Rituals are intentional small, tangible acts done routinely and carry meaning. Our family has several New Year's rituals, including a nature hike. This year we hiked by the Pacific Ocean in Big Sur. (Pictured above) Rituals can also be used by professionals to boost personal productivity because rituals capitalize on our brains’ ability to direct our behavior on autopilot, allowing us to reach our goals even when we are distracted or preoccupied with other things. (In fact, … [Read more...]
New Year’s Rituals for Nonprofits To Improve Resilience in 2021
As we face an even darker winter due to the pandemic, we need to keep improving our resilience, the ability to adapt well in spite of significant stressors. Using rituals as part of our professional work is one strategy that can help. Rituals are routine and intentional activities that carry meaning. Rituals leverage our brains’ ability to run on autopilot, allowing us to reach our goals even when we are distracted by other things, such as potentially contracting a deadly disease. Many … [Read more...]
How Nonprofits Practice Continuous Improvement
I'm just back from spending a week in Bangkok, Thailand at the IFC-ASIA: Ecosystems for Good. I co-lead a workshop on digital transformation, co-facilitated a master class on digital fundraising campaigns, co-hosted a learning breakfast for scholarship participants, co-designed a Big Room session on Technology for Good, and in between attended some amazing sessions. I also served on the program advisory committee. It was a lot of learning in a short time-period and I'll be unpacking and sharing … [Read more...]
How Your Nonprofit Can Routinize Reflection
Reflection is a critical step in assessing individual and team performance at your nonprofit. A reflective process, whether it is a structured process for individuals or groups, can give us insights about what worked and what could be improved. Reflection requires hitting the pause button and asking and answering questions. How many of us as individuals have the discipline to notice what we’re doing with our professional work or our team? Our natural tendency is to keeping moving forward on … [Read more...]
What's Your Personal Craziness Index? Identify, Take Action, and Avoid Nonprofit Burnout
In my newest book, The Happy Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact without Burnout, the first half of the book addresses how nonprofit professionals can assess and become more self-aware about the symptoms of burnout and begin to practice self-care to avoid burnout. Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion that occurs when we feel overwhelmed by too many demands, too few resources, and too little recovery time. There are physical symptoms like headaches, aches and … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next Page »
