Values and Vision: The Foundation of High Performing Teams

A few days ago, I wrote about Tribal Leadership and what the authors’ research revealed about high performing teams.  Today I want to address two fundamental characteristics of any high performing team:  core values and a compelling vision.

The defining characteristic of the highest performing teams is that their foremost concern is to achieve a noble cause.  This laser focus enables them to make extraordinary breakthroughs and achieve unmatched results.  One of the most compelling points made by the authors is that these teams have a crystal clear grasp of what they stand for and what they live for.   

Core Values:  What does your team stand for?

When high performing teams articulate their core values, they are not describing a set of tenets or a creed to which they ascribe.  Rather, they are describing what they are, what they embody, what they deliver.  High performing teams live their values—through their relationships, through their programs, and through their communications.  Though there are many examples, for the sake of space, let me point out two:  KID (Ft. Lauderdale) and Miami Rescue Mission.  Through a series of thoughtful discussions these teams arrived at very meaningful core values.

For KID, they are Trust, Family, Compassion, Safety, Wisdom, and Tenacity. To get a sense of what this means to them, just look at their annual report.  It’s the best I’ve seen.  For Miami Rescue Mission, they are Compassion, Hope, Restoration, and Transformation.  In July, the Mission will celebrate the culmination of a year long process of exploring the meaning of these values with everyone throughout the organization.  The values of these two organizations permeate in all that they do-- their programs and activities, their policies, how they relate to  those in need and to one another, how they talk about what they do, and how they plan for the future.  This conscious attention to values is having a powerful effect throughout each organization.

Vision:  What does your team live for?

How teams view their cause is seen through their vision.  The vision of high performing teams is literally what they live for, what they aspire to bring about in the world.  For these teams, vision is not an exercise of self affirmation, or how they can be the best.  It is a statement of how the world will be different—transformed—for those they serve because of the work they do.  This type of vision imagines a perfected future.  It is believing in something that does not yet exist—but should.  These teams have visions that stir passions and inspire people to act.  

Some examples of compelling vision statements include:  "Every child is born perfectly healthy." (March of Dimes);  "No one is homeless." (Miami Rescue Mission); “A Community of Safe and Healthy Children in Loving Families” (KID) and "A Montana where communities thrive in co-existence with abundant wild places." (Montana Wilderness Association).

These vision statements are not Pollyanna notions.  They have been created by a team of individuals who live for their realization.  Though their visions may not be achieved in their lifetimes, these teams are inspired to give their highest and best—and to celebrate each and every accomplishment along the way.

Being part of a team devoted to a cause allows one to leap beyond personal limitations; to be part of something very significant.  But, it takes shedding the need for individualistic self-preservation—which allows a realization that through such a process your gifts are magnified.  And, you discover, you don’t lose anything—you become more, not less.

Jim

Are You Looking in the Mirror or Out the Window?

Many of you have probably heard me rave about a recently published book, Tribal Leadership, by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright.  In a rigorous eight-year study of about 24,000 people in more than two dozen companies, the authors found that the success of companies depends on the effectiveness of its team's tribal culture.  While many companies had adequate teams, only about 25% broke through to be outstanding--like the Apple team that developed the iPod.

The authors found that organizational cultures evolve  through stages, and that each stage grows out of the previous.

1. The lowest stage identified by the authors is composed of people who are alienated and express their behavior through despairing hostility.  Fortunately, only two percent of tribes are stage one, and they are likely not to last--due to embezzlement, theft, cheating, etc.
2. Stage two tribes, 25% of  all workplace tribes, are not really teams.  They are what I call the Dilbert crowd, passively antagonistic people who believe "my life sucks" and are neither interested nor prepared to do anything about it.  
3. Half of all workplace cultures are stage three--with good reason because we train stage three cultures from kindergarten through graduate school.  Stage three is comprised of individuals competing to be the best.  Winning is personal, knowledge is power, and the winner gets promoted.  Trust is not a premium.  Synergy is not in the vocabulary.  
4. Stage four is where it gets interesting. Stage four, 22% of all tribes, is arrived at when individuals have an epiphany:  "Together we can be greater than our individual strengths...  and my value is not diminished through collaborating openly."  This team develops tribal pride.  These tribes still need an adversary--another tribe, another organization, etc. to compete against, but they commit to shared core values and hold one another accountable.  Thus, they perform well above the individualists of stage three.
5. Stage five comprises 2 percent of the workplace culture.  Stage five tribes no longer concern themselves with competition with others, but with serving a noble cause and having  impact.  The authors describe this tribe's mood as innocent wonderment.  "This stage is pure leadership, vision, and inspiration.  Life is great."  These are the teams that change the world.

Tribes one through three (and to a some extent, tribe level four), look in the mirror more than out the window--where members are more concerned with how they are surviving, achieving, or performing as compared to others.  And many nonprofits--whose missions speak to a tribe at level five--are often entangled in level three and four habits.  We see evidence of this in many ways--hero leaders, lack of integration among departments (or within departments), vision statements that speak about being the best rather than impacting the lives of those the organization serves, and competition between nonprofits serving a similar cause.

It takes courage, insight, discipline (and an epiphany) to develop a level five tribe--a team capable of collaborating across organizational boundaries for a greater good.  But the payoffs are huge.   Tribes that achieve level five are made up of people who aspire to a noble cause and share core values.  The authors recommend that leaders who want to develop level five tribes need start with defining what the tribe stands for (core values) and lives for (the cause).  Then they need to provide leadership to help the tribe determine:  What they want (outcomes).  What they have (assets).  What they will do (behaviors).

As the authors of Tribal Leadership note, the level of the tribe can be diagnosed from the language tribe members use.  To achieve level five, tribes need to replace their mirror with a window.  They need to relinquish their focus on shortcomings, self concern, preservation of the status quo, and posturing in exchange for a focus on the possibilities, on securing a greater good for the people they serve. When achieved, level five tribes have extraordinary power because of their ability to connect to others who care deeply.  As the authors describe, level five tribes "form ever growing networks with anyone whose values resonate with their own."

May we all discover our noble cause.

Jim

Make Someone Happy--Ask for a Gift

According to the BoardSource Nonprofit Governance Index 2010, boards across the country gave themselves a “D” in board fundraising, the lowest grade of any other area of board performance. Not all boards fundraise, but of the 79 percent that do, BoardSource asked: What do you find so uncomfortable about it?

• 14 percent were uncomfortable writing or signing personal letters
• 21 percent were uncomfortable with providing names for letters and calls
• 24 percent with meeting potential donors face-to-face
• 40 percent with calling potential donors
• 44 percent with asking for money directly

 

As someone who serves on boards and has been working with them for years, I’m inclined to think that the real percentages are even higher. The discomfort people feel can be traced to what motivates them to serve on boards. Common reasons for serving on boards are: it’s a nice thing to do, or I like the organization, or it’s an obligation to the community, or a friend asked me, or it is a good place to network, or it’s a good experience to have, or I just want to help out.

 

All of those reasons are good starting places. But, board members have to discover their passion for the cause.

 

When working with boards around the topic of fundraising, I make the distinction between sales/motivation and inspiration. Many of us are stuck in the sales mentality, the “give and get” mentality where we have to meet our goals. Motivation has a short shelf life and it constantly needs to be fed. It requires an external power source—crisis, reward, expectation, threat, peer pressure… Inspiration is self-renewing, it flows from our hearts, from our passion.

 

When we make the emotional connection to the cause our nonprofit serves, when we get out of our heads and into our hearts, when we immerse and invest ourselves in making a difference for that cause; when we discover the connection between what we value and how it is realized through the nonprofit… then the resistance to fundraising dissolves. Because it is no longer fundraising, it is telling the story of how we can make an important difference in the world. It’s energizing.

 

Some board members need a guiding hand. Helping board members get inspired is a primary responsibility of the board chair—in collaboration with the chief executive and the director of development. Most volunteers are busy people. So when the organization has their attention, it shouldn’t miss the opportunity to sharpen their focus on the cause and to remind them about the great things that the nonprofit does in the world. Mission moments, heart-warming stories, successes, meaningful experiences with those who benefit… all of these help. Then give board members an opportunity to tell their stories—why they are involved, what it means to them, how it connects to what is important to them. With a little coaching we can all find the spark that kindles our passion. But, then get ready, passionate board members want to make a difference in the world.

 

Coming back to where I started, connecting with potential donors is all about offering them an experience that will bring greater joy to their lives. It really is a fact. Research just published in The Science of Giving(D. Oppenheimer and C Olivola) found that giving makes people happy. So, let’s go out and tell our stories about how we are making a difference in the world. And tell others how they can do the same. Let’s make a whole lot of people happier.

  

Happily,

  

Jim

Friendraising Leads to Fundraising

My friend and colleague, Les Weil, related this oft-told story the other evening at a fundraising workshop:

The Solicitation

A local nonprofit organization realized that it had never received a gift from one of the city’s most successful businessmen.  So the executive director called upon him, hoping to secure a very nice donation.  "Our research shows that out of a yearly income of at least $500,000, you have not given one dollar to any nonprofit organization.  Wouldn't you like to give back to the community in some way?"

The businessman replied: “First, did your research also show that my mother is dying after a long illness and has medical bills that are several times her annual income?”

Uncomfortable, the director mumbled “Um… no."

“Or that my brother, a disabled veteran, is blind and confined to wheelchair?” The embarrassed director began to stammer out an apology, but was interrupted.

“Or that my sister's husband died in a car accident,” the businessman's voice rising in indignation, "leaving her penniless with three children?”

The humiliated director simply said, “I had no idea.”

"So if I don't give any money to them, why in the world would I give any to you?”

There are a few lessons that can be teased out of this story.  The first is, when we do our research we really need to do our research.  Whenever possible, talk to people who know your prospect.

Second, not everyone is charitable, so don’t waste your time seeking a gift from those who are not. 

Third, just because someone is wealthy doesn’t mean they are going to make a gift to your nonprofit.  I’ve seen many boards operate under this misguided notion:  “There are a lot of wealthy people in our community, so if we just hire a fundraising professional we’ll be in good shape.”  Most people give to causes that are important to them through organizations that they trust.  Building relationships, articulating a solid value proposition, and a telling good stories about your work are the foundation of fundraising. 

It is often said that if we ask people for money, they will give us advice.  If we ask them for advice, they will give us money.  This adage is backed up by recent research that shows that if we ask people to spend time with us they will give more than if we ask them to give us money.  Some of you have heard me tell my story of being recruited to a board.  It was a very thoughtful process.  By the time I was asked to serve, I’d had breakfast with the CEO and Board Chair, had spent a Saturday on a tour of their programs and facilities, attended a dedication for a large in-kind gift, and participated in an awards ceremony.  The annual gift I had in mind at the end of that experience was far larger than the one I had in mind early on.  I was moved and impressed by their value proposition, their stories, and the dedication of the staff an volunteers.

As those of you who have been in the field for awhile know, fundraising is the responsibility of everyone—staff, board, volunteers.  Everyone needs to be listening and responding to the people who come through the doors, call on the phone, or connect through the web.  We need to be listening to what they care about, why they showed up—what they value…  Then we can make the link between what they love and what we do.

We need to always be building our band of believers.

Jim

Don't Bore Your Readers

Take a look at this article from TIME:  Using Business Savvy to Help Good Causes.  It makes the case for nonprofits to use direct mail as a sound business strategy. Worth the read.

In your direct mail, though, remember the cardinal rule:  Don’t bore your reader!  According to Pew’s research you have only seconds to grab your reader’s attention and to make your case.  Don’t make the mistake I made early in my career:  grammatical standards and language uses that were too precise and correct—and really boring.  Hey, I wanted to look smart.  That’s well and fine.  But, don’t waste money on  a fundraising letter to demonstrate it. 

Use direct, colloquial language.  Be interesting.  Be compelling.  Make your point early and use snippets of stories and quotes to bring it home. 

(Earlier in my career I would have written my last sentence as follows:  “Demonstrate  your compelling and inspirational value proposition in the first or second paragraph to communicate your investment worth to your reader.”  So, tell me, which sentence did you understand more quickly…)

The bottom line:  connect to your reader.  Hold a donor in your mind and write to that person.  As Jennifer Aaker, professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business discovered:  The trick is to be seen as both warm and competent.  So, as a reader, don’t cool my affection with studied rhetoric.  Tell me a great story.

Cheers,

Jim

Authentic Story Telling Rooted in Core Values Makes a Terrific Annual Report

Trust. Family. Compassion. Safety. Wisdom. Tenacity.

Click this link to read one of the best annual reports I’ve ever seen.  Let me tell you why.

When working with nonprofits to identify their core values, I often begin with examples of value sets of actual organizations and ask those in the room to identify the type organization they describe.  Through such an exercise nonprofit leaders begin to understand why articulating your core identity—your core values—is an important exercise.  Core values are the rich soil into which you sink your roots and they are evident in everything you do.  They serve as both a foundation and a compass for good decision making.

If I were to tell you that the values listed above are from an organization that works with children from distressed families, you wouldn’t be surprised.  The board and staff of KID spent several months last year working on a strategic plan.  They began with core values, digging deep into the heart of why they exist and what they deem nonnegotiable.  Once they defined their core values, they posted them around the board room throughout the strategic planning process.  Seeing them on the wall (along with the vision, mission, and brand position) during each planning session was a powerful reminder about what is most important.

Using these values as the basis for their annual report is powerful on its own.  But K.I.D. went a step further; by using compelling stories their work comes alive for the reader.  They turned what is often a dry document into a gripping, persuasive case.  The metrics describing their impact are still there in sidebars.  But, the way they masterfully put this report together, leaves the reader feeling both emotionally and intellectually engaged—and I think, deeply appreciative of the work they do.

Follow their lead on this annual report and you won’t go wrong.

Jim

Why the Attorney General Gets Involved with Nonprofits

Bob Carlson, assistant attorney general in Missouri where he coordinates nonprofit and charity law issues, penned a terrific article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The article, titled Why State Officials Step In to Clean House at Nonprofits, provides case examples of why his job is necessary. And he gives some really practical advice on good governance. He summarizes the article with:

“To avoid these meetings [with charity regulators] (and the possible consequences), nonprofit board members and executives must abide by the easy-to-articulate but occasionally hard-to-follow principles of fiduciary duty: Make sure your nonprofit is doing what it is supposed to do, and always make sure you have enough information to guarantee that. Always ask questions, demand answers, and never stop pushing your organization to excellence. Otherwise, you may get to meet with us.”

Jim