A Note From The President

Avil Beckford, President

A Note From The President

This month I decided to take a look at the non-profit sector because some of you may be a little curious about what it's like. I asked Jeanne Moffat to share her thoughts.

What is it like working in the non-profit sector?
Working in the Non-Profit sector allows me to earn my salary doing what my personal values call forth from me! I can work with passionate people who care about the health and welfare of people and the environment. I can forget about the push for profit above all else, and can apply my skills and experience to advocating for and helping to solve some of society's most pressing issues. I can feel good about making a positive contribution to the global community.

How can someone enter the sector?
Entering the non-profit sector happens through several doors--volunteering with community groups in numerous ways, joining advocacy campaigns pushing for more progressive public policies, attending public conferences and debates on matters of interest to the global community and meeting people of like concern, and working for a salary in a non-profit organization.

In order to "work for a salary", one must go through the same hoops as required for any job placement--applications, resumes, interviews, negotiations, evaluations. Every non-profit organization is looking for highly qualified and experienced people, but most non-profits will not be able to pay the same level of salaries that would be offered for similar positions in the for-profit world. That is a reality that one must accept before applying for a position. However, the benefit packages are often good and there is a definite upside in knowing you are working to enhance the lives of people all over the world--and that is a benefit that cannot be found in every workplace!

What workplace lessons have you learned over the years working in the non-profit sector?
I have learned that committed people who want to save the world (and there is a high concentration of these people in the non-profit sector) are in a very high-risk category for burnout. "To burn out you must first have a fire in your belly" is a quote I remember from my research on burnout. It is hard for idealistic, committed people to say "no" to issues and concerns, and so more work gets taken on, and on and on it goes, building toward an impossible workload, with often little recognition or affirmation. Organizational support for breaks or sabbaticals are few and far between, and few non-profits can afford to hire "human resource managers" who might insist on more supports for staff.

Caring and experienced managers who approach management from a human resource perspective, i.e., that people are the organization's greatest assets, are needed in the non-profit sector. Taking care of the people who are trying to take care of the world's problems is one of the key organizational challenges for the non-profit sector.

What life lessons have your learned?
I have learned that it is possible to find solutions for even the most intractable problems--by listening, by leading with a fair and transparent approach, by being open to new ideas and ways of handling situations, and by affirming people as often as possible. That is how I would like to live and to be treated in any setting in which I find myself!

Until next time! Avil

P.S. Like this newsletter? Will customize for medium-sized firms that want to distribute it to their staff. Contact me at avil.beckford@ambeck.com and let's talk!

Book Review

Review of The Right Questions: Ten Essential Questions to Guide You to an Extraordinary Life, Debbie Ford

When I saw this book a couple of years ago, I bought it because I know how important it is to ask the right questions to get the answers that you are looking for. I was in a rush so I grabbed the book without reading the back to see what it was about. Because I was in such a rush, I didn't notice the subtitle, all I saw was THE RIGHT QUESTIONS. I think that the book should be titled "How to Make the Right Choices." Even though the book wasn't what I expected, I still enjoyed it.

What Are The Ten Questions?

1. Will this choice propel me toward an inspiring future or will it keep me stuck in the past?
2. Will this choice bring me long-term fulfillment or will it bring me short-term gratification?
3. Am I standing in my power or am I trying to please another?
4. Am I looking for what's right or am I looking for what's wrong?
5. Will this choice add to my life force or will it rob me of my energy?
6. Will I use this situation as a catalyst to grow and evolve or will I use it to beat myself up?
7. Does this choice empower me or does it disempower me?
8. Is this an act of self-love or is it an act of self-sabotage?
9. Is this an act of faith or is it an act of fear?
10. Am I choosing from my divinity or am I choosing from my humanity?

According to Debbie Ford, "These questions supply you with the wisdom you need to make what was previously unconscious, conscious, so that you can choose with all the power that comes from being fully aware."

Let's focus on question six, "Will I use this situation as a catalyst to grow and evolve or will I use it to beat myself up?" Ford suggests that every person and situation in our lives is "behaving in exactly the way we need them to at every moment in time." This concept would be difficult for most people to understand and accept. However, she further adds, which I agree with, that we look at the situation with perspective and ask ourselves what can we learn, and how can we use this to evolve. I would ask what opportunities exist in the situation.

Five Great Ideas

1. The quality of our choices will dictate whether we will struggle in frustration or live an extraordinary life… Choice allows us to pick, to select, to decide between paths. To go right or left. To move forward or backward, be happy or sad, loving or hateful, satisfied or discontent. Choice gives us the power to be successful or unfulfilled, to be good or great, to feel pleasure or pain
2. We are where we are because of repeated unconscious or unhealthy choices that we've made day after day that add up to the reality we find ourselves in. if we want to understand why and how we created our present reality, all we need to do is look at the choices we made in the past… Our futures are determined by the choices we are making in this moment… If we want our lives to be different, all we have to do is make different choice
3. We've all been blessed with free will, which provides us with the power to choose how we react to our experiences in life
4. Faith invites us to believe in something we cannot see, feel, or know. Fear destroys dreams and exterminates possibilities… Our fears cause us to hold on to habits and behaviours that no longer serve us
5. The ability to rationalize behaviour that goes against what we truly want might be our biggest curse because it makes us masters at justifying our actions
   

June's Book List

The Right Questions, Debbie Ford

Survey Results

The Luck Factor

Do you create your own luck? Professor Richard Wiseman from University of Hertfordshire in Britain conducted a 10-year study to determine the nature of luck, and published his findings in a book called The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind.

Professor Wiseman has outlined four principles to help one increase their good fortune:

1. Principle One: Maximise Chance Opportunities
   Lucky people create, notice and act upon chance opportunities. How do they do this? They network, adopt a relaxed attitude to life and are open to new experiences.
2. Principle Two: Listening to Lucky Hunches
   Lucky people make successful decisions by using their intuition and gut feelings. In addition, they take steps to actively boost their intuition, for example, by meditating and clearing their mind of other thoughts.
3. Principle Three: Expect Good Fortune
   Lucky people's expectations about the future help them fulfill their dreams and ambitions because these expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies by helping them to persist in the face of failure, and shape their interactions with others in a positive way.
4. Principle Four: Turn Bad Luck to Good
   Lucky people are able to transform their bad luck into good fortune by seeing the positive side of the bad luck. For example, they spontaneously imagine how things could have been worse, do not dwell on the ill fortune, and take control of the situation.
   

Source: The Luck Factor: Change your luck - and change your life, Dr. Richard Wiseman

How Did They Do That?

Claire Stoddard, World of Work Marketing

Challenge: I actually enjoy business challenges. I find that the issue is not resolving them, but finding the very best solution. The process it takes to find a perfect answer has two parts. The first part can be described in two little words - Due Diligence, Due Diligence, Due Diligence.

A case in point. One of my clients is a large, multinational, nonprofit, membership-based legal association that was experiencing an ongoing communications problem with their members, all of whom are senior lawyers. Although the organization sponsors three membership meetings a year and sends out numerous emails updating members on events, there were consistent complaints that members were unaware of new products and services. Even board members seemed to be in the dark.
Many of their problems stemmed from inconsistent, sometimes poorly written communications with members. Some months emails went out fast and furious and overlapped each other. Other months there would be very little communication. It was hard for members to keep up on new products and services and membership benefits were seldom emphasized.

Solution: After meeting with senior managers about the problem, I recommended a branded email marketing campaign with online links to their web site, distributed to members once a month, with reminders of member benefits. This meant creating an electronic template for an eNewsletter. But who would help create the electronics of the email campaign?

First I turned to two web designers, both of whom offered design capabilities, but not distribution. It didn't seem like the perfect package. Then lo and behold I received a notice of an event sponsored by the American Marketing Association, featuring a service provider that specialized in email campaigns. I attended and not only learned a great deal from the presentation but asked the vendor for a proposal. The proposal was excellent and I thought I was set. However, unexpectedly, a competitive email service provider was recommended. I was tempted to cut off the search since I had already expended a lot of time, but I thought it was better to explore every reasonable option. It turned out that the second service provider not only had an excellent product, but experience with non-profit organizations. I recommended them to my client and a contract was drawn and signed.

Almost immediately there was a legal glitch that needed to be resolved and a resulting delay. A new contract had to be signed. I considered switching service providers. And now here is the second part of the necessary process of resolving business challenges. After you have done all the due diligence you can - sometimes you have to trust your gut.

My instinct told me that I had the best solution. Even though the people involved were changing, the product offered enormous potential for my client. I stuck it out and arranged for a second contract to be signed. From then on, everything worked perfectly. The new people are honest, forthright, and extremely customer service oriented. The product, indeed, is perfect. Members are starting to feel more connected and aware of the benefits their membership provides. And, best of all, I now have a second customer signed up for an email marketing campaign.

Lessons Learned: The learning process for me was extraordinary, providing me with a new skill set, which in turn benefits my clients. It has proven to be a highly successful project which can be replicated many times.

What Can Ambeck Do For You:

Ambeck Enterprise provides diverse business research and analysis services to senior executives, through the relevant distillation of diverse facts and data.

Formula For Success

So, what is the formula for success you might ask? In my opinion, it's those two little words, Due Diligence, Due Diligence, Due Diligence, along with a liberal dose of well-informed instinct.

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