One of my recent posts suggested that the way to get past a blank page is to start with the three statements: “Here it is. Ain’t It great? However…”
Those statements are a great framework for getting started, but they won’t sell anyone on your proposition. Why? Because people don’t buy what you do or how you do it, they buy why you do it. Continue reading Gaining Support – The How, Why, and What
You have just completed the grant application, but need a cover letter. Or, You are starting to prepare a presentation to a gathering of potential donors. Or, you are offering a course in street-smarts. Or, you want to set up a world peace conference. Or, you want them to sign up for your newsletter.
You are facing the dreaded blank page. You know what message you want to convey, but that page is blank. Continue reading How to Get Past the Blank Page
The word intelligence calls up images of James Bond and the CIA and MI-whatever. Cloak and dagger. Illegal snooping. Spooky stuff.
Nope! It’s more boring than that. Continue reading Intelligence in the Real World
Your nonprofit has begun your strategic planning process. You just completed the SWOT exercise [SWOT = Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats]. You are confident in your analysis and you understand your strengths and weaknesses.
Now, where do you focus your efforts? Continue reading Build On Strength or Fix Your Weakness
We all know that brainstorming is a great way to generate ideas.
But, in practice, brainstorming is easily dominated by outspoken people or by supervisors. Some people are just introverts and would never speak up. Some would never express an idea that their boss did not endorse. Thus, we lose potentially valuable ideas. Continue reading How to Ensure Brainstorm Participation
Do your meetings get bogged down with some people supporting a proposition while others shoot a constant stream of torpedos?
Or does every proposition get approved or disapproved by acclamation with no discussion?
Do you have total decision paralysis or suffer from plain bad decisions? Continue reading Here’s a Faster Way to Better Decisions
The Harvard Negotiation Project (HNP) is best known for their classic books on negotiation, Getting to Yes and Getting Past No. These books revolutionized negotiations and should be on the reading list of everyone.
But they recognized a problem with their win-win approach. It assumed that both parties were willing to talk to one another. This is not always the case. In response, HNP has published Difficult Conversations, How to Discuss What Matters Most. Continue reading Difficult Conversations: Get Them to Talk
The authors of Crucial Conversations define a crucial conversation as a conversation that is 1) important, 2) has differences of opinion, and 3) is emotional.
You have seen it. Two or more parties are in a negotiation and each has stated their positions and driven them as stakes into the ground; a “red line” if you will. Neither side trusts the others. Each side has their own interests and cares nothing about the interests of the others.
Continue reading Reaching Difficult and Multi-Party Agreements
We often hear, “I don’t want to budget. I would rather have flexibility.”
But, your budget is not a straightjacket. It is simply a feasible, acceptable, baseline for income and spending. Continue reading Delegation of Authority: Your Budget is Not a Straightjacket