I met with representatives from Young Life in the Chicago Region just before Thanksgiving. It was fun to hear of the amazing work Young Life is doing among disinterested teenagers. After discussing their unique needs we decided I would do a grant writing workshop for all of their local offices in the greater Chicago region. However, a question arose… What to do if different areas want to apply to the same foundation for the same purpose?

The solution is exemplary for the rest of us - collaborate! Demonstrating collaboration is essential for all grant applications. As it is with kindergarten teachers, it is important to foundations to know that you work well with others. In the case of Greater Chicago Young Life, demonstrating collaboration even within your own organization will work. Larger nonprofits often have numerous local offices that function, for the most part, independently. If you can join together on a mutually beneficial project, that will enhance your chances of getting a grant award. For example, there are several local Young Life ministries that serve handicapped high school students. Each of them could use some grant funding to help expand their outreach. If they join together and coordinate their efforts into one program in many locations their chances of securing the needed grant funding goes up considerably.

I’m excited when I consider the prospects of Young Life in the Chicago region. For the rest of us the lesson is just as exciting: COLLABORATE!

God is good…from my front porch.

I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and say, it’s so good that we are able to enjoy the graciousness of our God.

This past week we held two great workshops - one in Franklin, TN and the other in Maryville, TN. The Franklin workshop was hosted by Graceworks Ministries and Maryville was hosted by the Blount County Chamber of Commerce.

The highlight of both workshops was the attendee participation - lots of good questions! More and more we are getting questions about the involvement of the board. Questions like, “How can I get my board more involved in raising funds?” Or, “We feel like our board has settled into rubber stamp mode. How can we get them to take a more active role?” And beyond the board we’re hearing questions like, “How can I get past cold, impersonal rejections from foundations and move more in the direction of building relationships?”

In future Monday Morning Blogs I’ll be addressing these types of questions in more depth than I can at the workshops. Next week: The Difference Between Donor Advised Funds and Private Foundations.

I spent the whole of this past Saturday working with a group called Narrow Gate, a discipleship program for troubled young men (www.narrowgatefoundation.org). Founded by Bill and Stacy Spencer, Narrow Gate has an extraordinary record of helping young men discover their true identity and leave behind them the mistakes of their past. During the day-long leadership meeting, Bob Rogers, the CEO of the global consulting firm, Development Dimensions International (DDI) gave a very interesting presentation on “Leading High-Performance Teams”. I heartily recommend DDI and encourage you to check out their services (www.ddiworld.com). Here is a quick synopsis of Bob Roger’s presentation…

>>> There are five stages of team development (Getting Started, Going in Circles, Getting on Course, Full Speed Ahead). Most teams get stuck going in circles. To avoid going in circles you must engage the Five Success Factors.
>>> Five Success Factors: Results, Commitment, Process, Communication, and Trust
>>> The team leader’s job is to: Diagnose, Coach, and Reinforce
>>> The Team Members job is to: 1) Maintain or enhance self-esteem; 2) Listen and respond with empathy; 3) Ask for help and encourage involvement; 4) Share thoughts, feelings and rationale to build trust; 5) provide support without removing responsibility
>>> The biggest poison of teams is conflict. The way to deal with conflict is ensure you are paying attention to the Five Success Factors.

Possibly the most important lesson learned Saturday is the value of bringing in an outside expert to help your team advance quickly to the next level. It’s not unusual for a team (your team is your organization, or your part of your organization) to get stuck in a rut of unintended consequences due to lack of expert input from outside the organization.

I once had a client whose founder was still at the help of the organization. He was a very persuasive person and unusually gifted in terms of intellect and charisma. Unfortunately, after ten years his personal assets had become organizational liabilities. The board however, sensing the bottleneck, couldn’t identify the source of the problem due to the founder’s dominant personality and their own organizational indebtedness to him. As a consultant from outside the organization, I was able to quickly get past the relational bottleneck and help them deal with the real problems holding them back from growth.

Moral of the story: don’t stay stuck – ask for help!