Nice Experience

I visited a food distribution centre today. The organisation feeds at least 500 households a month.

I was very, very touched when the CEO welcomed me by telling me he had attended my session at a conference in November.

As a result of the workshop, he picked up on of my points regarding measuring, assessing and telling the story of the impact of not for profits.

They made a pitch for funding to a very large petrochemical company and focused on the impact their work was doing to be told by the company rep: this is exactly what our Board is looking for when we are looking to donate.

They got their funding!

It is what makes me like my job.

Why do Not for Profit Managers outscore their for profit counterparts?

This article appeared in People First e-news for July, 2011.

Are managers of not-for-profit organisations second-class citizens when compared to their high-flying corporate cousins? Less skilled? Naive? Incompetent?

No! Nonprofit managers are often more effective than those in the corporate world. They deal daily with all kinds of complex situations, give advice to and accept advice from a range of people in the community, and generally keep the machinery running on the smell of an oily rag.

A survey by The Nonprofit Quarterly showed that, in 14 out of 17 leadership dimensions, not-for-profit managers outscored their corporate counterparts! (Interestingly, nonprofit managers tended to rate themselves lower than their peers rated them, while for-profit executives tended to rate themselves more highly than their peers.)

The survey included the following categories. Why not rate yourself alongside them?
1. Persuasiveness
2. Risk-taking
3. Demonstration of effectiveness
4. Vision

Why do you think managers in this sector fare better? Love to know your comments here or on the People First Facebook page

Adventures at University

I taught today at University of Technology, Sydney in their Nor for Profit short course.
The group of 35 came from 34 different not for profits based in Sydney, rural New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland.

I led a workshop on Positive Psychology in not for profits which I really enjoyed and learnt a lot. I dont know what the students thought but for me, the 3 hours flew by.

Thanks guys!