Breakthrough Thinking for Non-profit Organizations is based on a simple but challenging idea: “Good performance” is no longer good enough for non-profits. In a world of increasing demands that must be met, non-profits must set and achieve breakthrough goals Bernard Ross and Clare Segal show non-profit managers and board members how to transform their thinking […]
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“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” Niccolo Machiavelli – The Prince. Machiavelli’s words, written in the 15th century, have a resonance for us today. They tell us that […]
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The 8-step model seems very straightforward when you explain it as in my second blog. But it’s less easy to implement. Let’s go through each step in a little more detail. Step 1: Create Urgency “Orchestrating pain messages throughout the institution is the first step in developing organizational commitment to (major) change.” Rosabeth Moss Kantor […]
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In my last blog I wrote about the key drivers for change. This blog focuses on a well-established model for change. The most commonly used, and easy to adapt, model is that developed by US management consultant and Harvard Professor John Kotter. Originally developed for business, we have found it useful for charities and other […]
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Over the years =mc has carried out a significant body of research and change work with a wide range of not-for-profit organisations. And we’ve found there are five core reactions to change, that we call the 5Cs. To be an effective change manager you need to understand these five reactions in your colleagues and adopt […]
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“If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt” Sun Tzu c. 490 BC, Chinese military strategist, and author of The Art of War I’ve written lots about change in earlier blogs, so thought it might be interesting to think a bit about strategy in this one. Let’s first […]
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You may be Good but are you Great? Good to Great (G2G) is one of a series of influential books by US management guru Jim Collins which describes how commercial companies grow from being merely good to great. It has a great and profound line at the start which argues (merely) “good is the enemy […]
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The Learning Leader- what do you in a crisis? Challenging times- especially crises- are a great reality check for ‘learning leadership’- whether you model an adaptive and flexible approach under pressure. The premise is simple when things go wrong and are at least partly out of their control then great leaders can show how quickly […]
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In this blog, =mc Director Charlotte Scott shares practical advice on dealing with organisational change on a personal level. We’re embarking on an organisational change programme and it’s likely my team will have to work very differently. A lot of them are already starting to look anxious and nothing’s happened yet. What can I do? […]
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=mc Director Charlotte Scott blogs about the best way to find out how good you actually are as a manager. I have been managing for several years and I think I am doing a good job, but how do I really know for sure? Here’s a simple solution: Why don’t you ask the people you manage? […]
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This blog follows on from a masterclass Bernard Ross and Angela Cluff led at the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) in Holland where they were working with participants to explore a range of new approaches to strategy development. As part of this they were exploring whether a radical ‘blue ocean’ approach could help fundraisers transform their ability […]
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Fundraising is about Influence – winning people over to your point of view. The starting point for influence in a not-for-profit setting should be a personal drive to achieve some wider social good. In part 1 of this this blog we concentrated on the importance of framing and organising your passion or personal motivation to help […]
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Fundraising is about Influence – winning people over to your point of view. The starting point for influence in a not-for-profit setting should be a personal drive to achieve some wider social good. To be an outstandingly successful influencer and fundraiser you need to have a real desire – a passion – for that change. […]
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What most holds back a successful change process? There’s lots of stuff published about organisational change and how to do it. But there’s less about why change processes don’t work or fail to gain traction. And this is a big problem both in business and in the world of charities. In a recent survey by […]
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In a quickly changing and uncertain world, it often feels like traditional strategic planning with its emphasis on analysis and projection isn’t quite covering all the bases. In this article we explain how scenario planning can enable you to create flexible strategies for uncertain futures. You can also find out how Christian Aid and the […]
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In the first of our series of interviews with thought leaders in the sector, Dr Caroline Harper, CEO, Sightsavers gives us insight into her experiences of leadership, the good and the bad. Dr Caroline Harper has worked successfully in leadership roles in both the private and not-for profit sectors, including Managing Director of Amerada Hess […]
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The ‘Any questions?’ moment in a presentation can be the most difficult. For as long as you are delivering your piece, at least you are in control. The moment you ask your audience if they have questions, you lay yourself open to any one of a number of tricky situations. In this article, we set […]
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This article explores 5 key principles to help you manage that challenging conversation effectively to ensure a good outcome for both you and them. What’s a Challenging Conversation? A challenging conversation is one where you are anxious about your ability to handle the outcome. So for example where you know that your opinions are significantly […]
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Some of the most interesting psychological work carried out in the last five to ten years has focused on the issue of so-called multiple intelligences. The basic idea, developed by Harvard-based psychologist Howard Gardner, is simple. We all have access to a number of different ways of processing information, which Gardner has called intelligences. This […]
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A coaching approach to management – integrating the principles of coaching into the nitty-gritty, day-to-day business of managing staff – can transform performance. Alongside core skills such as questioning, listening, generating awareness, and giving feedback, the coaching approach to management provides a structure to our conversations with staff. Two helpful frameworks, created by =mc are […]
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Whether you call it a presentation or a pitch, being able to stand up and convince a number of people at the same time to support you is a key skill for anyone keen to display presence. This article explores the key dimensions of presence – what it is and how to perfect it. We […]
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Motivation is a timeless challenge that emerges in all managers’ careers. It’s a particular challenge in the public and voluntary sectors where motivation is something managers can take for granted – assuming that their staff are inherently motivated simply because they choose to work in these sectors. In fact motivation is something managers may not […]
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More and more decisions in organisations are being made by groups of people rather than individuals. This trend is increasing with the move towards self-managed teams and project based management. The groups are most often ‘natural’ function teams, but may also be individuals from across the organisation that come together to undertake a specific task […]
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At =mc we are increasingly being asked by our customers to help them improve their internal collaboration. This may be the result of a recent restructure that has spurred on a change in how they need to work, or perhaps because they have analysed their latest employee survey data and identified silo working as a […]
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There has been quite a lot written about millennials lately, and their expectations about work and leadership. What a lot of this is saying is that they are somehow special, and therefore problematic, compared to their older, baby-booming colleagues. In this article, =mc Director Yvette Gyles reviews what has been said on the topic, dispels some […]
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The ability to build rapport is a key skill for non-profit managers. Armed with this skill you will be more able to persuade others – from board members to service users and even donors – to identify with you and your point of view. This article explains how to build rapport with others – drawing […]
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Five Key Principles There’s an extensive body of academic research which suggests there are a number of universal cross-cultural principles underpinning influence. There’s some debate about how many principles there are- with numbers ranging from 3 to as many as 10. Many of these were developed by Robert Cialdini in his book Principles of Influence. […]
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The Boston Matrix is one of a series of analysis tools that help you decide the effectiveness of your current fundraising portfolio. It is normally used to assess the relative contribution of various fundraising activities or donor clusters at a particular point in time. But the matrix is enormously flexible and can be used to […]
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Economists from Adam Smith onwards argue that people will buy whatever is cheapest when offered a choice between similar options – so acting in their own best interest. But we know from experience that this is not what actually happens – people often buy products that are obviously not the cheapest or even the best […]
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The Big Idea Defining strategic direction can be a major challenge for any organisation. Igor Ansoff, US strategy guru, developed a matrix which helps to focus your attention and resources. This matrix, commonly used in commercial settings, has been adapted by =mc to make it relevant to a wide range of not-for-profit organisations. For fundraisers […]
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In this download =mc Director Bernard Ross explains ‘What is a Pivot’ and why it is an important business tactic – as increasing numbers of organisations, commercial and non-commercial, are looking to change their business model by taking advantage of pivoting to improve results. He also offers 10 case studies that show how it can […]
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What qualities does a leader need to bring their team or organisation successfully through a change? =mc Director Bernard Ross shares 5 key characteristics and examples of his heroes in each area. Change – people can cope It’s a cliché that we live in times of enormous change. We do. But I also think there […]
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This download is one of a series on new ideas in strategy, based on the book by =mc directors, Bernard Ross and Clare Segal – The Strategy Workout, (Financial Times/Pearson, Autumn 2015). A couple of years ago we were delighted to be asked by UNICEF International to help them develop a case for support. The […]
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Transforming results by changing beliefs and behaviours “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” is a famous quote from legendary management consultant and writer Peter Drucker. To be clear he didn’t mean that strategy was unimportant – rather that a powerful and empowering culture was a surer route to organisational success. One of the key goals in […]
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This article explains how to use a powerful and simple psychological technique called Anchors to adopt a more positive and flexible approach to any situation. Commonly used in sport they are now popular in management settings to deal with challenging situations. Anchors You may remember the famous experiment of Pavlov, the Russian scientist. Pavlov noticed […]
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Urgent and important In order for people to adopt a radical strategy change they need to feel it’s important and necessary. So you need to think about how you will generate that awareness – and convey that it’s urgent and important. Unfortunately this often involves creating a pain message. A burning platform is a very […]
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We’ve all been there – when two or three people leave a meeting, each with a conflicting take on what has just happened. Partly this is because we experience situations differently – we impose our own values, culture and beliefs. But, importantly, we each have an innate psychological preference for one of three distinct perceptual […]
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At =mc (https://www.managementcentre.co.uk) we’re working increasingly on change issues – helping leadership groups to drive change and helping staff to cope with it. This blog is designed to offer some thoughts on how anyone – from frontliners to CEOs – can become resilient and work with, rather than against, the inevitable process of change. This […]
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This article, written by =mc Director Yvette Gyles, explains the thinking behind one of the latest organisational development tools – Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Building on stories of success? Organisations are full of stories and story telling. What people say to each other in corridors and canteens will often become the accepted reality. Unfortunately, this can […]
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At =mc we are increasingly asked by our clients to deliver ‘some training on change.’ The challenge with such a request is that organisational change is a big topic. At =mc we are increasingly asked by our clients to deliver ‘some training on change.’ The challenge with such a request is that organisational change is […]
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