Monday, November 30, 2015

How to Build Partnerships That Last

If your nonprofit or social impact organization is considering working with potential partners, keep in mind that partnership opportunities can range from cooperation or collaboration through full integration or merger. It’s important that you and your Board first clarify your rationale for seeking out partnering organizations. By doing so, you will help to ensure greater strategic alignment with any organization you choose to approach.

Once you’ve determined your reasoning to establish a partnership with another organization, it’s important to fully engage your partner – create explicit opportunities for both organizations to contribute to development of ideas and solutions, and participate in decision-making processes. Moreover, realize that building partnerships can take time. It would not be unusual for you to call and exchange information for months before a new partnership yields tangible results, such as funding for a joint project.

The most successful and long-term partnerships are the ones that involve a real relationship between the partnering organizations. Passion for the mission and commitment to mutual benefit are key factors. From our consulting work with nonprofit and social impact organizations, we have identified Top 3 Partnership Success Factors:

Executive involvement (senior leadership and/or executive “champions”)
Strong working relationships
Strong board involvement

These factors often lead to the preservation of relevant services or programs, improved image or reputation, and greater long-term financial stability. Furthermore, if mutual gains are identified at the onset of the partnership, this can result in better organizational and program alignment.

To learn more about how to assess new partnership opportunities for your organization or strengthen your existing partner relationships, contact me HERE. This article is a summary of my recent workshop at The Foundation Center in conjunction with Nonprofit Specialists on the same subject.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

How to Communicate for Impact: Share Your Ideas & Be Understood

In communication, many disagreements are caused by different perceptions that created different realities. It can be very frustrating thinking that you have said or done the “right thing” only to find that the person you’re communicating with doesn't see it in the same way. The good news is that when you know your own priorities, and recognize the other person’s priorities, you can reduce miscommunication and develop more productive relationships.

Everyone has a dominant priority system and communication style – behaviors that we’re more comfortable with, and use most frequently. People tend to prioritize their world based on a combination of four primary priority systems (or priosys®):

1. Process-Oriented
2. Results-Oriented
3. Relationship-Oriented
4. Recognition-Oriented

Once you understand these perspectives, it becomes much easier to recognize the associated behaviors in other people. To build rapport and facilitate better communication, you can flex your communication style and adapt your priorities to more closely align with those of the other person.

This will help to make interactions more comfortable for them – which might be counter-intuitive to how you may have previously approached communication; e.g., how can I get the other person to change? To be clear, communication style flex and priority adaptation suggests changing HOW you communicate – not suppressing your point of view, nor avoiding difficult conversations.

To learn more about how to flex your communication style or better understand priority systems (e.g., take the priosys® online assessment) contact me HERE. This article is a summary of my recent workshop for the Bergen County Professional Women's Network (BCPWN) on the same subject.

Tuesday, November 03, 2015

Flip Your Script: Reset Your Mindset w/Gratitude [Radio Interview]

It's been said that your mindset is like the steering wheel of your life. In which direction is your mindset taking you? Is it where you want to go? You can learn how to be more mindful and take on an Attitude of Gratitude to be more resilient in response to life’s ups and downs.

During today's interview by Bernadette Boas with Shedding the B**ch Radio, I presented my top strategies to help you:

  • Bounce back after a breakdown and get your mindset back on track so you are open to pursue new opportunities
  • Apply gratitude principles to lessen your negative “self-talk”
  • Use mindfulness techniques to counteract your limiting beliefs

I also shared my thoughts on how giving back / paying it forward can help you create an abundance mindset. 

Listen to the podcast and let me know how YOU will adopt an Attitude of Gratitude in November -- this month of Thanksgiving.
Flip Your Script: Reset Your Mindset w/ Gratitude w/ Colette Ellis 11/03 by Bernadette Boas | Self Help Podcasts