TMC News has the story:

“There are certain core strategies that all the hotels keep,” said V.I. Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty. “But I think each of the branded properties have a certain corporate culture with how they deal with visitors. You’ll find variances from one hotel to the next, and you’ll see that difference with any type of crisis.” On St. Thomas at Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort and Spa, which caught the worst of the hurricane-force wind from the north, hotel visitors were given bag lunches, asked to stay in their rooms at 2 p.m. and were told an automated phone message service would inform them about dinner plans. No alcoholic beverages were served.

Less than five miles away at Marriott’s Frenchman’s Reef and Morningstar Beach Resort, which is on the St. Thomas south side and faced milder winds, there wasn’t an empty seat inside the lobby, as hotel guests socialized while playing board games, dominoes and cards. The bar was busy, the gift shop was thriving, and there was no talk of a curfew.

Luckily for everyone involved, the true capabilities of the hotels were not put to the test as the hurricane turned away from the islands and storms in the region began to dissipate. Although the storm’s brief business disruption may cause short-term financial losses as customers shy away from the region, there shouldn’t be any significant effects felt by local businesses.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

For many years Johnson & Johnson was known for one of the most successful crisis management campaigns in history, the 1982 Tylenol recall. Its superb handling of this difficult incident served to cement its reputation among consumers as a trustworthy brand until recently when a series of clashes with the FDA turned public opinion upside down. CNN Money reports:

Since September 2009, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the J&J division that makes over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, has announced eight recalls, including one for an estimated 136 million bottles of children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, and Zyrtec — the biggest children’s drug recall of all time — that were potentially contaminated with dark particles. J&J has been excoriated by the Food and Drug Administration for failing to catch McNeil’s quality problems. In April the agency slapped McNeil’s plant in Fort Washington, Pa., with a scalding inspection report, causing the company to shutter the factory until 2011.

Perhaps most disturbing, in 2009 contractors hired by J&J carried out a scheme to secretly recall damaged Motrin by going store by store and quietly buying every packet, according to the FDA. That raised the prospect that J&J not only was making shoddy products — but was trying to keep the trouble out of public view.

Even as I was posting this blog entry, I heard radio news that J&J is now recalling thousand of defective hip replacement devices. What’s happened to their quality control?

J&J may have thought it was out of the fire when the furor over its recall of children’s medications died down, but it appears that its headaches are far from over. By following a recurring pattern of severe lapses in honestly and transparency, the once-revered manufacturer is destroying its own reputation.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

The hypothetical scenario was daunting: An intoxicated driver had just plowed a bus full of students through the wall of the school’s music building, killing seven and injuring 32. How would professionals in charge of emergency management respond to the erupting crisis?

School counselors and mental health providers gathered in small groups at the LSU Health Sciences Center’s School of Medicine to deliberate on a plan of action, drawing from eight core guidelines they had reviewed on a projector screen a few minutes earlier. Many funneled their ideas from lessons they had learned over several decades of experience.

Conducting exercises like the one described here in a quote from Nola.com is one of the best ways to boost your crisis management plan’s chance of success. Not only does walking through potential crisis situations help to cement the role each person plays in the process, but it also helps uncover existing flaws in current plans. These crisis simulations also have the advantage of being able to be run at many different levels of complexity, from tabletop discussion to full on simulations, depending on an organization’s budget and needs.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

HP’s Social Computer Lab has produced some interesting research reported by Tom Foremski on ZDNET which debunks that idea that if you’re popular on Twitter, you’re also automatically influential. The study found that:

– Most Twitter users are passive, they do not re-Tweet.

– There is a difference between popularity and influence. High numbers of followers does not equal influence because those followers do not re-Tweet.

– To become influential, Twitter users must somehow persuade their followers to re-Tweet.

This could be painful — but important to share — news for you or those you know and/or serve.

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