The Wilson Nonprofit Report for February 26

Interested in a Voice of the Constituent Program? First build executive support. Those who have gone through the process all say it is critical.  It is also consistent with research showing that executive support builds a foundation for VoC success. More …

If it’s good enough for Bob: Tom Peters is one of my favorite authors and speakers. If you ever have the opportunity, go see him. He has a friend, Bob Stone. Great quote from Bob: "Some people look for things that went wrong and try to fix them. I look for things that went right, and try to build off them." Tom’s point in this article is that there is great peril to a "systems first" approach to Big Change, arguing that systems are of the utmost importance, but mostly fail, or fail to reach their full potential by a country mile, because the organization's "culture" does not support them. You can also download for free his research on this.  More …

How reliable is your constituent data? Customer data that's streaming in from numerous sources - social, mobile, email, chat, CRM, recorded contact center interactions, etc. - are providing nonprofits with a wealth of information about their constituents that can be used to fine-tune their experiences and develop highly-personalized offers and messaging. Yet despite all the buzz about the promise that Big Data holds, organizational leaders and front-line employees continue to be hindered by dirty constituent data that can hamper decision-making and potentially damage relationships. More …

Do consumers love to hate nonprofits? We all have this suspicion, as nonprofits, that we can be difficult to work with. We know it’s true. This is a thought provoking article and why that is true. A true 12 step program starts with “Hi, I’m Michael and I work for a nonprofit. J  More …

Have you discovered Lollly Dascal? Lolly has an excellent blog. Some consultants parachute into an organization, like special forces, and take command of the situation. Lolly understands that in order to achieve lasting results, people must buy in to a vision, acquire the knowledge and skills to succeed, and be empowered to make the required changes. She understands that knowledge transfer from a consultant requires a careful balance between theory, real-world experience, and practical advice. Furthermore, leaders achieve greatness by cultivating trust and earning respect. These principles form the foundation of Lead from Within.

Her latest blog is on Leading Change Change is constant. But change is difficult. So what happens when an organizational change is handed down from the top and the people of the organization are not involved? Do you have a group of people who are accepting…or angry? Do you have a group of people who are focused…or frustrated? Do you have a group of people who are committed…or complaining? More …

Interested in a Voice of the Customer Program? First build executive support

Interested in a Voice of the Customer Program? First build executive support. Those who have gone through the process all say it is critical.  It is also consistent with research showing that executive support builds a foundation for VoC success.

Executive support helps Customer Experience pros put key building blocks in place, such as adequate tools to collect and analyze data and processes to systematically act on it.

How do you build support? Prove the value of the program by demonstrating tangible business value. Track the results of service recovery efforts to save unhappy customers and aggregate the results of improvement projects initiated by VoC-collected data.

So, get started fast but make sure the C-suite is on board.

Remember the Kodak moment? It is now the Instagram moment.

Remember the Kodak moment? It is now the Instagram moment. Great short video from Brian Solis promoting his new book, "The Future of Business".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwtQpNCqWrQ

Am I experimenting enough?

End of the day question: Am I experimenting enough?

Answer? Probably not.

Challenge? How do I do it more? How do I do it faster?

Should you add things to your to-do list you've already done, just to cross them off?

I am a fan, to some extent, of to-do lists. I know of people who add things they've already done, so they can cross them off. Somehow I just can't wrap my arms around it though.

Do you do this? Does it really help?

At the end of the day, add items to your list that weren't there but which you accomplished, just so you can cross them off. "This gives you a sense of productivity," Williams says.

via How to Conquer Your To-Do List CIO.com.

Customers hold more power than ever before

If we don’t think customers are more powerful than ever before, just ask Bank of America or Netflix. Both are great examples of fast consumers empowered with social tools can flat out reverse corporate decisions that seem irrational to consumers.

And why shouldn't they. That it has taken this long to have the ability to get the attention of corporate decision makers is stunning. It is a new day. Swift economic impact to corporate decisions is good for the economy in the long run.

“Today's consumers are empowered and are not afraid to use their social muscles.” ~~Mila D'Antonio, Peppers and Rogers

Customers Hold More Power Than Ever Before - Think customers: The 1to1 Blog

How am I doing compared to a magical unicorn?

 

How am I doing compared to a magical unicorn?

We love to compare ourselves to those we know we are better than. It really makes us feel good. Seth Godin suggests there is a better standard. One the will make us feel uncomfortable.



Will we take up the challenge?

The easiest way to sell yourself short is to compare your work to the competition. To say that you are 5% cheaper or have one or two features that stand out--this is a formula for slightly better mediocrity.

The goal ought to be to compare yourself not to the best your peers or the competition has managed to get through a committee or down on paper, but to an unattainable, magical unicorn.

Compared to that, how are you doing?

via Seth's Blog: Compared to magical.

Related articles

• Seth's Blog: Learning how to see (sethgodin.typepad.com)


• Seth's Blog: A diet for your mind (sethgodin.typepad.com)

Are you leading a digital transformation?

Breakthroughs often begin by thinking differently about the company's mission. Pages Jaune, the French Yellow Pages, was losing business as paper books became less and less relevant. The CEO led the effort to re-conceptualize the business as one that connects small businesses with local customers, which led to new products and services, such as mobile apps and Web pages for its member companies.

We have all used the transformation of caterpillars into butterflies as a metaphor for this form of breakthrough thinking. Are you focused on speeding up the caterpillar's process? Or are you envisioning that totally new butterfly?

Best of Tom Peters Cool Friends -- Sally Helgesen

Tom Peters has some very cool friends. He is also very kind to introduce us to them. I haven't read much from Sally Helgesen yet but she is going on my list. I am particularly intrigued by "The Web of Inclusion".

With three interviews to her credit, Sally Helgesen is not only one of our favorite Cool Friends, she's tied for first place in frequency of Cool Friends solo interviews (with the prolific Seth Godin!). She also has a section of Tom's Mother of All Presentations devoted to her work. Best known for her 1990 classic, The Female Advantage, Sally has a focus on women's work issues, but her insights are universal—perhaps essential for all who would succeed at work in the 21st Century.

Interview No.1, posted 2000. Book under discussion: The Web of Inclusion: A New Architecture for Building Great Organizations.

Interview No.2, posted 2002, and the book: Thriving in 24/7: Six Strategies for Taming the New World of Work.

Interview No.3, posted 2010, and the book featured (coauthored with Julie Johnson): The Female Vision: Women's Real Power at Work.

We'd suggest you read all three interviews and maybe pick up a couple of Sally's books, too!

via Best of the Cool FriendsSally Helgesen | tompeters!.

Computers are magnificent tools but ....

“Computers are magnificent tools for the realization of our dreams, but no machine can replace the human spark of spirit, compassion, love, and understanding.” – Louis Gerstner

Am I making it safe for my employees to try things?

Am I making it safe for my employees to try things? We hear a lot about risk taking. That sounds very "risky". Probably sounds that way to my staff as well.

What if I talked about safety? Good question I think.

What do you think?

5 questions to ask about your customer focus

Whether you are a business leader of a department or the CEO, these questions make sense to ask and get answers about.

Asking the right questions is most of the job some days. Thanks to Peppers and Rogers for their insight into these questions. They have been at the customer focus for a long time now.

1. How many new customers are you attracting and what is their value?

2. How many customers are you losing; why and what is their value?

3. Why are your continuing customers loyal to you?

4. What is the profitability of each customer group?

5. Are your customers vouching for you?

Read more: Customer Strategy | Making Customers an Asset of Your Business

Where does trust come from?

Here is a great question. Where does trust come from? We all want it. It isn't always easy to get or build.

Hint: it never comes from the good times and from the easy projects.

We trust people because they showed up when it wasn't convenient, because they told the truth when it was easier to lie and because they kept a promise when they could have gotten away with breaking it.

Every tough time and every pressured project is another opportunity to earn the trust of someone you care about.

via Seth's Blog: Where does trust come from?.

Are the number-cruncher days numbered?

OK, full disclosure. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree. Yes, I went the Liberal Arts route in college. This can be an asset when puzzling through complex or ambiguous situations; innovating; communicating; and understanding the customer through the power of “observation and psychology—the stuff of poets and novelists.” Yes, I also write poetry. :)

Do you have a Liberal Arts degree? Has it helped you in the business world?

Nobody is saying that numbers-crunchers’ days are numbered. But the idea that having people with a strong background in the humanities—what Peter Drucker termed “Management as a Liberal Art”—can provide companies with a great advantage is gaining some real momentum.

via Drucker’s Lost Art of Management | The Drucker Exchange.

"Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy." ~~Wayne Gretzky

You Call That Innovation? Maybe it is just change management

Everybody is on the innovation bandwagon. It is the "buzzword" of the year. Unless what we are talking about is disruptive, we are probably talking about monumental change and change management. This may be the "elephant in the C-Suite" but it is an elephant none the less.

Got innovation? Just about every company says it does.

Companies throw the term "innovation" around but that doesn't mean they are actually changing anything monumental. Leslie Kwoh reports on digits. 

Businesses throw around the term to show they're on the cutting edge of everything from technology and medicine to snacks and cosmetics. Companies are touting chief innovation officers, innovation teams, innovation strategies and even innovation days.

But that doesn't mean the companies are actually doing any innovating. Instead they are using the word to convey monumental change when the progress they're describing is quite ordinary.

via You Call That Innovation? - WSJ.com.

Why wait? Speed makes a difference

This is such a great question. Why wait? Seriously. Why wait? Seth Godin says it well. Speed can make a difference.

If you're on the critical path, if someone is waiting for your contribution, ship now.

We have deadlines for a reason, but the key word is 'dead'. In fact, you don't have to wait for the deadline or get anywhere near it, especially if you want to speed things up.

Seth's Blog: Why wait?

Related articles

• Meeting Seth Godin today, and lessons learned (janefinette.com)

Leadership lessons from "Men in Black 3"

Here is a pretty good list. I enjoyed the movie "Men in Black 3" a lot. Who knew I would also get leadership lessons. But I did.

1. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to.” Agent K. || Think about this quote, lots to ponder here.



2. “Do you know what the most destructive force in the Universe is? Regret!” ~Agent K. || Sentences beginning with “If I had only” “What if I” “I should have…” Regret eats people alive, it forces people to live in past.

3. “A miracle is what appears impossible, but happens anyway.” ~Griffin || Miracles do happen, nothing is impossible, believe, believe, believe.

4. “The bitterest truth is better than the sweetest lie.” ~Griffin || This is something that we learn as a very young child… Always tell the truth.

5. “We’re running out of time, we’re running out of clues, and there’s an invasion coming, so really we need to go right now!” ~Agent J. || I’ll allow you to get creative with this one. Think, Think, Think.

6. “Where there is death, there will always be death.” || There is lots of metaphoric truth here… where there is darkness, there will always be darkness.

7. “There are things out there you don’t need to know about.” Agent K. || Truth for all ages.

via 7 Life and Leadership Lessons From Men In Black 3 | Big Is The New Small.

Conferences and Seminars

Conferences and Seminars are usually longer conversations with small to large groups. Conferences include 4 hour, full day and multi-day versions. With over 35 years of speaking experience, Michael Wilson will, simply and with impact, engage your audience to take action. Some recent topics have been:

• Constituent Experience Competencies for Nonprofits
  
  
  
  • Competency #1 – Define the Stages of Experience to Gain Alignment around Constituent experience
  
  
  • Competency #2 – Develop Experience Based Constituent Listening and Feedback
  
  
  • Competency #3 – United (Cross-Silo) Experience Reliability and Accountability
  
  
  • Competency #4 – Manage Constituents as Assets – Prove the ROI between Experience and Growth
  
  
  • Competency #5– Create a “One Organization” Constituent Experience Culture
  
  
  
  


• Board, Committee and Staff Retreat Facilitation


• Why more nonprofits are getting bigger, faster and what you need to know about ROI


• Constituent engagement metrics and how to move the needle


• Social media and how to catapult engagement to reach your mission


• What is an effective mobile strategy and why does it make a difference?


• What does Consumerization of IT mean to the nonprofit C-Suite?


• Are you ready to be a digital nonprofit?


• And many more ….

All conference engagements are custom designed to meet your challenges and create the action you want the audience to take. Services also include follow up and change management components to ensure success.

If you are not 100% satisfied with the conference, you pay nothing.

Other services include:

• Advisor Services


• Speaking engagements


• Conferences and seminars


• Consulting Services


• Professional Services