Next week, I meet with the Conscious Leadership Tribe to discuss Commitment #3 from the 15 Commitments of Conscious Leaders: “I commit to feeling my feelings all the way through to completion. They come, and I locate them in my body then move, breathe and vocalize them, so they release all the way.” It’s a topic that this group of leaders comes back to from time-to-time because we assert that conscious leaders are emotionally intelligent.
How to Hire (and Retain) a Top Fundraiser
In the marketplace for fundraiser talent, we know that demand currently outstrips supply. Consequently, advancement and development leaders often say that one of the most significant challenges they face is the hiring and retention of fundraising talent. While the economic forces of supply and demand are putting upward pressure on salaries, a common misconception about fundraiser recruitment and retention is that it’s “all about the money.” That’s a management and leadership cop-out.
Ways to Spice up Your Next Fundraising Event
This week’s blog is by our good friend, Alizah Epstein, who is the Founder and CEO of the Epstein Creative Group. Alizah’s firm supports mission-driven organizations that improve their communities, especially those nonprofits that focus on women’s and children’s issues. In this post, Alizah shares some great insights for curing fundraising event fatigue.
Creating a Culture of Accountability
In his 2002 business classic, The Five Dysfunction of a Team, Patrick Lencioni describes “Avoidance of Accountability” as one of the core behaviors that teams exhibit when they are dysfunctional. In Pat’s words: “In the context of teamwork…it refers specifically to the [un]willingness of team members to call their peers on performance or behaviors that might hurt the team.” [Read more…]
The World Needs Everyday Heroes (a.k.a., Leaders)
Some time ago I was at an event in New York City where the speaker asked the audience whom they respected as modern-day heroes and heroines? Many fine names came forward including Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela. Curiously, neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump was mentioned.
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Conscious Leadership Practice – Seeing all People and Circumstances as Allies
Not too long ago I was working with a client who was dealing with a “pesky” colleague. Pesky means “causing trouble” or “annoying.” And, from one perspective it appeared that the colleague was indeed being pesky.
However, there is always another way of looking at the difficult people and circumstances in our lives. More often than not, they are our best teachers. As I reflect back on my own experience, I know this. Hindsight is often like that, and not all that helpful when you are dealing with the pest (or troubling event) in the moment.
Conscious Leadership: Are You Above or Below The Line?
Growing up my father used the expression “twerp” to describe any leader not meeting his high standards for character. As a man with a strong moral compass and a rock-solid ethical foundation who is held in high regard by his family, friends, students, and colleagues, any leader decried as a twerp by my father earned the label.
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Finding Exceptional Talent is Difficult…Especially Now!
The economy is growing again and hiring in the private sector has spiked amid improved corporate profitability. Unemployment hasn’t been as low as it is right now (4.4 percent) in a decade according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is placing significant pressure on nonprofit organizations to recruit and retain the best employees, especially for Fundraising and Leadership roles.
[Read more…]
Leading with Appreciation
On teams, it’s not uncommon for individuals to overlook those with whom they work each and every day. As the saying goes: “familiarity breeds complacency!”
And now there is clear evidence that the expression of appreciation improves employee retention rates. According to employee retention expert Leigh Branham, author of The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late, one of the top reasons someone leaves an organization is because s/he feels unrecognized.
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Listening: An Essential Leadership Quality
Recently, I was asked if it was possible to build the capacity for empathy and strengthen one’s emotional intelligence (EIQ). The short answer is–Yes!
The longer answer is a bit more nuanced. Many leaders today are conditioned by the educational industrial complex and other societal forces to favor left-brain, rational, analytical thinking. While that approach is useful, such conditioning tends to atrophy the right-brain capacity for empathy and EIQ. And, what we know now is that successful organizations in the modern economy require leaders to access their rational/analytical, AND emotional capabilities.
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