Nonprofit Leadership, Innovation, and Change

Motivating & Leading

I get some of my leadership ideas and concepts in the weirdest ways and in the oddest places. My post, Sometimes We Miss originally came from watching my two turtles eat. The one you’re about to read came to me toward the end of a fourteen hour work day while waiting for the last meeting to start (which was at 7pm).

So, you know how to motivate yourself, you know how to lead yourself, you know how to lead others, and you know how to motivate others, but how do these four concepts work together? Let me do my best to explain the how these work with each other, and how they compliment and build on each other.

1. Motivating Yourself – When you motivate yourself you lead yourself
2. Leading Yourself – When you lead yourself, you’re preparing yourself to lead others
3. Leading Others – When you’re leading others, you’re motivating them
4. Motivating Others – When you’re motivating people your teaching them to lead themselves

Then the process starts over again. I’m not sure if I’m making much sense but this concept is dependant on each other. You can’t skip a step and go onto the next. You have to master each one before you can move up.

Excuses and Crying

OK, I know that 99 percent of what I write is very positive, upbeat, and the stuff that makes people feel good.  However, I’m going to be a little negative to make a point.

It’s obvious that our economy is spiraling into a recession.  Large companies are outsourcing, nonprofits are shutting their doors, and we’re seeing more and more real estate related company employees in line at the soup kitchen.

What’s starting to bother me more and more is when people use this as an excuse.  They use it as an excuse to not work, be lazy, not take responsibility, and blame others for their problems.

The economy is terrible, so what! I remember listening to a presentation Zig Ziglar made in 1986 (on cd of course) where he said that our media has accurately predicated 17 of the last 2 recessions!

I was in a meeting last week where we were talking about approaching local businesses and corporations for donations for a raffle and silent auction.  A local business owner (I say business owner, not business leader for this particular person) says, “Well, with the poor economy and everything it’s going to be hard to ask for donations.  Business people are always getting hit up for donations this time of year so I don’t think we can expect to get too much.” I almost jumped out of my seat!  Every ounce of positive energy and enthusiasm in the room left in the seconds after she finished. 

These kind of people are poisonous to an organization, the moment they open their lips all ideas, initiative, and motivation is killed.

Pray, Prepare, and Produce!

Pray like it all depends on God!
Prepare like it all depends on you!
Produce like it all depends on today!

Greenbacks or Gratification

As nonprofit leaders we are paid in something that has nothing to do with the size of your wallet, or how deep your pockets are. We aren’t paid in greenbacks with the pictures of famous deceased leaders, we are paid in something that is much deeper, something that touches the heart. We’re paid in gratification.

Has anyone set a date to end poverty?

Any motivational speaker or success coach will tell you that if you are serious about reaching your goals, you need to set a deadline date. This is a date that the goal must be completed by, and it becomes something to shoot for. I believe we need to set a deadline date to end poverty. A date set in stone shared by many of the great non-profits such as United Way, ne.org, and Acumen Fund just to name a few. What it would take to get all of these great non-profits together in one room; I don’t know. What it would take to get them all to agree on a date; I don’t know. Would poverty be ended by that time; I know so!

Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.  - Fitzhugh Dodson

poverty

We have no idea how good we can become

While in Provo, Utah myself and nine other people set out on a 3 ½ hour hike up to the “Y” that sits 6,500 feet high on a mountain. The “Y” sat 1,500 feet higher than the level of our hotel in downtown Provo where we started our hike. So we began our courageous journey. After one hour we found ourselves at a small resting point, where the main hike became very difficult. The last thirty minutes of the hike looked so difficult that four of my fellow hikers decided to go back to the hotel. For me there was no way that I was going to turn back, we only had thirty minutes left to make it to the “Y” on the mountain, and I was determined to find a way to get there. There was one obstacle, the last thirty minutes of the hike was amazingly straight up the mountain, very, very steep. As I kept hiking and hiking, I found myself gasping for air at such a high elevation. Then I began to think back to what Mark Sanborn says, “You and I know how good we have become, but we don’t have any idea of how good we could be.”

I continued to push myself harder and harder. Telling myself that I knew I had more strength inside my body. I had to demand more out of my body than I had ever before. As I almost felt like I was choking for air, I was tempted to stop and take a break. At one point I actually thought about turning back, knowing that the decent down, would be so much easier than the ascent I still had left. I knew that I would be stopping short of my potential if I did. I knew that there was physical potential inside of me that I had yet to see, and I was determined to bring it out. Eventually my friend Josh and I made it to the famous “Y.” It was worth every bit of energy, and every drop of sweat that I shed (it was 90 degrees) on the way up.

Now I’m finding myself applying this more and more to my life now that I am back in California. I’m looking for how I demand more out of myself than I have yet to see, because I know that it is in there somewhere. I’m learning to hold myself to a higher standard than I ever have before, knowing that by doing this, I will also be holding my team at A Day of Hope, and the rest of my fellow workers at the United Way to a higher standard as well.

I know how good I have become, but I have yet to learn how could be!

Burn all the ships, it's win or die!

There once was a large army that landed on a beach, ready for battle in a large war with the country occupying the beach they had just landed on. Upon landing their General ordered his men to burn all the ships that they had used to sail to the beach. The message was clear. There was only one option, win or die! What can you do for your non-profit to send this kind of a message to your team?

Poverty does not sleep, so why should I?

At 10 PM when we slip into our fancy pj’s, crawl under our silk sheets, and our head hits the pillow millions of people on the opposite side of the earth are waking up wearing the same old clothes, they slept on the floor the night before, and they will go hungry like they did yesterday.  The reason that I don’t sleep very much is this, “Poverty does not sleep, so why should I?”  Thinking about those that are less fortunate than myself, does not make me want to go to sleep.

What is it?

What is it that motivates you?

What is it that gets you out of bed in the morning?

What is is that makes you want to change the world?

What is it that makes you want to end poverty?

What is is that makes you want to end world hunger?

What is it that makes you want to make a difference?

What is it that pushed you to do things that you never thought were possible?