We all hear so much about the “fight or flight response” to stress. However, lately I have been reading more about the “tend-and-befriend” response developed by Dr. Shelley E. Taylor of the University of California, Los Angeles. This refers to the evolutionary behavioral response of managing stress by caring for offspring and seeking social support. Dr. Taylor explains that women are more likely than men to look to others for support in times of stress. In the modern work world this means that women create, maintain, and use social networks—especially friendships with other women—to manage stressful conditions.
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Fundraisers: Time is on Your Side. Yes it is!
In 1964 The Rolling Stones declared that: “Time Is On My Side” on a b-side single. Despite this short bit of wisdom that resonated through the pop culture a little over 40 years ago, many of us fail to heed that message. We tend to get caught up in the limiting belief that there is not enough time for everything in life.
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The Power of Asking “Can I Do It?”
Daniel Pink explains how positive self-talk is better than negative self-talk. Doing a fist pump and telling yourself “I am going to rock this donor call” is going to create more success than telling yourself “there is no way I can ask the donor to give that much.”
I am sure this is not too big a surprise.
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The Best Leaders Allow Their People to Take Risks
Most leaders, managers, and administrators do their best to avoid risk and minimize uncertainty. It’s understandable. Taking risk is scary, and it is in our nature as human beings to want to control situations for predictable outcomes.
Sadly, tons of energy and lots of money is wasted organizations on this “controlling” activity. And, very little is ever learned, nor is much accomplished that is worthwhile by playing it safe.
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3 Ways to Cultivate Work Relationships
As a fundraiser, you are naturally curious and a great listener. You spend time and energy getting to know your donors and thinking about how to cultivate these vital relationships. Furthermore, you are evaluated and rewarded for your ability to create meaningful relationships with donors, volunteers and board members.
This external focus and the busy pace can sometimes make you forget how important it is to cultivate relationships with colleagues. Especially relationships with people in other departments, such as research, communications or finance. And sometimes this is compounded by the fact that these coworkers have different styles and personalities than you.
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Fundraising Success–Belief is Key
I’m fond of Napolean Hill’s expression: “Whatsoever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” It comes back to me time and time again, especially when it seems as if progress is difficult.
I’ll admit that up until recently embracing this axiom was difficult. Then I recently read an excellent book by Claude Bristol entitled The Magic of Believing. It helped me recall several episodes during my life where I held an intention to be, do, have, or accomplish something without being attached to any particular way it manifested.
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Say Yes to Improv at Work
The “Yes, And” rule is a guideline of improvisational comedy that suggests a participant should accept what the other person has created (“Yes”) and then add something to it (“And”) ~ Source: Wikipedia.
When you stop and reflect on this, it really is a philosophy for life and work. How many times have you been in a meeting where someone suggests a new idea and someone shuts it down with a statement like: [Read more…]
Fundraising Enables Freedom
As we celebrated the Independence of the United States of America this past 4th of July, I was reminded just how important fundraising was (and is) in the formation and nourishment of our private, non-profit organizations. Especially in the realm of post-secondary education.
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Acknowledge Your Team
As humans we have a universal desire to be seen and acknowledged. Let’s begin with a definition. Acknowledgements are different than compliments. “I enjoyed your presentation” is a nice compliment, whereas “you have an ability to take complex information and present it in a clear and meaningful way” is an acknowledgement. It points to who a person is being rather than what they are doing. A good acknowledgement is also about the person and not about you. While it is nice that you enjoyed the presentation, the second statement has power because it shows the strengths and skills that were being displayed by the person during their presentation.
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21 Secrets of Fundraising Management Success
Andy Hill wrote an excellent book entitled Be Quick–But Don’t Hurry with the legendary John Wooden, his former basketball coach at UCLA. For any manager or leader, Hill’s book is well worth reading. I did so for the first time over ten years ago. I came back to it again recently and find that it still holds up. I am especially interested in Wooden’s central motto, “Be Quick, But Don’t Hurry”. According to Hill, the primary physical attribute that Coach Wooden looked for when evaluating a player for the UCLA basketball teams was quickness. It’s hard to imagine a college or professional coach drawing that same conclusion today. [Read more…]