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November 27, 2018 by Thomas Brendler

Writing Like an Organization: Some Tips for Balancing Collaboration & Solitude

Writing, especially for an organization, can be a stressful. But it doesn’t have to be. The key is to understand how writing works in an organizational setting, and to appreciate its potential—and its limitations.

The first and often hardest thing to accept is that writing is not a group process. As the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk wrote, at its heart writing is about an individual sitting in a room by themself. Group work, especially early on, can enrich an organization’s writing and provide a growth opportunity for staff. Working with language collectively can stir conversations and bring people together in a way that few things can. But it’s just one part of a larger process.

Another reality is that in any organization some people are better writers than others. This isn’t a bad thing to accept, and even embrace. My plumber has a good sense of humor and smiles patiently when I explain my theory about what’s really going on with our boiler, but in the end she’s the one that fixes it. Besides, writing, probably more so than plumbing, can be readily learned, and (probably more like plumbing) people get better at it with practice. The same is true for organizations.

From our experience working with NGOs, here are some other things to consider:

  • Identify writer(s) early on, deferring as little as possible to hierarchy, and empower them managing the process. At the same time, keep a deep bench of people who can read thoughtfully and critically, with fresh eyes, as the writing takes shape.
  • Remember that listening and reflecting are big parts of writing—even the most compressed processes benefit from leaving space for them.
  • Be aware of the discrete phases of writing (e.g. generating, drafting, editing, revising, proofing) and always know where you are. (More on this in a future post.)
  • Appreciate writing as an iterative process: It can be unpredictable, and needs room to roam. In the language of wildlife ecology, writing’s “home range” is more antelope than snail darter. This also means that writing can generate ideas which while not relevant to the project at hand, are still valuable. So it’s a good idea to keep a folder or bulletin board handy for these. Writing is a task, but it’s also a form of thinking.
  • Recognize that it’s easier to respond or work with something once it’s written down. All the more reason not to treat writing—especially early writing—as precious. In her wonderful book Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott takes an entire chapter to espouse the virtues of “shitty first drafts.”
  • Stay attuned to the difference between editing and worrying—at some point you have decide you’re done. Remember “done” doesn’t mean “perfect.”
  • Value concision. One of my biggest concerns is that the nonprofit world is so overloaded with words that they start to lose meaning.  Once when I had a job that took me to a lot of conferences, a colleague would regularly finish his remarks with a third or a quarter of his allotted time remaining. It stood out to me for two reasons—first, everybody else was going over (requiring gentle herding by a designated “time keeper”), but second, and more importantly, it was clear to me and most everyone in the room that he’d actually said more in less time.
  • Say what you mean, even if it makes you cringe. It’s tempting to use words you’ve heard elsewhere, but it’s worth starting with your own. With clients we’ll often kick off a discussion by putting up a list of their mission along with five of their competitors’—without attribution. Most of the time when we do this, the missions are nearly indistinguishable. Meanwhile, these same clients often struggle to describe what makes them unique. There’s nothing like when an organization finds its authentic voice, and uses it.

How does your organization handle writing projects? What have been your biggest challenges? Do you have any advice for other organizations? Let us know.  Email Thomas at tbrendler [at] bernuthconsulting.com or tweet him at @thomasbrendler.

Filed Under: Ideas for non-profits Tagged With: communications, nonprofit management, nonprofits, storytelling, strategic planning

August 22, 2017 by Thomas Brendler

When Mission Matters

Over the past week several charities called off fundraising events at the President’s Florida estate over concerns about his response to the recent violence in Charlottesville. Some expressed concern that the locale would create distraction and controversy. There is a real logic in this rationale, as in the lives of nonprofits few pursuits are more delicate than asking people for money.

Others took a bolder stance, claiming that holding an event at Mar-a-Lago would be at odds with their mission. In explaining its decision, the American Red Cross proclaimed, “we must be clear and unequivocal in defense of [our principles].” Nancy G. Brinker, founder of Susan G. Komen, was even more direct, saying “There are no excuses, parsing or moral relativism when it comes to racism, bigotry and violence.”

There are risks to any public-facing decision, especially for large and visible nonprofits like the Red Cross, Komen, and the American Cancer Society, which took a similar tack. Backlash can be swift and vicious: there is already a campaign to boycott companies that withdrew from the President’s business advisory councils last week on similar grounds. Behind even the clearest and boldest statement lies plenty of deliberation, however vast the swell of public support.

There are times when an organization’s mission—especially its commitment to it—is publicly tested. Relief groups during natural disasters are one obvious example. At these moments, organizations we ordinarily may not think of every day are thrust into the glare of public attention and scrutiny.

Reverberations from Charlottesville provide a particularly interesting public test because the organizations speaking up are interpreting their missions in broad, humanistic terms—in the spirit of their programmatic work, but reaching well beyond it. Charlottesville had nothing directly to do with breast cancer or disaster relief, but the leaders of those organizations saw a deeper, urgent relevance, rooted in ethics and morality. No doubt they also had their donors in mind.

Mission and vision statements, however aspirational and enshrined, are no more than strings of words assembled by people. They are crafted with care and precision, with the intent to focus and inspire an organization. But to be effective, the people of the organization must put the mission and vision to work every day. And continuously interpret them with candor and vigilance, with an appreciation of an organization’s broader role and responsibility in the world.

Filed Under: Ideas for non-profits, Management Tagged With: mission, nonprofits, strategic planning, strategy, vision

March 13, 2017 by Betsy Garside

“Why are we doing strategic planning?”

Bernuth & Williamson strategic planning for nonprofitsWe kicked off a strategic planning effort with a new client recently. A staff member, curious about why he was in the room and on the strategic planning team, asked a familiar question: “Why are we doing strategic planning?” Behind the question was the tension of an overcommitted worker wondering what this big new chunk of extra work would actually do for his organization.

Nonprofit organizations undertake strategic plans for many reasons, positive and negative. We see new leaders come through our door eager to change their organizations for the better…and leaders who have lost funding and need to retrench strategically. Calls come from board chairs who want faster results, or top staff who feel their effort is becoming less relevant in the changing world around them. The genesis for every strategic planning effort has some level of both pain and opportunity wrapped into it.

No matter what the genesis for the process, there is a universal answer to that “why?”: If you don’t drive, someone or something else will do so. If you don’t set a course — imperfect though it may be — you will not get to where you want to be. As all-consuming as an organization’s day-to-day activities may be, leadership must make the effort to periodically look over the horizon. I won’t get too sailorly, but that look over the horizon helps an organization see what change is happening in their operating environment (the good and the bad), where they are in reaching their organizational goals, and how they might want to adjust course to get there more efficiently or effectively.

As to the “how” of approaching strategic planning? At the end of that meeting, the same person pointed out an excellent approach to any strategic planning process: “We should have courage, you know, courage to say yes and to say no. And we should take some risks.”

Point taken.

Filed Under: Ideas for non-profits Tagged With: nonprofits, strategic planning, strategy

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