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Who Took the Farmer’s Hat and how reflective dialogue can be good for your board

July 20^th, 2021 Gayle Gifford

Tuesday night (this post is republished from May 2017), I started the board retreat with a reflective dialogue based on reading the children’s classic Who Took the Farmer’s Hat?

I sent the book around the room, with a different board member reading each page. The reading took about five minutes.

Then I asked this question:

Why would a board consultant ask you to read this book?

After a brief pause and a few blank looks, one board member launched in which started the conversation:

“One theme is the need to incorporate different perspectives as different people (er, animals) see the same thing in different ways.”
“Reacting to change you can’t control or anticipate is another theme.”
” ‘The farmer ran fast, but the wind went faster’ describes so many of the changes we encounter and the need to be extremely adaptive”
“Sometimes you just have to let go of those things you’ve always done and the way you’ve done them”

And so it went. We spent about 20 minutes discussing and applying themes to the board’s role, getting deeper into the themes as we went along.

Using reflective dialogue to spark deeper thinking

As often as I can, I try to incorporate reflective dialogue into my work with organizations, especially boards or work groups.

Brain research tells us that we can’t scold, argue or out-fact our way to change in others. But we can open the door to it by helping to spark moments of insight. In my selection of materials, I’m hoping not only to spark discussion but also to open minds to new ideas, to new possibilities.

As the conversation facilitator, my role is to create a safe space for participants to share their ideas, to pursue concepts that might not be fully formed or are even a bit contrarian. I also come equipped with questions to help spark reflection and move conversation forward. A good resource for questions you can use is Making Questions Work by Dorothy Strachan.

Reflective dialogue for team building

I sometimes get push back from groups when I select adding a poem with discussion into their board meeting or retreat. Yet, those same groups are wondering how to develop stronger personal relationships among their board members.

I’m all for physical bonding exercises at the right place and time. But I have a deep love for these reflective discussions that allow board members to enter a topic through a different frame. We tend to compartmentalize our board members based on their professions, failing to create space for them to share their many gifts and knowledge from other aspects of their lives. My clients are always pleasantly surprised that their retired banker taught philosophy in his youth, or that lawyer was a race car driver.

Since a great workshop I attended given by Adam Davis, executive director of Oregon Humanities and former director of the Center For Civic Reflection, I’ve added A Bed for The Night, by Bertolt Brecht into my work with so many nonprofits. And I regularly assign Adam’s provocative essay What we don’t talk about when we don’t talk about service to my graduate students before we jump into any community projects or service learning.

Selecting resources

Sometimes I use a poem, a video or short story like the one above. TED talks can be great reflection starters or a reading from the relevant organization development literature. Other times we might reflect on a research report. Many of my colleagues have used movie clips.

The Center for Civic Reflection has a list of resources on different topics that you might consider as well as questions for you to use. For example, you might want to read Maimonides From Laws Concerning Gifts to the Poor to start your next fundraising discussion.

I’d also like to give a shout out to my colleagues at Creating the Future, who have launched a worldwide experiment “to determine how much more humane the world could be if the questions we ask in our day to day lives are bringing out the best in each other.”

What have you found helpful to get meaningful conversation flowing?

Through the storm

June 5^th, 2020 Gayle Gifford

“I couldn’t believe what i was seeing… this storm was actually pulling the house toward the sky…

“…Aunt Seneva told us to clasp hands… Then she had us walk as a group toward the corner of the room that was rising…

“And so it went, back and forth, fifteen children walking with the wind, holding that trembling house down with the weight of our small bodies.

“More than half a century has passed since that day, and it has struck me more than once over those many years that our society is not unlike the children in that house, rocked again and again by the winds of one storm or another, the walls around us seeming at times as if they might fly apart…

“But we knew another storm would come, and we would have to do it all over again.

“And we did.

“And we still do, all of us. You and I.”

Congressman John Lewis from the prologue of his memoir, Walking with the Wind.

**************************************************************************************

I’ve been searching for words to share to express the outrage and anguish I’ve felt over the events of these last few weeks.

This outrage in our country has been intensifying over the last four years, though it started long before. 400 years and more ago.

A good share of my grief is watching that upward movement on the arc of justice I thought was happening take a deep downward plunge. I’ve been overcome by guilt for leaving this mess of a country to my children and family.

inscription John Lewis And then today, a beacon arrived for the darkness. In a BFR workshop called “Keys to navigating change post pandemic”, presenter Sue Harvey read the above story from the prologue of civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis’s memoir. The passage above is a shortened version of the story.

Jon reminded me that we had the Congressman autograph a copy to our sons who were just about to turn 13 at the time we saw him speak.

Congressman Lewis’s metaphor of holding down the house through many storms expressed what I was searching for. We have a lot of work to do to end racism and create an equitable society. Let’s all keep walking with the wind.

In peace and justice,

Let’s talk about moral capital and recruiting your board

March 12^th, 2019 Gayle Gifford

As I was getting ready to write this post about the need for more moral capital on the board, the higher education scandal broke in the US. Sadly, thirty-eight people were taken into custody as of noon on March 12th in this bribery scheme.

What was the scandal? Wealthy and prominent parents from business and the media bribed administrators, coaches, test proctors and others to grease their kids into elite private colleges and universities. What, their large direct donations weren’t already enough?

Shamefully, this was done through Key Worldwide Foundation (KWF). KWF was a 501c3 public charity led by William “Rick” Singer who is pleading guilty to the charges against him.

According to its 2016 Form 990, KWF has just three directors. Singer served as President and CEO along with a secretary and one other director. (Their treasurer is not a director.)

Not only were the donors to KWF offering bribes for college placements, they were likely getting tax deductions for making those bribes through the nonprofit.

We can’t say it enough: you need a moral compass.

Every organization has to have a philanthropic or moral compass, most assuredly within the board. Yes, you have well-crafted bylaws, job descriptions, and director expectations. Yes, you reference ethics, the rule of law and conflict of interest. Really, all is crap if your directors or staff lack a moral core to do what is right.

People as capital

Yes, talking about people as capital seems contrary to discussing a moral guiding light.

Remember, I’ve previously pitched Professor Elizabeth Castillo and her typology of capitals. Using her list, you can begin valuing people for more than their financial capital when you consider what you need in the way of the human capital you recruit to your board.

For example, wealthy donors and connectors to other money aren’t the only desireables for your board. Open your doors to other people with assets that strengthen the board – e.g. intellectual, social, political, and cultural capital. And yes, moral capital.

Moral capital isn’t someone who can thread the needle of what is or isn’t ethical or legal. I want steadfast voices defending doing what is right. I want directors with justice in their hearts. DIrectors who are courageous enough to call out when something is bad, smells bad or just doesn’t feel right.

Our sector needs to stands strong for honesty, truth and transparency. We can’t afford to risk the public’s trust. Unfortunately, trust has been on a downward slide for many years.

How much moral capital sits on your board?

WHERE WAS THE BOARD? Too often, complicit…

A case study of collaboration, network weaving, social capital and the power of a partnership culture

A new look at recruiting your board

For your reading list – Innovation and Scaling for Impact

November 21^st, 2017 Gayle Gifford

This summer, I served on the Terry McAdam Book Award Committee of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management.

The Terry McAdam Book Award is given annually. It honors an innovative book that advances the field of non-profit capacity building. Books chosen for review have been published in the last two years, are not textbooks and are available commercially.

And the 2017 winner is:

Innovation and Scaling for Impact by Christian Seelos and Johanna Mair. Stanford University Press.

The authors examine these two concepts in more detail, making important distinctions between them.

Here’s what the review Committee said about this book:

“In their eye-opening book, Seelos and Mair bring clarity to the differences between innovation and scaling, as well as the relationship of one to the other. While still encouraging levels of appropriate risk, they argue persuasively that nonprofits should focus far more resources on scaling programs they know have positive outcomes than on innovating where uncertainty about outcomes could drain resources.

“The authors provide guidance and worksheets to help leaders determine where innovation is appropriate. They identify types and levels of uncertainty, and incorporate lessons learned. They also emphasize the importance of scaling successful innovations for the benefit of an organization’s constituents. While case studies focus on larger international NGOs, leaders of smaller and domestic nonprofits will also find this book valuable.”

Past winners have included some books you may know:

The Sustainability Mindset: Using the Matrix Map to Make Strategic Decisions by Steve Zimmerman and Jeanne Bell
Content Marketing for Nonprofits: A Communications Map for Engaging Your Community, Becoming a Favorite Cause, and Raising More Money by Kivi Leroux Miller
Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the World by Beth Kanter and Katie Delahaye Paine

It was a privilege to serve on the committee. The choice of a winner was not easy as there were quite a number of valuable books. Over the next few weeks I’ll share a few other books you might want to put on your reading list.

Renaming board committees

November 28^th, 2015 Gayle Gifford

“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.”

The theme of the November Nonprofit Blog Carnival is abundance.

Moving from scarcity to abundance means we need to reframe how we see and think about our communities.

I worked at City Year many years ago. City Year’s founders embodied the abundance mindset. To instill that point of view in others, they skillfully deployed two powerful motivators: story and symbolism.

At City Year, what things were named really mattered – from programs to positions. And each implied a story.

For example, the middle school program that our corps members ran back then could have been called the “middle school afterschool program.” Or City Year’s middle school program.

Instead, it was called Young Heroes.

See the difference? If you were a tween or a potential sponsor, wouldn’t you consider signing up?

Recently I was working on the agenda for a board retreat designed to roll out the newly approved strategic plan. The CEO was eager to redo the committees during the retreat.

As we talked about how to do this, a light bulb went off in my head.

What if we gave our board committees new names. Names that captured the essence of the strategic plan goals.

Here’s what we came up with:

At first skeptical, board members soon warmed to the idea of new board committee names.

Why not. The particularly problematic Fundraising Committee lacked for members – fear of asking for money kept people away.

More folks could envision themselves serving on the “Inspiring our Community” Committee. They could see the work differently. They could even feel they could invite others to join.

With more volunteers, more focus on what they could do, they were inspired to reach out. An abundance mindset.

I’ll let you know how it goes. But from now on, I’m definitely recommending name changes.

P.S. If you’ve developed more engaging board committee names, please send them along. I know we are all interested in how this may have influenced their work.

Note: The quote which begins this post is usually attributed to Confucius. The actual saying by Confucius may be “If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things.” (Zi Lu, 3)

Five Questions for strategic thinkers

July 27^th, 2015 Jon Howard

“You’re a strategic planning consultant? You must use Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions a lot.”

Sinking feeling. As I stood by the grill with a beer in my hand at a recent summer party, I couldn’t come up with even one of his apparently essential strategic questions

I mentioned some of the business thinkers we often draw on, like Jim Collins and Peter Block. My new friend nodded politely, but I was clearly speaking to a Drucker man. He told me how Drucker’s business frameworks had guided his successful career as a manager. How they were now helping him transform the effectiveness of the nonprofit board he served on.

I was eager to learn more when I got back to the office. Amazon is taking its sweet time delivering Drucker’s book, but in the meantime here are Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask Your Nonprofit Organization:

What is your mission?
Who is your customer?
What does your customer value?
What are your results?
What is your plan?

These are all questions we ask and answer in the course of strategic planning with our clients, although not in Drucker’s specific terms.

For instance, the word “customer” was once a refreshing shock to nonprofit sensibilities, a challenge to those who automatically disdained commerce and marketing. Later on, calling donors and clients “customers” became a cliché. When a useful term becomes a buzzword, it shuts down the good thinking it once may have stimulated.

But it’s been a while since Drucker’s heyday and “customer” seems to have dropped out of frequent use in the nonprofit world. So, maybe it’s time to bring the “customer” back into our strategic discussions.

In any case, I’m glad to be challenged to learn more about the amazing Peter Drucker and I’m looking forward to learning more about his Five Questions.

A grant seeker’s wish list

February 11^th, 2015 Gayle Gifford

I prepared this grant seeker’s wish list for a foundation that had recently spun off from its corporate parent.

What is it that nonprofits want or need from grant makers?

At the very top, I put:

# 1: Flexible, unrestricted operating funds.

According to the most recent data from The Foundation Center, only 23% of foundation grants go to general support.

#2: Long-term donor investment

Every organization has to re-raise every dollar it receives each year. Having a reliable source of funding can improve stability and planning (though for some nonprofits, it can make them very lazy).

#3: Other wants/needs

Larger donations that make a significant difference.

Gifts that deliver a high return on investment in time and direct costs.

Response to rapid change or emergency community needs.

Leadership development: A mismatch between organization needs and its people can sink an organization. Sometimes, changes need to be made. Other times, investment in leadership development can make a different. Areas for investment on my list include self-knowledge, managerial and leadership skills, technical expertise in administration, human resources, fund development, program development, etc. (This is an investment in the whole sector as leaders switch organizations).

“A Radical Revolution of Values”

January 19^th, 2015 Gayle Gifford

“A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway.

“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring”.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from “Beyond Vietnam” Riverside Church April 4, 1967.

I’d like to recognize all of our clients for their service, remembering that “everyone can be great because everyone can serve.”

On this holiday, I’m also sending a very special note of gratitude to our clients, past and present, who work tirelessly to end or reduce poverty, homelessness, war, injustice.

Saving civilization – are you a Roman or a saint?

July 29^th, 2014 Jon Howard

Thomas Cahill’s marvelously humane history How the Irish Saved Civilization tells how a handful of inspired monks isolated at the far edge of a crumbling empire first preserved and then replanted the most precious seeds of ancient civilization – the ideas and knowledge contained in its greatest Hebrew, Greek, Roman and early Christian books.

Cahill’s concluding chapter reminds us that we cannot know the hour of our own civilization’s great catastrophe, but that we are more like the late Romans than we want to consider: technologically advanced, but living on the fruits of accelerating injustice, violence and corruption that leave more and more billions of people envious and destitute. Cahill foresees an inevitable crisis. “But we turn our back on such unpleasantness,” writes Cahill (in 1995), “and contemplate the happier prospects of our technological dreams.”

“What will be lost, and what saved, of our civilization probably lies beyond our powers to decide”, Cahill concludes. “No human group has ever figured out how to design its future. That future may be germinating today not in a boardroom in London or an office in Washington or a bank in Tokyo, but in some antic outpost or other – a kindly British orphanage in the grim foothills of Peru, a house for the dying run by a fiercely single-minded Albanian nun, and easygoing French medical team at the starving edge of the Sahel, a mission to Somalia by Irish social workers who remember their own Great Hunger, a nursery program to assist convict-mothers at a New York prison – in some unheralded corner where a great-hearted human being is committed to loving outcasts in an extraordinary way.”

“Perhaps history is always divided into Romans and Catholics – or better catholics. The Romans are the rich and powerful who run things their way and must always accrue more because they instinctively believe there will never be enough to go around; the catholics, as their implies, are universalists who instinctively believe that all humanity makes one family, that every human being is an equal child of God and that God will provide… If our civilization is to be saved… if we are to be saved, it will not be by Romans but by saints.”

I know I’m too much a Roman, too little a saint. Still it’s been my privilege to work with a few saints among my colleagues and clients during a career in philanthropy. Cahill reminds us that their dissent from selfishness is not eccentric or futile but essential to our fate. Thank you.