Organizations create lots of files. Plans, budgets, procedures, marketing pieces, grant applications, reports, timelines, proposals, memos, newsletters, meeting agendas and summaries (I hope), and on and on. You create, save, and share hundreds of files each month. As I pointed out in my last post, how we name, edit, and save theses files determines how[…]
A messy shared drive is more than a headache. It’s a business process and knowledge management disaster. An organization cannot plan thoughtfully, design intentionally, work efficiently, and learn continuously if it cannot store, find, and use its decisions, plans, efforts, and insights. Google Drive, SharePoint, OneDrive, etc. are all powerful tools for file sharing and[…]
Tools are Just Tools In our first years, The IllumiLab’s work was focused almost exclusively on building tools nonprofits could use to measure their performance (logic models, measures, data collection tools, performance management plans, etc.). This was the pain point organizations experienced, and this was the service they requested. But we soon realized that without[…]
If I had a nickel for every time I heard a nonprofit professional say they were building the plane while flying it, I could buy my own fully-built jet! In the context of program design, what does this even mean? Is “building the plane while flying it” just code for “making it up as we[…]
Nonprofit professionals are do-ers. We are fixers. Heck, we build planes while we fly them, right? Believe it or not, these penchants for action and for fixing can actually interfere with sound problem solving, data-informed decision-making, and continuous improvement. In our rush to make changes and improvements, we skip important steps that shortchange our understanding[…]
In my last post, I argued that this crisis is an opportunity to re-imagine your work. It has the potential to change the way we define our Why, What, and How as organizations. In this post, I want to focus on our How – the processes we use to serve our clients, lead our teams,[…]
Yes, this is one of those posts that aims to re-frame this crisis, to find a silver lining, to see the glass half-full. If you’re not in the mood for that right now, I won’t be offended. But please do come back and read this post when you’re ready to think about what’s next. In[…]
Evaluation, performance management, project management, and quality improvement (everything I do) all have at least one thing in common. They start with the end in mind, articulating goals. Before anything else, they ask what the end game is. For example: Evaluation – What do you want to learn from this evaluation? How do you want[…]
This is our third post from guest blogger, Julia Pickup. Julia and I are unicorns in the world of social work. We are therapists who dig numbers. We are bleeding hearts who love to manage and improve processes. We are artists and scientists. You could also say we are bilingual because we can tell stories[…]
As promised in our October newsletter (click here to subscribe), Insight Partners has some exciting things planned for our third year, including this blog series by guest blogger Julia Pickup, MSW, LCSW. Julia is a highly skilled therapist, clinical supervisor, instructor, and program director. She thrives on developing clinicians to reach their full potential, building team[…]